And the winner is…best video from Rugby Park, plus Kris Boyd, Sutton and the need to be noticed

THERE have been plenty of videos on social media from Rugby Park yesterday where Scott Brown netted another goal – that’s two in a two weeks – to give Celtic the three points that sends us EIGHT points clear.

If you weren’t there yesterday this will let you experience those magical few minutes when Celtic took an enormous step towards 8IAR…

Sit back and enjoy!

On the Kris Boyd sideshow that has emerged. Boyd tries to be controversial as indeed does Chris Sutton. Both are trying to make a career in media, Sutton is a little further down the road and is also getting plenty of work down south.

For Boyd it’s only really Celtic bashing that gets him noticed. Yesterday he was a non-playing substitute,  an irrelevance and the Celtic support should have dealt with him accordingly. Of course he was always going to get stick warming up behind either goal as our fans are situated behind each end.

We could have sang ‘You let your club die’ and ‘Who ate all the pies?’ and that would have been fine. The choice of song was unfortunate in that it reflects badly on Celtic and gave him the opportunity to paint Celtic in a bad light – which is his entire media strategy.

The coin throwing has to be condemned 100%, the mini pitch invasion, less so. Both are trends in the game this season and both have their origins in the Ibrox support. Had the Sky cameras not picked up on the coin hitting Boyd’s arm it’s doubtful he would even have referred to this as he didn’t seem to notice. However that’s irrelevant and Celtic supporters should not be lowering ourselves to the Zombie gutter level.

The broken seats will no doubt be something that Celtic will pick up the bill for. This was not vandalism but simply a result of the surge caused by the excitement of the late win and its significance in the league table. Petty point scoring by Boyd.

Back to Sutton, he was on Radio 5 Live talking about Celtic’s European dilemma after the disappointment of last week’s defeat to Valencia. He reckons that there is a divide in the Celtic support – which is doubtful. Everyone seems pretty much in agreement that winning the league and Scottish Cup and therefore a Treble Treble is the priority and that the European form is a concern but one that can be parked until the summer. Few have any hope of eliminating Valencia – it’s only the players and manager who reckon the tie isn’t over (or so they say).

Brendan has said that to complete properly the club need to invest in the squad. That’s the choice Celtic face and there’s very little evidence to support the argument that this ambition exists within the boardroom. Hopefully they’ll prove us wrong – we can only live in hope.

Celtic made at least £2million from the ticket money last week and when we get into the Champions League – with an even higher standard of opposition, the money is much higher, due to the TV revenue from UEFA. How long will the support decide to buy Champions League tickets when we can’t compete is a point worth considering. The games are guaranteed to be on television and if we’re domestically focused buy unable to compete in European football then that £100  three match package becomes less attractive.

The glamour, spectacle, disco light shows and the like need one essential ingredient – 60,000 Celtic fans prepared to pay to get in. There are plenty of grounds where European crowds are already lower than domestic gates – check the Man City v Lyon game earlier in this campaign for evidence of that.

The point is, the Celtic support shouldn’t be taken for granted. PSG style 5-0 pumpings at home is not really an enjoyable night.

Here’s what Chris Sutton had to say on Five Live…

About Author

The Celtic Star founder and editor, who has edited numerous Celtic books over the past decade or so including several from Lisbon Lions, Willie Wallace, Tommy Gemmell and Jim Craig. Earliest Celtic memories include a win over East Fife at Celtic Park and the 4-1 League Cup loss to Partick Thistle as a 6 year old. Best game? Easy 4-2, 1979 when Ten Men Won the League. Email editor@thecelticstar.co.uk

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