Yesterday Keevins launched a gutter attack on Celtic disguised as support for O’Neill.

This morning someone sent me Hugh Keevins’ latest piece, published before yesterday’s game. I read it with the usual weariness that comes from reading anything written by that clown.

But this one felt different.

It was genuinely poisonous.

I have no problem lacerating the Celtic board. I have done it often enough myself. In particular I think they failed Martin O’Neill badly during the January transfer window. But I am not ready to go as far as Keevins did yesterday, where parts of his article were frankly atrocious.

He accused Celtic of risking Martin O’Neill’s health.

He wrote that O’Neill is “visibly ageing” in the job.

Those claims are absurd.

I honestly do not know what kind of mind produces commentary like that. It certainly isn’t the kind of mind I would want around me for very long. It reminds me of those people who suck the oxygen out of every room they enter.

You know the type.

Keevins also spoke about Celtic supporters in the same condescending tone he always uses. As if fans are incapable of thinking for themselves. As if none of us possess even a scintilla of brainpower to understand the situation at our own club.

Well, here is the news.

We see it.

We see it very clearly.

What we are not prepared to do is indulge the kind of nonsense Keevins served up. Suggesting that the Celtic board is somehow endangering the health of the manager is one of the most inflammatory and idiotic things I have read in a long time.

I am grateful to the person who sent it to me.

Even if it was the worst possible way to start the day.

Keevins went too far.

There is commentary and criticism. Then there is something beyond that. This article crossed that line completely.

Nobody forced Martin O’Neill at gunpoint to take the job.

Nobody compelled him to sit in that dugout.

O’Neill is a grown man who chose to step back into the role. He knew exactly what he was walking into.

And frankly he does not look like a man being destroyed by the job.

If anything, he often looks invigorated by it.

Most of the time he looks like a man enjoying the challenge.

And if this season ends in triumph it will represent the crowning achievement of an extraordinary career.

Keevins also made a point about the similarity in age between himself and O’Neill.

That comparison is laughable.

Martin O’Neill has enjoyed one of the most distinguished careers in modern football. Hugh Keevins has spent decades writing about it from the sidelines.

One of those careers commands respect.

The other survives by producing increasingly outrageous commentary in order to remain relevant.

The truth is that Keevins is about as relevant as he has ever been.

Which is to say, not very.

And Celtic supporters do not need him to tell us that Martin O’Neill has been badly let down.

We already know that.

Most of us recognised it when Brendan Rodgers faced the same treatment. In truth it would not have mattered who took that seat in the dugout. Any manager would have run into the same frustrations.

People who clearly do not understand how to build or run a modern football club have repeatedly insulted their football intelligence.

There are many things wrong at Celtic.

Some of those problems appeared this season.

Many others have existed for years.

Ironically Keevins himself spent much of that time praising the very board he now criticises.

He was one of the loudest cheerleaders for the directors when things were going well. He happily praised figures like Peter Lawwell, Dermot Desmond and Michael Nicholson for achievements that were actually delivered by managers on the pitch.

Now he says that if Celtic win the league and perhaps the Scottish Cup, it will represent a personal triumph for Martin O’Neill.

Well, that part at least is true.

Because almost every major success Celtic has enjoyed in the past decade has come from exceptional managers overcoming the limitations of the boardroom.

They achieved in spite of the board.

Not because they were fully backed by it.

You will not find harsher critics of this board than many of the people who write and speak about Celtic online. Social media is full of supporters who have spent years highlighting the flaws in how this club is run.

But even the fiercest critics are not making claims like the one Keevins made this morning.

They are not accusing the club of risking the life or health of the manager.

That allegation is grotesque.

It is irresponsible.

And it deserves to be called out for exactly what it is.

A piece of gutter-level commentary from someone whose contempt for Celtic and the people around the club has been obvious for years.

How he justifies that level of hostility is a matter for his own conscience.

But one thing is certain.

He should not expect anyone to let comments like that pass without challenge.

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