I knew Brendan would play Boyata

THERE were a few people looking at me as though I had horns on my head when I said a few weeks back that Dedryck Boyata would play again for Celtic.

I understand why some fans were disgusted with him. I understand where they are coming from and everyone is entitled to their opinion.

I can’t imagine what the reaction would have been in the Celtic dressing room during my time at the club had someone downed tools. I can’t imagine what Neil Lennon would have had to say or Henrik Larsson or Chris Sutton or Alan Thompson.

I can imagine Martin O’Neill would never have looked his road again – but he would still have played him if he was there.

It was interesting to see the reaction of the players when Boyata scored against Hamilton. To me that was a backing for the manager. It was a call of public unity – regardless of what might have been said behind closed doors this week – and a way of saying, ‘right, the manager has put him back in and we all need to get on with it.’

If he doesn’t go before Friday’s deadline then he is there, end of. There would be no point in not playing him. He is the best centre-half at the club just now.

Regardless of how you view his actions, the bottom line is that you need a team on the park to win you games. He let the club down, he let the fans down and he let his manager down, but the reaction to him at the weekend would suggest that he has built a few bridges, in the dressing room at least.

Ultimately, you have to trust the manager’s judgment. The buck stops with him. If he is going to play him then he is doing it for one reason only and that is because he thinks it is for the good of the team winning games.