SENTINELCELTS

Morning,all.

While The Good Ship Celtica sails rather serenely on the waters of the domestic game,we are being sorely tested off the pitch. There is an imminent item from Alex Thomson of Channel 4 News about the sex abuse scandal surrounding Celtic Boys Club,which will doubtless attempt to tie in the club with suggestions of negligence,collusion or wilful disregard. We also saw last month a disgraceful smear campaign against the fans,alleging that Alfredo Morelos had his car brakes tampered with. This eventually led to the suspension of Michael Stewart from the BBC for being the only person to have the balls to name the person responsible,and then let the world know that he thinks him to be a dangerous man.

This was shortly followed by the disgraceful mistranslation of a rocking horse droppings rarity,an interview with Morelos himself,in which he appeared to accuse Celtic fans of racism.

This was countered by Celtic Plc demanding an apology,and when they weren’t satisfied with the response,they withdrew co-operation with Sky Sports and presented their case to Ofcom. Additionally,there has been a ramping up of anti-Celtic bias on Sportscene,with every decision that could be remotely seen to be in our favour forensically analysed by almost entirely ex-Rangers players and EBT recipients. Plus,of course,spurious links to us in the papers via interviews with former signing targets which don’t even mention the club in the attributed quotes!

”Twas always thus,of course. But there is something of a sinister whiff to all of the above,where no attempt at independent verification is made as long as the topic is of a sufficiently anti-Celtic nature. At least some of the people involved in it do so in plain sight,unlike the feeder of the various Morelos allegations,all of which have been done without naming any sources.

In fact,it all got a bit murkier yesterday when Ofcom declared themselves unable to act on the Morelos interview as it seems it wasn’t available on their scheduled programming,only being carried on their online and OnDemand services. All very strange,as my sister saw it-and she doesn’t use their online or OnDemand services! But it seems to be the end of it as far as Ofcom are concerned,unless anyone has a recording of the original.

Unlikely,I reckon. Can’t think of many Celtic supporters who would record an interview with him,unless their spidey-sense paranoia gene was working overtime! I’m beginning to think,in fact,that Celtic should employ someone full-time to do just that. Hold them to account for every inaccuracy made about our club.

Bloody hell,we could solve the unemployment problem in the West of Scotland if we did that,because it would take a team of them working 24-7!

But perhaps we could achieve something similar if we took some of the responsibility away from Peter Lawwell? Don’t get me wrong-for once,this isn’t an anti-PL tirade. I think he played a blinder by going to Ofcom,though the non-cooperation ploy could have done with being a tad more permanent. No,it’s just that I think we need a proper media hound in charge of our media relations. Let him fight fire with fire,let him loose on the charlatans who continually snipe at our club. Give him the remit of being polite and personable to one and all,while letting them know that the current state of affairs will not be tolerated. An iron fist in a velvet glove,a Rottweiler straining at the leash. Peter Lawwell cannot seriously be expected to devote the time to all this,it is a full time job in itself. There is more than enough in his current job description to fill his time,and it is for that reason that the leeches in the media have grown braver and more brazen in their sniping at us.

For that,really,is all that it is. Sniping. Nipping at our ankles. All insignificant if taken as individual attacks-but have you seen how a pack of hyenas take down an animal much larger and more fearsome than themselves?

It’s time to get serious,Peter. There’s a definite agenda out there,as there always has been. But it is becoming more of a problem,more focused and more frequent. Find the person who can take this load off your shoulders and who knows how to fight back. And isn’t scared to fight dirty when required. And tell him that he has the 100% support of the club,because you better believe that they will try to make him the story in order to bring him down before he does it to them.

This is no time for The Marquess of Queensberry Rules. We didn’t start this fight,nor did we choose it. But we can win it easily if the right decisions are made in time.

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Above article by BMCUWP. As ever,our door is always open to all of our contributors to offer their thoughts as Article of the Day. Just pop them into a mail and we will publish them as soon as possible. Mail Mahe at

sentinelcelts@gmail.com