Celtic man Nir Bitton may not do press too often, but many journalists will be wishing he did after his latest quotes.
The Israel international delivered some tremendous lines on Thursday as he reflected on the darkest part of the Hoops’ season so far.
Most of the Celtic support would have had a pretty miserable New Year after Rangers beat us at Parkhead on December 29th.
Talk of our majestic trophy run coming to an end was rife, and no one was off limits as far as criticism was concerned.
Bitton came on as a sub in the defeat, and has been speaking about the reaction post match as the vultures swarmed around the goings-on at Celtic Park.
Bitton gives a fascinating insight into the Celtic dressing room
He told the Scottish Sun: “I think after the game — before the winter break — everyone killed us. Everyone wanted us to fail.
“But I think it’s a winning mentality around the dressing room and around the club.
“It is the belief and we knew that if we’re going to do the things right we’re going to come back stronger.”
Wow. “Everyone wanted us to fail”. Strong words indeed from Bitton. But is he wrong?
When you’re as dominant as this Celtic team have been for so long, it’s only natural that you become more of a target for people.
Football fans like to see their teams winning trophies. And this current Celtic side haven’t let any other top-flight side do that in about four years.
So it’s only natural that they’re gonna be a little agitated.
But Bitton’s comments on Celtic having that inner belief are telling. Things didn’t go well for us at the end of December, but our manager didn’t panic.
He used the winter break as a chance for the team to push the reset button and come back stronger in January.
Bitton and his team-mates benefitted massively as a result. And the rest, as they say, is history.
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