Celtic staff fear knife attacks from sectarian racists

In a sensationalist piece in the Daily Record today writer Keith Jackson reports 'exclusively' that Celtic manager Gordon Strachan has barred his squad from socialising in Glasgow city centre after recent incidents in which the club's players and staff have been the victims of unprovoked attacks in the town.

Scott Brown, Aiden McGeady and Darren O'Dea were attacked recently when leaving a Glasgow nightclub and first team coach Neil Lennon was the victim of a serious assault when he was jumped from behind by two cowardly thugs shortly after leaving a bar near his home. Now, according to Jackson, manager Strachan is afraid that the sectarian assaults could escalate into even more serious violence in a city which has a horrendous problem with knife crimes.

Allegedly the players have been told they are banned from drinking alcohol on week nights and they'll be fined if they are spotted in city centre bars or nightclubs at weekends.

Strangely the word 'RANGERS' does not appear anywhere at all in Jackson's article and yet the fans of that club, known to fans of most other clubs as huns, are the perpetrators of the violence which has provoked the alleged action by Strachan and, indeed, Jackson's article itself.!

Not even a hint that the villains of the piece may somehow be linked to the club whose fans rampaged throughout Europe recently smashing up every city unfortunate enough to host them?

Then again we shouldn't be surprised at this type of reporting because Media House, a PR and crisis management company, are currently paid a great deal of money by Rangers to whitewash any hun misdemeanours.

Chelsea fans in the Manchester war zones, anyone?

Brilliant, you couldn't make it up.! Well actually you could………

Their violence in Manchester, including mob attacks on police officers, was televised all over Europe, indeed the world, and their traditional sectarian songbook has been augmented by vile, racist anti-Irish bile which has drawn condemnation from the governments of Scotland, Ireland, the UK and the European Parliament as well as anti-racist organisations. They openly boast of their hatred of all things Celtic, Irish,and Catholic and yet no mention of them in the article. What do you want Keith? DNA?

Anyway here's the full script from Jackson's alleged source: "On the face of it, this looks like a punitive measure imposed on the players because there have been a few high-profile incidents over the last few months. But in fact the manager is attempting to protect the players from themselves as much as anything else."

"He is concerned that if things are allowed to continue like this, one of them is going to end up getting stabbed and he made this clear to the entire squad. Glasgow at that time of night is not a safe place for these high-profile young men and they can't continue to put themselves in dangerous situations."

"So from now on they will have to stick to the manager's code of conduct. Drinking through the week is now a breach of rules and the city centre is basically off limits at the weekend. If a player wants to go out for a meal and a few glasses of wine after a game on a Saturday then, of course, there is no problem.

"But they are not permitted to go to bars, pubs and clubs in Glasgow city centre - if they want to go out for a late night then do it somewhere else. Some of the players might not like it but Gordon is doing his best to keep them out of trouble. He has reached the conclusion the risk level is just too high and feels he needs to put something in place that sets an example for how football players should live their lives."