Kris Boyd last night desperately tried to save his lucrative job on Sky Sports by issuing a clarification via Scottish Sun, the same newspaper were he yesterday complained that theRangers players had failed to test Callum McGregor protective face mask which the injured Celtic skipper wore at Celtic Park in midweek to allow him to play in the match that Celtic won 3-0.
“Look at Celtic. Callum McGregor played with a fractured cheekbone. The fact he managed to get through the 90 minutes without anyone testing out that face mask is another story, but his commitment to the team was tremendous,” Kris Boyd wrote. Earlier he had been complaining that the opening Celtic goal scored after five minutes by Reo Hatate should have been ruled out by referee Bobby Madden as an Ibrox player had suffered a head-knock colliding with a teammate.
The outrage at Boyd’s remarks grew throughout the day yesterday as his comments were widely shared on social media and reported on in all the Celtic Fan Media sites including of course The Celtic Star.
Then rather marvellously – given their previous reluctance to stand up to attacks on our club – the club released a short statement that appears to have had the unanimous support from the Celtic fans. The Celtic’s statement read: “With regards to comments made by former professional footballer Kris Boyd concerning Callum McGregor’s injury, we can confirm that the matter is currently being addressed by the club.”
By this time panic had set in and Kris Boyd hurried to issue a clarification Scottish Sun but not an apology.
“My Old Firm (sic) column in today’s Scottish Sun appears to have irked some Celtic supporters. Therefore I think it’s right that I add some context and clarification to a reference I made about Callum McGregor.
“I wrote: “The fact he managed to get through the 90 minutes without anyone testing out that face mask is another story, but his commitment to the team was tremendous.”
“Some have taken that line to mean I wanted one of the Rangers players to intentionally try and hurt the midfielder. However, that is absolutely and unequivocally not the case. It was simply meant as a criticism of the Rangers players for their failure to get close to McGregor.”
Celtic supporters are well aware that a Celtic player, star goalkeeper John Thomson lost his life playing against Rangers FC on 5 September 1931 and the idea that any former professional footballer would bemoan the fact that players in one team failed to inflict further damage to a fellow professional merely to achieve some sort of sporting advantage during a game of football is sickening, disgusting and frankly evil.
Millennium Memories – Rangers versus Celtic September 1931. The tackle that resulted in the death of Celtic goalkeeper John Thomson. As he dived at the feet of Sam English the strikers steel toe-capped boot smashed into his head causing a fatal injury.
Kris Boyd can have no place in Paradise again, Celtic should tell Sky Sports – who on Wednesday night were able to broadcast pictures of the incredible Celtic Park around the world to a huge, record breaking audience – that the club’s cooperation with the broadcaster will be reduced to the minimum necessary should Boyd not be removed from being involved in ANY Celtic game thy broadcast, home or away.
A line has been crossed. There is no going back. Celtic should ban him for life from Celtic Park and warn Sky Sports of the consequences should they not remove him from all Celtic games going forward. It is that simple.
Well done to Celtic for standing up for the Callum McGregor and taking the views of the support into account. Here’s the Celtic statement as posted on social media yesterday with some responses below…
“Intimating violence against the Club captain who has a serious face injury is a straight forward open and shut ‘He’s not welcome at Celtic Park’. No apology is acceptable. He said it and he obviously meant it. This is no misunderstanding from Boyd.”
“He should not be involved in football in any capacity no matter what clubs player he was advocating violence towards.”
“That’s the type of PR we want and deserve. Celtic Football Club making a statement saying ‘these are matters we are aware of, that we take seriously, and we are proactive in tackling them’ around the many issues we face from biased journalists and broadcasters.”
“He has been allowed through his TV work and pieces in the rags to put over his agenda, these outlets have facilitated it. They are as much out of order as he is. Tell Sky enough is enough and withdraw any co-operation with the Sun, something that should have been done long ago.”
“For years it’s been a joke topic how he gets work as a pundit. He offers nothing to discussions, acts like a kid, has nothing when challenged by other pundits. His bias and immaturity towards Celtic is embarrassing. It’s now time he was dropped by the media.”
“Delighted you are addressing this, well done.”
“Excellent – guy’s an utter embarrassment to Scottish football.”
“Excellent. Any knowledgable, respectable, credible ‘pundit’ wouldn’t lower themselves to the level of wishing any player an injury.
Perhaps he was just upset at his own derby goal scoring total being passed by a player in his first derby match, within 42 minutes.”
“Well done Celtic. An absolutely moronic statement from a total imbecile. Hopefully Sky Sports are also asking themselves if this is how they want to be represented!”
“He should never be allowed to set foot in Celtic Park again, Those comments were disgraceful and Sky Sports should also look at that, and decide if that’s what’s representative of their values from a pundit who works for them…”
“Well done Celtic. He needs to be brought to task. We all don’t mind a bit of banter but questioning why (the)Rangers players didn’t try and cause a further or more serious injury to Callum is disgraceful.”
“Well done Celtic, please ensure that cretin is nowhere near our stadium again.”
“To infer and encourage a violent assault on a professional football player is absolutely disgusting. Well done Celtic dealing with this an I hope Scotland Sky do the same. Shocking comments from Boyd.”
