Captain Bitton in the Tree, Special Branch but Joke is on the Mainstream Media

Nir Bitton captained Celtic yesterday as Callum McGregor was among the large number of call-offs along with the likes of goalkeepers Joe Hart, Scott Bain and Conor Hazard plus Anthony Ralston, Greg Taylor and others, amid what could only be a Covid outbreak within the camp.

That must have given Ange Postecoglou a stressful Christmas Day trying to sort out who would be available to play St Johnstone yesterday on a pitch that was far from being at its best. One Celtic supporter on social media stated that he was “90% sure St Johnstone were growing tatties on that pitch” and you could see where he was come from.

Still Celtic started the game brilliantly, Abada getting a couple of goals and St Johnstone were fortunate to get in at the break just two behind. Yesterday David Potter reckoned that Liel Abada had one of his best games for Celtic since arriving in the summer and of course he was correct. However his could also be said about his fellow countryman Nir Bitton who had been a Celtic player since 2013.

Sandman gave Bitton his coveted Man of the Match yesterday, with a 8.5/10 mark. He wrote: “Shades it for Xmas star. Our best utiliy player this century. Today he was Captain Blockchain, and he looked like he meant to mark the honour with a win no matter the cost in country bumpkin lives. Striding forward on his telescopic pins, playing the pass, thumping opponents, demanding his team slug it out in the muck; captain’s performance capped by a strike with the timing of an action hero swooping in to save Christmas on an impovised swing.”

Afterwards in his Sky Sports interview Bitton said: “I try to do my best every game — this armband is just a sign. I don’t put a lot of attention on it, but obviously it’s a privilege for me to captain this club and these boys.

“We had an amazing game, although we made it quite difficult for ourselves near the end. It was a comfortable game for us, we controlled from the first minute and I’m glad we won.

“We knew before the game it didn’t matter what team we put out, we are the better team.”

Celtic did make it difficult for themselves for a spell in the second half as a desperate St Johnstone fightback resulted in a decent goal that gave fourth choice goalkeeper Vasilis Barkas rather unfortunately for him losing his clean sheet. In what might turn out to be his last action in a Celtic shirt the £4.5m signing from AEK Athens had a decent game in the Celtic goals and was blameless for the goal conceded.

Meanwhile outside the stadium, according to Daily Mail this was happening: “Defiant Celtic fans clash with police
in Glasgow as they storm football ground to watch match after crowds were capped at 500 in Sturgeon’s Christmas crackdown.”

The game was in PERTH not Glasgow and there was no clash with Police as Celtic SLO John Paul Taylor explains this morning:

“Just to clarify some inaccurate reports from yesterday. There was no clash with Police, no storm of gates, a handful of fans went to cheer their team from a an area which was away from the Stadium. Police were agreeable to this and fans dispersed at FT without any issue,” John Paul posted this morning.

It was even claimed yesterday that Special Branch had been involved in this drama, although hands up that was probably Liam Kelly on The Celtic Star who deserves the blame for starting that ball rolling. Photo Of The Day: Celtic Fan In Special Branch Encounter was the headline that the hacks must have seen.

And Nir Bitton got in on the fun himself on his Instagram account posting this ‘Took n=my celebration to the next level” funny…Well done that man, is that a cigar he’s smoking?

TWICE AS GOOD

Thanks to everyone who ordered Harry Hood – Twice as Good for Christmas presents. If you got an Ange jumper instead then why not order this brilliant book by Matt Corr, or indeed David Potter’s biography of another Celtic legend Alec McNair – born on this day incidentally – from Celtic Star Books or from the official Celtic stores?