The Daily Record targets Celtic fans again with another dishonest paid-for article.

Daily Record subscribers hoping to read Celtic related news found out last night just how much of a screwing they’re getting, and if you are one of the people who voluntarily pays for that paper’s online content, then last night’s headline was aimed squarely at you.

“I share an agent with Jens Berthel Askou and here’s what I’ve heard about next Celtic manager talk.”

That’s the kind of line designed to make people click. It might even be the sort of headline that convinces someone sitting on the fence to take out a subscription. There’s a reason every con artist in the world talks about a fool and his money.

Last night, the Daily Record set out to prove the point.

I know I should probably be more tolerant about this kind of thing, and a bit more understanding of people who pay for content. I know I should maybe take a step back and look at it as part of the modern media landscape, where clicks matter and attention is currency. Except that’s rather the point of my anger.

If you are paying that outlet for “exclusive” content with that outlet then you are getting exactly what you signed up for. There is no other media organisation in the country that would have the balls to present a story like that in that fashion.

I have no sympathy for you. None. Not one bit. Not one shred, not one iota. It is the most dishonest newspaper in this country, filled with some of the most unreliable writers, and even when the content is free it’s barely worth your time.

And that headline is a perfect example of why nobody should be entertaining the idea of paying for anything they produce. Because it is grossly misleading. Of course.

The player in question is Erik Sviatchenko, and what has he “heard” from his agent, who also represents Jens Berthel Askou?

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

That’s the story. There’s no substance to back up the headline. The big “insight” teased in the headline turns out to be a complete absence of information. The article itself makes that clear almost immediately, but only once you get past the paywall.

He hasn’t heard anything. There is no inside track and no nugget of information.

There is no development.

And they had the gall to put that behind a demand for money.

Think about that for a second.

They are asking people to pay to read a story whose central revelation is that there is no story. That is not journalism. That is not reporting. It is not even opinion dressed up as fact. That is a con dressed up as content.

This is the level that paper operates at, and it’s not an isolated example.

I don’t know how many times I have flagged this. I don’t know how many times I have gone through their headlines, their so-called exclusives, their “breaking news” stories, only to find that what sits underneath is speculation, guesswork, or something that belongs more in the realm of fantasy fiction than sports writing.

We saw it again last week with Michael Gannon trying to read “smoke signals” into Steve Clarke’s situation and turn it into a Celtic story. There wasn’t a single verifiable fact in that piece beyond the obvious. Clarke hasn’t signed a new deal. Celtic need a manager. That’s it. Everything else was invention.

That’s the pattern. They take something vague, dress it up as something significant, and rely on the reader’s curiosity to do the rest. They bait the hook, and they trust that enough people will bite. And now they’re charging for it.

They’ve put Keith Jackson behind a paywall. These people have Ryan Stevenson, the Wilfred Nancy Green Shoe Guy, behind a paywall. Hugh Keevins is behind a paywall, and the only thing that guy should be writing are frivolous complaints to the management in the Retirement Home For People Who Pretended to Be Journalists. That in itself is laughable, but it would at least be defensible if the content had any value. It doesn’t.

You know what’s worse? They are in a dying industry, where quality is supposed to be the thing that saves you, where trust is actually the only currency that matters, and they are actively burning through what little credibility they have left.

Because this is what it comes down to. Trust.

Can readers trust what they’re being told? Are they able to trust that a headline reflects what’s actually in the article? Can they trust that when they pay for content, they are getting something of value? Are they able to trust that they are not being misled, manipulated, or outright scammed?

Based on last night, the answer is no.

This was aimed directly at Celtic supporters. It played on the one thing everyone wants right now: clarity over the next manager. That uncertainty creates demand. They exploited that demand. That’s what this is. Exploitation.

People want answers. People want real information. Even those who will be furious at certain outcomes, whether it’s Robbie Keane or anyone else, still want to know what’s actually happening. They want something concrete. Something verifiable. Something they can get their teeth into. Instead, they get this.

A headline that promises insight and delivers nothing. A story that hints at inside information and contains none. A paywall wrapped around a complete void.

That is as close to taking money under false pretences as you’re ever going to see in mainstream football coverage, and the really galling thing is that they will keep doing it.

Why wouldn’t they, if enough people clicked? Why would they stop if enough people have paid? If they think enough people will do the same again the next time they dress up nothing as something and slap a Celtic angle on it, they will continue to do it.

Because right now, they’ve found the perfect model.

Sell nothing. Call it something. Charge for it anyway.

A fool and his money are easily parted, after all … and The Record thinks there’s one born every minute.

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