Virgo licks his wounds

It was sad to see Adam Virgo leaving Celtic having never looked like establishing himself as a top-level player. But like any footballer who faces disappointments, Virgo had two choices – accept his failings and bad luck, vowing to fulfil his dreams or whine like a petulant schoolboy about it being the fault of everyone but himself.

Virgo chose the latter.

When players leave Celtic on a low, it is often a sad occasion and unkind reflections on their time at the club are usually uncalled-for. That would have been my reaction to Virgo’s departure – wish him luck and say nothing about his capabilities as he seemed like a nice enough lad.

However, he may be right to blame Gordon Strachan. Only the manager (and Mark McGhee) apparently know what aptitudes Virgo has as a player. He certainly didn’t show any signs of talent or athleticism in his ill-fated days with the club.

Virgo claims that had be been given “a run of ten games in central defence” he would have laid claim to a regular place. Even accounting for the vague possibility that this was plausible, it is a response that betrays a grossly unrealistic outlook.

Ten games with a liability in central defence will cost a team a league championship. It is a luxury he might enjoy at Brighton but never in a top side.

Contrast Virgo’s reaction with Steven Pressley – who was dropped after being off the pace in one game against Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Pressley was genuinely unlucky. A model professional who was not short of offers when he signed for Celtic, injuries and surgery had affected his condition. He was understandably frustrated at his lack of opportunities as the season progressed but never once resorted to the sort of petulant pouting Virgo has indulged in.

Who knows – Virgo may yet be a star in English League One.

Oh dear, Hugh Keevins has done an Artur

- Jorge, that is, not Boruc

First, the facts. The Daily Record is a rag. Not only that, it’s a pro-Rangers rag as was shown when Messrs Murray and Bain (along with one or two SFA bigwigs), decided to hold off their “reaction” to the refusal of their request for a second league extension as an exclusive to the paper.

Beforehand, there were only complaints, suspicions, insinuations and, of course, an assessment of the output of a supposed newspaper where Rangers only “drop their interest” in potential signings whereas players Celtic have never even spoken to always seem to “snub” us.

Then, of course, there have been attacks on Celtic players, not least the world’s number one goalie, Artur Boruc, who has been continually abused in Scotland for his religion. However, Hugh Keevins felt he had to join in.

Keevins is a curious beast. It is probably true that Celtic fans working in the media face suspicion from both sides. The Celtic-haters demand that they show their impartiality by regularly indulging in unwarranted criticism of the club, while Celtic fans accuse them of selling out before a word is crayoned in.

But Keevins is almost unique in the calibre of his vindictive prose against Celtic. It was he who was banned from press conferences during the tenure of Kenny Dalglish.

It was also Keevins who mercilessly attacked a very intelligent, dignified and respected man in Dr Josef Venglos, haranguing him in post-match radio interviews and trying to ridicule a man who was superior to him in every qualitative measure.

But let’s not forget it was also Keevins who once told us of the fact that our next Celtic manager would be the Portuguese Artur Jorge. He was so certain and so wrong on that one that he was shown the door at The Scotsman, his credibility having gone the way of a claim of a £700million Ibrox superstadium.

Yesterday, however, he went one stage further. He clearly and verifiably lied about a named individual to convince readers – and there are mercifully few Celtic fans amongst them – that Shunsuke Nakamura was the subject of interest from Bologna.

It is almost unprecedented for the president of an Italian club to feel it necessary to respond to a story in a Scottish newspaper with Alfredo Cazzola declaring emphatically "that he has not released the long and detailed statement which appears on the website of a British newspaper talking about interest in Nakamura".

Cazzola went on to insist that "the statement was completely made up, and that he is appalled in the face of this scandalous way of doing journalism".
People in Scotland may be appalled; we may be angered but we are not surprised. How the numerous other titles that quoted the story in good faith will react will not be so clear.

However, the Daily Record has now been exposed to international ridicule and that will impact on the credibility of its news reporting as well as its fawning sports homage to David Murray.

His mischievous little story is surely a step too far. Or to paraphrase the man himself, it's time to “release the Clydebank one!”

He will not be missed.