Celtic and Kuhn have done well out of his time here. That should shame one particular outlet.

In the aftermath of last night’s game, Brendan spoke very frankly about Nicholas Kühn. And although he didn’t go in studs-up and slate the guy—quite the opposite, in fact—he was very, very diplomatic.

But he did make it clear that Kühn no longer wants to be at the club, and when that’s the case—as Brendan said—there’s no point in making him hang around. I wrote about this yesterday in the loyalty piece, and I stand by what I said: I think we’re entitled to expect a little bit more loyalty from the players we sign. A minimum of two years’ service shouldn’t be an unreasonable ask.

Although I don’t believe we got the maximum value for Nicholas Kühn, I do think that the player, in some ways, fulfilled the mission we set when we signed him. He came in, gave us something a little bit extra, and in the end netted us a big fee. He has certainly done both of those things.

I’m conflicted. He came in and did well for us in the six months of actual football that he played, and in the end, even if the profit isn’t quite as vast as I’d have liked, he has earned us a vast profit. That, by any measure, makes it a successful bit of business. How can anyone argue otherwise?

And that brings me back to one of the most shameful moments in our recent media history: the hatchet job a national media outlet tried to do on the player before his boots were even in the locker.

I’ve been writing about Celtic for more than ten years now. I cannot recall a single signing being greeted with such relentless negativity. Even some of our own fans weren’t particularly impressed by the deal at the time.

But I was. Even based on the YouTube clips, I thought he looked like he had something special—his ability to deliver a ball, the way he cuts inside the box (which Rodgers likes), and the fact he could score goals. I thought we’d pulled off a solid bit of business. I couldn’t believe some of the stuff I was reading.

Now, Celtic fans are entitled to express doubts about a new signing. Many thought he was a “project” player because he was young—but as I said at the time, age doesn’t make someone a project. The number of games they’ve played does.

Kühn had experience in two different countries, and a very strong pedigree. I knew we had a good one.

But it wasn’t the Celtic fans who drove me to write one of the most furious articles I’ve ever put on this site. That was Radio Clyde, with one of the most scandalous episodes I’ve ever had the misfortune to cover.

They brought on a so-called Austrian football expert to do a hit job on the guy we’d just signed—and that’s exactly what it was. A complete trashing of the player. A character assassination. And I can’t see it as anything other than spite.

I cannot think of any other player who has signed for a Scottish club and been subjected to something like that. It was off the charts. A complete one-off. Looking back now, every single person involved in that show ought to be utterly mortified—because few things have ever backfired so spectacularly.

It was disgusting. Needless. Crass. Senseless.

We’ve signed countless players over the years that the Scottish media knew absolutely nothing about, and not one of them was treated like that. I still don’t know who thought it was a good idea to put that guy on the air. I still don’t know why anyone thought it was either appropriate or smart.

But I do know this—we were looking shaky at the time. And they took the opportunity to undermine what Rodgers was trying to do.

Part of it, I’m sure, was that disastrous summer transfer window. It gave the media an easy excuse to cast doubt on any business Celtic were doing. If they’d simply criticised the club’s strategy, that would have been one thing. That would have been fair comment. But what set this apart was the deeply personal nature of it.

A few months ago, a Danish journalist wrote some vile things about Kasper Schmeichel, and it provoked an outcry across the whole of Danish football—including from their media. But when it happened to Kühn? No such response.

Nobody stood up for him. Nobody, except the Celtic fan sites, who got behind the lad and rightly condemned what Clyde had done.

There must have been people in the Scottish media who were equally appalled—who must have been wondering what in God’s name Clyde thought it was doing.

And the so-called “expert” himself—whoever he was—I hope he has the good sense and the decency never to show his face again while calling himself an authority on anything. Because his contribution was about as far removed from reality as anything the Scottish sports media has ever produced. He wasn’t just wrong. He was completely, utterly, irrefutably wrong.

He should feel every bit as ashamed as the people who gave him that platform—and amplified what he said. They were falling over themselves with joy that night. Their big scoop: someone claiming Celtic had wasted its money. He acted like he knew what he was talking about. But he hadn’t a clue.

And in the space of 18 months, we saw what Kühn was capable of—and we made a 500% profit on him at the same time. Some failure. Some disaster.

Can I say I wish Kühn all the best? No, I really can’t.

I don’t care about him now that he’s edging out the door. Someone like Greg Taylor—who gave us proper service and loyalty—deserves good wishes. But Kühn? A year of effort followed by six months of sulking? No thanks.

Still, he’s entitled to feel a bit of vindication. He’s entitled to feel proud, even smug. I’m sure he knew exactly what was said about him on that show. These guys follow social media. They follow the news. They know what’s being said.

And I’d like to think that, on those days when he was in full flow for us—when he was swaggering, when he was winning games on his own—that he remembered Austria’s great footballing expert and Scotland’s most farcical radio station, and thought to himself, “How do you like me now?”

Because I know that every time he did one of those little shimmies past a defender, cut inside the box and rattled one into the net, I thought about them. Every single time.

And now, as the final verdict on his time at Celtic is about to be delivered—when a very large cheque is about to land on our desk for Brendan to reinvest in the team—I hope they’re not just regretting what they said. I hope they’re haunted by it.

It was a scandalous low even in this media landscape built on scandalous lows. Even by their standards, it was a shocker.

Of course they got it wrong. Of course it veered wildly the other way. But that’s because they aren’t serious professionals. They may draw a wage, but they can’t do the job any better than the Austrian “expert” can live up to that title.

He too, by the way, considers himself part of the media. He works for a website. One that has been quoted repeatedly for the most ridiculous reasons. That website? Transfermarkt.com.

The crux of his argument that night was that Kühn’s “true value” was around £1.5 million, and that Celtic had seriously overpaid for a player who didn’t score many goals and was injury prone.

As I said in the lengthy savaging of that whole debacle—at that time, 32-year-old Kemar Roofe, with a chronic injury history and barely a dozen appearances in a year, was valued at £2.5 million. He left Ibrox that season for free. Then spent eight months without a club. Derby took a punt, signed him on loan until the end of the last campaign, and he promptly got injured again and played just twice.

He’s without a club right now, whilst Kuhn is preparing for his big move.

That’s the level of “expertise” that site provides.

This is the site that once claimed Ryan Kent and James Tavernier were the two most valuable players in Scotland. That alone should have been enough for any serious media organisation to reject the advice and “expertise” which was on offer that night. But Clyde put this clown on the air and let him share with the world just how ignorant he—and that site—really are.

Even now, with nearly €20 million coming in for Kühn, that website still values him at €12 million. Make of that what you will.

Whilst you ponder that, think about this; in October of last year, they had him valued at €3 million—less than what we paid.

By December? His valuation had trebled to €10 million. In just two months. As if someone had finally bothered to watch him play.

By the time that site had him at €10 million, the same Clyde panel who’d written him off were naming him Player of the Year. They got that wrong too, of course, but it shows you how shameless these people are. No professional standards. No accountability. And they don’t deserve an audience as a result.

If anyone still doubts that these people are not our friends—that they do not mean Celtic well—then they should look again at that ludicrous episode. It summed up the media environment in which this club operates.

And when Celtic cashes that cheque—whether it’s this weekend or early next week—I hope someone sends Radio Clyde the biggest plate of humble pie ever baked.

And I hope they choke on every last bite of it.