Kris Boyd talks sense for Celtic after questionable comments from Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell

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Not many Celtic fans will agree with what Kris Boyd says, but after the win over Motherwell, there was an exception.

The champions went into the match full of life and confidence after the Bhoys recorded a deserved draw against Atalanta in the Champions League in midweek.

Before the match, there were a few talking points about Celtic’s XI because key players were either on the bench or injured.

Captain Callum McGregor was the big name absent, but those who came in for him, including duo Paulo Bernardo and Luke McCowan, impressed and delivered the points for the side.

Added to that, Celtic were looking to move to the top of the Scottish Premiership table after Aberdeen’s win over Dundee United on Saturday.

Celtic’s 3-0 win over Motherwell confirmed that, but Stuart Kettlewell’s comments after the match were odd.

Kris Boyd labels Liam Gordon’s red card challenge on Adam Idah a ‘disgrace’

The game was won by Celtic, the points were in the bag, and in typical fashion, the tempo of the game was dying down.

Yet, Liam Gordon felt the need to lunge in on Adam Idah, then after VAR intervened, he received a straight red card for his tackle.

Boyd was in no doubt that the tackle was a ‘disgrace’ and he couldn’t understand why it initially took so long to bring out the red, as he told Sky Sports Football (27/10/24 at 5:10 pm).

“That tackle was a disgrace,” said Boyd. “It’s a shocking challenge. He lunges to start with and then he catches him there. I hope he is okay.

“The adrenaline and when you are playing games, you can get away from things. But that’s a shocking challenge. Forget about looking at it slowed down. It’s a terrible tackle.

“He lunges at him there. Catches him there. You can see the bottom of his leg and ankle rolling there. I don’t know why it took so long to get him off the pitch. It’s a straight red. It’s a shocking challenge.”

What Stuart Ketllewell said about Motherwell’s red card against Celtic

You can understand that, in the heat of the moment, sometimes managers make odd comments or when they have narrowly lost a game.

But this wasn’t heat of the moment and nor did Motherwell lose the match by a narrow margin.

The game was gone, done and dusted when Gordon made that challenge, yet Stuart Kettlewell felt that it was an ‘unbelievably harsh’ red card, as he told Sky Sports.

It’s quite remarkable that the one talking sense here for Celtic is Boyd because if he thinks it was a straight red and pretty woeful, then you really have no complaints.

“I personally think it’s really, really harsh,” said Kettlewell. “I do. I think it’s harsh. I can understand how it can look on a still image. There wasn’t a lot of force in the tackle. He was trying to get a toe-ender just to steal the ball.

“We all want to jump on it and we all want to say it’s a red card. I think it’s unbelievably harsh.”