Celtic goalkeeper Conor Hazard has sent a defiant message to critics of the club.
The goalkeeper, 21, may never have made a competitive appearance for the Hoops but big things are expected of him in the coming years.
Hazard may be gearing up for international duty with the Northern Ireland under-21s, but his mind was still on the weekend’s action that saw Celtic grab a vital 2-0 win away to Rangers.
“We don’t doubt ourselves,” he told the Belfast Telegraph. “Everyone else can talk and if people want to put us down because of the three previous seasons we’ve had and the record we have that’s up to them.
“Obviously people want to try and put pressure on us but we don’t look at that and just focus on ourselves and put in performances that will do the job and it did at Ibrox.”
Hazard is spot on about the feeling towards Celtic
For his relatively young years, Hazard actually makes a very pertinent point.
Celtic’s success over the past few years has been terrific for our fans to enjoy, but supporters of other Scottish clubs will be bored. They, and the majority of the press, will want to see new winners this season, and that could be reflected in coverage of the team.
For example, the negativity spread about the club prior to the Ibrox victory seemed totally off kilter with reality. Celtic had won ten of their 12 matches going into the fixture – the same record as our opponents. We had also scored more league goals and navigated our Europa League tie far more convincingly. Yet, you got the impression we were going to the Nou Camp and not Ibrox.
Celtic are still at the top of the Scottish game, where we have been for years, and people will want to shoot at us. That’s not necessarily a bad thing though.
Neil Lennon has built up a siege mentality of “everyone’s against us” in the past. He’s capable of doing it again. It may actually suit his and the players’ styles.
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