Celtic No 2 dismisses McAuley jibe
CELTIC coach John Kennedy has dismissed Gareth McAuley’s title taunts as nothing more than ‘mud-slinging’ from ‘Rangers-minded’ people playing to the Ibrox fan base. And he insisted that Neil Lennon’s side would have clinched nine in a row by more than 13 points if the season had been played out in full. Kennedy was responding to comments from former Rangers defender McAuley that the Parkhead team’s
latest title triumph was ‘tainted and hollow’ because the term had not been completed. The Celtic assistant declared: ‘I think there’s an element of playing the game and saying what your support wants to hear. ‘But they can try and lift their support as much as they want, say what they like — because the reality is the trophy’s sitting at Celtic Park.
‘We know the world we live in. The tension in a place like Glasgow. Emotionally, things can get wound up very easily. ‘Gareth McAuley is someone who, in terms of his career, you’ve got to admire him. ‘But in terms of getting involved in something that doesn’t really involve him now, it’s unfortunate. He’s from a Rangers background and he’s been asked his opinion. ‘Ultimately, the ones who come out and say that kind of thing are Rangers-minded — or are the opposition.
‘The most important thing for us is we know what we’ve achieved is very legitimate. It’s very worthy. I know exactly how much work and effort goes into this. ‘Had the shoe been on the other foot, would Gareth McAuley be saying there’s an asterisk against Rangers’ title if they had been leading? Certainly not. ‘The people who say this are the people you expect to say it. But the reality is it’s not going to affect us in any way. ‘There’s always talk going on. We decide what’s worthy of listening to. But all talk of asterisks and a title being devalued, it doesn’t matter to us — we’re nine-in-arow champions, we’ve got the trophy again.
‘We’re very aware of the mudslinging and people trying to put you off track. But we’re set on how we do things.’
Rangers were 13 points behind with a game in hand when the Premiership was suspended on the eve of an Old Firm clash at Ibrox in March. Following last weekend’s decision to award the title to Celtic on a points-per-game basis, a number of former Ibrox favourites have questioned whether Celtic would have held on to their lead. But Kennedy said: ‘There’s every chance we would’ve extended our lead. The form we were in and the way things were looking everywhere else, I think there would’ve been a strong possibility of us increasing that 13-point gap.
‘And 100-per-cent we would’ve won the league anyway.’