Celtic find themselves in a tense title race with everything on the line, and naturally, the rumour mill has gone into absolute overdrive.
Following Celtic’s recent Scottish Cup tie against Rangers at Ibrox, wild speculation circulated online regarding the absences of Julian Araujo and Tomas Cvancara.
However, former Celtic striker Frank McAvennie has completely rubbished the idea that Martin O’Neill would axe his key players over a post-match pub video.
Drawing on his own notoriously colourful playing days, McAvennie bluntly shut down the theory following Celtic’s chaotic penalty shootout win at Rangers.
“My manager said that to me all the time,” he explained, dismissing the prospect of O’Neill dropping them for disciplinary reasons.
“Never worked. I never got dropped. I was always ready for the game. You have to have your best players on the park.”
Do you agree with Charlie Mulgrew, Celtic fans?
Very interesting take!
Frank McAvennie dismisses the noise around Celtic duo Julian Araujo and Tomas Cvancara
The rumours had suggested the attacking pair were disciplined after footage allegedly showed Araujo ‘swinging from the rafters in a pub’, while Cvancara held up a phone displaying a message taunting Celtic’s city rivals.
According to the gossip, which was explained by Simon Houston on the Let Me Be Frank Podcast, O’Neill had explicitly warned the squad to keep a ‘low profile’, only to wake up to completely unwanted headlines.
Yet, McAvennie’s logic is entirely sound. Celtic simply cannot afford to sacrifice their most dangerous options right now.
With the league crown at stake, O’Neill needs his absolute best starting XI on the pitch, regardless of any pub celebrations.
Beyond McAvennie’s dismissal, the basic facts firmly put these wild claims to bed.
O’Neill has already clarified the extent of Araujo’s genuine injury, and Cvancara actually played – and scored from the spot against Motherwell – a full week after the Ibrox party, completely undermining the idea of a sudden disciplinary exile.
Simon Houston: “With two more games before the split, Celtic know what they need to do. They need to win all seven games to retain the title.
“But how can they do that without a goalscorer?”
McAvennie: “What was the matter with the boy Cvancara?”
Houston: “Well, if you are to believe the rumours. Araujo as well, out of the picture. Cvancara was ill, and there is an injury (to Araujo).”
McAvennie: “I can’t see Martin sacrificing players if we are going to try and win the league. That’s our best players.”
Houston: “Folk might not know what we are talking about, at the moment. There was a rumour doing the rounds. The aftermath of the Rangers cup tie, when Araujo was filmed swinging from the rafters in a pub.
“Cvancara was holding up his phone with a message taunting Rangers as well. The rumour is that Martin O’Neill said to them, ‘Go out and keep a low profile,’ and then he woke up to these headlines.”
McAvennie: “My manager said that to me all the time. Never worked. I never got dropped. I was always ready for the game. You have to have your best players on the park.
“I can’t see Martin doing that. I can’t see Martin sacrificing that. Then putting Hatate right back. I don’t understand that.”
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