Yesterday Rodgers showed integrity. No wonder some can’t recognise it.

One of the most pitiful things in all of media is watching somebody sit on a panel and try to ingratiate themselves with the other people there.

It’s sickening. Some do it instinctively, because they always want to be popular and liked. Others do it out of a sense of inferiority, because they feel out of place next to their fellow panellists. Either way, it’s icky to watch.

I’ll be honest with you: I didn’t see Andy Walker’s performance on Go Radio alongside Barry Ferguson. That’s not the kind of thing that floats my boat.

I’m not a fan of Walker, and I’m certainly not a fan of the former Ibrox player and hilariously temporary coach. Why would I tune in? Go Radio itself doesn’t interest me either — it sits in that weird grey area that calls itself “independent media.”

In truth it’s where the hacks who can’t get jobs in the mainstream wash up, and so they cobble together their own little outlets. Most are as bad as you’d expect, especially when they feature the likes of Andy Walker.

From what I’ve heard, he spent most of his time trying to ingratiate himself with Ferguson, and it was horrendous. There was the usual dose of liquidation denial, a bit of Celtic bashing, and in particular, a pop at Rodgers for standing up for another manager.

Yet this is something Rodgers has done dozens of times over the years. He’s not the sort of guy who sits back and watches another coach sink. He’s defended Ibrox managers before too. This is nothing unusual.

What’s different this time is that Rodgers took it to another level, pointing out the moral aspect. Walker hinted darkly that some managers aren’t exactly moral in their conduct — nudge, nudge, wink, wink — but never had the guts to say who he meant.

We all know he was talking about Rodgers, and we all know he was dredging up the tired old smear about him walking out of Celtic in 2019.

That’s been litigated and relitigated until it’s boring.

The only thing I’ve ever written on this blog that I regret – not because it was wrong, I’ve been wrong plenty – but that I regret, is the piece I did on Rodgers when he left. The way he did it wasn’t right, but the situation inside the club had become untenable. I knew that, and I still made it a critique of him, when it should have been a full-throated attack on the people who forced him out.

Those same people are leaking against him right now, feeding the press vile stuff behind the scenes. That’s a fact, and everyone knows it. Rodgers knows it too. That’s why Walker’s little lecture on morality is a joke. He doesn’t want to place things in context. He doesn’t want to talk about the full picture. He just wants to make the lazy point that suits him. It confirms him as every bit as daft as we’ve long said.

The reason Rodgers’ comments yesterday landed differently is simple: the pressure on the current Ibrox boss is personal in a way it usually isn’t.

Ferguson can insist that none of his old colleagues have made it personal, but he knows as well as the rest of us that’s nonsense. Criticising tactics, strategy, substitutions, line-ups, coaching, you can’t say those things without making it personal. You’re saying the guy isn’t up to his job. You’re saying he’s failing. You’re saying he should never have been hired in the first place. That’s both professional critique and personal attack.

At the heart of it is resentment.

These guys are raging they didn’t get the gig. Ferguson in particular has made clear a dozen times that he thought he should have been given the job. Others agree with him. All their criticism of Russell Martin comes from the idea that they could have done it better. That’s what really grates on Rodgers, and on a lot of people watching this.

I don’t feel sorry for any manager of the Ibrox club, but I can almost feel sorry for Martin himself, because he’s been done up like a turkey at Christmas.

Every single thing he’s done, or hasn’t done, has been weaponised against him. Some of the people doing the sniping are those with personal axes to grind.

Either they fancied the job and didn’t get it, or they’d sold supporters the fantasy that this was the dawn of an American Revolution where the club would spend impossible sums and hire impossible managers. Instead, they’ve ended up with this. The embarrassment is theirs as much as his, and that embarrassment fuels the hatred.

Martin hasn’t performed well. Let’s be blunt, his team is dreadful to watch. Unless you’re a Celtic fan, in which case it’s hilarious.

But there has been a sustained campaign against him since day one, let’s not kid ourselves. He was second-guessed from the moment he walked into that press conference. I defy anyone to work under that pressure and be at their best.

Rodgers is standing up for a fellow manager, which is not unusual, but he’s also standing up against an orchestrated media campaign powered by jealousy, frustrated ambition, and other toxic emotions. That was obvious to anyone when the job went to Martin and not to one of these bitter old hands. It was inevitable they would go down this road.

And so yesterday, Walker, desperate to ingratiate himself with an ex-Ibrox captain, took Ferguson’s side and criticised our manager for showing a bit of compassion, a bit of understanding, and a bit of integrity.

Rodgers was defending what was right, fair and just, things he recognises as a manager, and which Walker has never grasped as a pundit. Ferguson was just Ferguson, pushing his agenda as usual. But Walker? Dear oh dear.