SCOTTISH FOOTBALL’S Tweet OF THE WEEK
CELTIC don’t lose many domestic games. Just three seasons ago they were invincible in Scotland and you can’t win three consecutive Trebles while regularly being defeated.
This means that on those rare occasions when the Hoops are beaten on Scottish soil, fans unaccustomed to losing are sent into a tailspin.
When Celtic crashed at Livingston last Sunday, fans on social media fell into four camps. There were those level-headed supporters who bemoaned Neil Lennon’s team selection, Ryan Christie’s inexplicable rush of blood and the off-days of too many key men while simultaneously acknowledging that the league’s only eight games old.
Then there were those fans who decided the appropriate response was solemn defiance more in keeping with a final-day relegation than the first dropped points of the season. Never one to be accused of losing perspective, Tommy “I can’t make the Tommy Sheridan joke I want to make here” Sheridan shared a lengthy Facebook status accompanied by a meme. And what a meme it was.
You know that Marilyn Monroe quote that your most basic work colleagues were posting in 2008? Bla bla at my worst honk honk at my best? Yeah, that one. That but accompanied by an image of a father and son walking towards a giant Celtic badge. It’s the sort of thing a parody account would come up with but in this instance it’s completely earnest.
This being Celtic, one of the four camps consisted of conspiracy theorists. One account posted a picture of Willie Collum and accompanied it with “This little Man has cost CELTIC more points & cups, than any other Ref, not because he’s a bigoted CHEAT, Because he’s the WORST Referee ever in Scottish Football”. Lots of favourite bits in that tweet, not least the all caps “CELTIC”, but personally I can’t see past “This little Man”.
If you enjoyed that, you’ll love “@CelticFC have been pish today but it is clear to see operation stop 10 in a row is in full swing. F*** Willie Collum, f*** the @ ScottishFA and their orange officials”. There were plenty more where these tweets came from. Bear in mind too, that this is all in response to a sending off that even Neil Lennon admitted was the correct decision.
@ABurningPride delivered the most appropriate response to this brand of green-tinted ridiculousness, tweeting “A Celtic player could pull a shotgun out and start picking folk off from the centre circle, and our fans would still be hitting out with ‘Never a red, the ref’s a p***k’”.
Finally, there were the group most worthy of your respect – those fans who can actually take and even make jokes at the expense of their team. Take @seanmcdonald01, host of the Blethered podcast, who tweeted, “The steak pie at Livingston was excellent and the juice was also very good. Not too watery, not too syrupy, not flat either. These are the full list of positives I’m taking from today’s game.”
See also this week’s Tweet of the Week winner @96KN_, who summed up a bad day for Lennon with “I love Jonny Hayes. I also love my maw. But I am not going to chuck my maw out wide left when we are needing two goals in the last ten mins”.
BONUS TWEET: It didn’t quite fit in with this week’s Celtic theme but this edition of ‘Tweet of the Week’ couldn’t pass without recognition for @ jordanallison90. Ahead of Hearts welcoming Kilmarnock, he tweeted “Armed forces day at Tynecastle. Men and women willing to make the ultimate sacrifice of watching a Craig Level Hearts team. Respect”.
Hearts lost, obviously.