Good Afternoon
Once in a while, The Clumpany sees a headline and exclaims “WTF?!”.
Once in a while, The Clumpany reads a newspaper article and exclaims “WTF?!”.
And every now and then BOTH these things happen when reading a single piece.
Today has provided one of those rare occasions.
The Clumpany was a bit perturbed to read the following headline on the Evening Times website:
Celtic boss Ronny Deila urges SFA disciplinary panel to go softly softly on Ciftci over biting rap
The Clumpany hoped Ronny hadn’t been sounding off and giving the ‘Celtic seeking special treatment’ brigade a stick with which to beat the club.
“Let the disciplinary process run its course and work around the outcome as necessary, Ronny”, I thought to myself.
And guess what The Clumpany found when it read the article?
Go on – guess!
Yes, that’s right.
Ronny hadn’t said anything that could be construed as urging, encouraging, or even hoping the SFA would go easy on Ciftci if found guilty of the biting charge.
In fact even the assertion in Alison McConnell’s opening sentence wasn’t true!
“Ronny Deila is hoping the SFA’s disciplinary panel go easy on Nadir Ciftci next week”.
Oh dear!
What Ronny actually said was
“We knew when we signed him that he could be out for the start of the season if he is banned for some games, but we are prepared for that”.
“We have seen him often enough to know that he is a big, powerful player and he is a handful for any central defence. He is so difficult to play against”.
“Even if he is banned for league games, he will still be available to us for European matches, so he will still be able to feature. It is not ideal, but of course we were aware of it and we will deal with it when it comes”.
“He is still a young player and he will mature. He is a good player, but we know that he can get even better if he does the right things and plays the game the right way on and off the pitch at Celtic.”
So in short, Ronny said measured, sensible things about Ciftci, and the potential ban hanging over him.
It doesn’t make for very entertaining copy though, does it?
No. Far better to dress up his remarks with completely fictitious statements.
Statements that could give the impression of Ronny possibly trying to influence disciplinary proceedings.
I would say “you couldn’t make it up”.
But clearly you can!
#KeepOnClumping
The Clumpany 