The Team of the Year has seven Celtic players, two shockers and one mad ommision.

This morning, the PFA Team of the Year came out and, as per usual, it’s a bit controversial. There are seven Celtic players in it.

That’s not an issue in and of itself—but there are two Ibrox players in there as well, and both of them are pretty laughable.

I know this is voted for by the players, so there’s no overt bias here, but still. Always—always—when I read these things, it feels like they’re determined to shoehorn Ibrox players in whether they deserve it or not.

These things are so subjective that it’s hard to get truly wound up about them, but I’ve got a real issue with the two Ibrox names. Raskin has played about half a season. He’s barely shown up in most of the games he’s featured in. And Souttar has been out injured for weeks and weeks at a time and has likewise missed huge chunks of the campaign.

They’ve put Dalby of Dundee United up front, and I’ve no real problem with that—except if we’re canonising players who’ve only played half a season, then how are you going to say he’s been better than Kyogo?

All seven of the Celtic players who made the side are fair enough—Schmeichel, AJ, Carter-Vickers, McGregor, Hatate, Maeda and Kuhn… all deserved.

Someone will soon ask why none of Celtic’s so-called big three signings made it into the team of the year. For me, Engels should walk away with Young Player of the Year. But if you’re going to tell me that Souttar is a better defender than Trusty, I’m going to have a serious problem with that. If you’re going to tell me he’s a better defender than Liam Scales, I’m also going to take issue.

Engels is just a better footballer than Raskin. That’s not even up for debate, as far as I’m concerned. And next season will bear that out in full, I expect. Not only that, Engels will be in the team of the year, but he’ll also dominate all talk about Player of the Year, unless Maeda has another otherworldly campaign.

There’s a lot of tokenism in these things.

You can’t have a Team of the Year without at least one Ibrox player, or their fans would squeal blue murder, even in a season where they’ve grossly underperformed. Their season has been a failure on every level. There hasn’t been a single successful player in that team. To name someone in a Team of the Year is to say they’d get into our starting eleven—and none of the four players from the other clubs would get near ours.

The idea that Souttar or Raskin would play in our starting eleven is fanciful rubbish. This could very easily have been a Celtic starting eleven.

On top of that, you’ve got the glaring absence of Greg Taylor—who has easily been the best left back in Scotland this season, bar none. I don’t even think most people would dispute that.

This is a player who, if you believe certain elements in the media, is being courted by both of the Glasgow clubs—ourselves to sign a new deal, and the Ibrox club to leave and go there on a freedom of contract. I think that story is murder; I don’t believe it for a minute. But the media pushing it should certainly be asked whether they think Taylor deserves to be in the team of the year.

I can’t help but notice they went with the Hearts boy at left back instead of either of the Ibrox two—and that includes the Brazilian superstar allegedly wanted by Chelsea. They also went with the Dundee United player up front instead of Igamane, Dessers, or Danilo—or any of the Ibrox front three. All of whom we were told were superstars in the making. Wait till you see how many clubs are allegedly in for Dessers in the summer before none come in and he ends up staying at Ibrox. If there’s a single approach for Igamem or Danilo, I’ll be shocked.

There’s also no place for Barjami. No place for Diomande. No place for the penalty king Tavernier—who, for the first time in living memory, drops out of the side in favour of the superior Celtic right back.

I guess we should be grateful for small mercies.

Although this time it’s AJ, every Celtic right back who’s been at our club in the time Tavernier has been at Ibrox has been a better footballer and a better defender. Yet somehow, he always found his way into the team of the year—courtesy of his penalty count.

Now that we know the Team of the Year, the Player of the Year debate will kick off—and this is where having Raskin in there gives the Ibrox chattering classes hope that they might yet steal that one too.

But Maeda will win it by a mile, if there’s any justice in the world.

Manager of the Year? That should be the same story, with Rodgers almost certain to walk away with it. But we’ve seen strange decisions there before, and I’m not convinced we won’t see another one. The hacks are just dying to find someone—anyone—to take his place. We’ll see if they have the balls to go for it.