Celtic defeated Motherwell 3-1 at the weekend, rallying from a goal down to secure a morale-boosting three points at Fir Park.
Brendan Rodgers has now closed the gap to two points at the Scottish Premiership summit and abruptly ended an interview with the BBC after refusing to expand on what he meant behind stating there is already a ‘story being written’ about the fate of his side this season.
talkSPORT presenter Jim White and his co-host Simon Jordan traded some interesting verbals surrounding the subject on today’s offering of the radio show.
White started off regarding Rodgers’ refusal to explain what he meant, stating: “Who’s got an agenda?”
Jordan replied: “He believes that the media are writing a narrative that Celtic are done and finished, and he doesn’t want to give them an opportunity to turn around and say to him, I think this is your agenda.
“What you’re trying to do is you’re not trying to concentrate on my win; you’re concentrating on Rangers. If you want to talk about Rangers, go talk to Rangers.”
White then queried why Rodgers commented on a ‘story being written’ about Celtic, stating: “So why did he say that?”
Jordan: “Maybe he thought better of it because what’s that old expression? The pen is mightier than the sword; that’s the reason why, because once you open the box on something, there’s no determination on something about giving it context or nuance.
“The journalist will write what they think is the best headline to get the attraction, and there’ll be no nuance, no context, no balance because it’s not suited.”
White: “Not suited by who?”
Jordan: “The journalist.”
White: “No, Simon, you’re missing the point. You don’t get it. This journalist, in this instance, is not asking the question in the knowledge of the answer she’s going to get; she’s legitimately asking a follow-up question.
Jordan: “You’re missing the context; his reaction is; why are you guys pedalling a narrative about what Rangers are doing and that Celtic are done?”
Celtic have no room for distractions in their pursuit of a double
Whether people think Celtic are collectively subjected to certain treatment by segments of the media or not, it doesn’t matter, truthfully.
Realistically, supporters will only care about the playing staff having a fire in their belly to go and claim another Scottish Premiership title, something they hope can be joined in the trophy cabinet by the Scottish Cup when all is said and done.
Evaluating yesterday’s victory against Motherwell, Adam Idah, Tomoki Iwata and Hyunjun Yang, in particular, demonstrated their ability to provide in crunch moments.
Cameron Carter-Vickers’ return from injury also had a significant bearing on our improved second-half performance, which many hope can be the catalyst for an exciting end to the campaign.
Dundee await at Parkhead in midweek before a critical test against Heart of Midlothian at Tynecastle on Sunday.
One suspects the outcome of these two fixtures will go a long way towards determining if this Celtic side has the steel required to make their aspirations into a reality.
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