I’ve got Graeme Souness ’ number. I mean his modus operandi – not his mobile number.
I know I have because it’s the same one I’m sometimes listed under on the media team sheet. Souey’s got himself a new earner on talkSPORT, where a memorable phrase like calling Celtic the “unacceptable face of Scottish football” is the verbal equivalent of sticking the ball in the net and discussing how it got there at a later date.
I’m uniquely placed to interpret how the broadcasting game works because I’ve been lobbing grenades on the radio for so long it was still called the wireless when I threw the first one. Nearly 40 years of on-air combat tells me Graeme has picked up the tricks of the trade and learned how to fire the scatter gun with commendable speed.
He certainly wasn’t accurate in terms of what he said about Celtic but he gained widespread notoriety for the outfit who employ him. Graeme has been freed to say the kind of things his masters at Sky Television would rather he didn’t because they prefer harmonious relationships within the game.
They might yet, I suspect, have a quiet word in his ear for future reference however – particularly if Celtic’s lawyers check out Souness’ words for evidence of defamation. Shock jock tactics can occasionally carry consequences. Souey used to ban me from Ibrox when he was Rangers ’ manager, for instance, but I never took offence.
As I’ve said before now, fewer more interesting men have had me thrown off the premises. And he did confront head on his own club’s discriminatory practice of not signing Catholic players, which placed them in the category in which he placed Celtic last week, so he knows right from wrong. But, the question is, are Celtic the unacceptable face of Scottish football?
Of course not. They will not have agreed with the rumpus caused by anti-royal chanting and the flaunting of offensive banners before the game against St Mirren last Sunday.
But they simply don’t do enough to chastise the rent-a-cause dial-a-mob who embarrass them on a regular basis. Souey, though, singled out Celtic and blithely ignored the other groups of supporters who were guilty of the same offence at various grounds last weekend.
I have a certain degree of sympathy for the clubs dragged into the unseemly mess through no fault of their own. If a supporter went out into the street and committed a breach of the peace while wearing his favourite team’s shirt, for example, would that reflect badly on the club as a whole?
Not for me. There are times when Celtic, or any other club, are entitled to ask how they can legislate for the random actions of their supporters.
Celtic don’t condone the fans who told Ange Postecoglou where he could stick his pre-match request for them to be respectful of the minute’s applause to mark the Queen’s passing.
But they don’t, at the same time, do nearly enough to condemn the people who will soon land them in big trouble with UEFA for their similarly crass behaviour in Poland before Celtic played
Shakhtar Donetsk in the
Champions League.
None of this, meanwhile, will cause Postecoglou to look for an escape route to Leicester City when Brendan Rodgers eventually gets the push. Ange made a point of wearing, and promoting, Celtic’s colours when he was in Australia a few days ago and went on television there to address the matter of his immediate future.
Proving, while he was at it, the global brand the club possesses will be unaffected by unruly fans in spite of Souness’ suggestion of imminent commercial collapse. Postecoglou has more immediate considerations on his mind, like making up for what went on while Celtic were wearing their third-choice outfit in the defeat to St Mirren.
The stigmatised strip we will call it. Taking advantage of the freedom of expression now being so readily embraced by Souey, I would say Celtic were guilty of complacency, ragged, arrogant and presumptuous. And I’ll let you put the first letter from each of those four words together to form a shorter, sharper assessment.
The manager picked the wrong team and complicated the simple business of picking your strongest XI to win matches. Who’s next on the line, Graeme?
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