Nigel Reo-Coker sneers at Celtic? Did Reo-Coker ever even win anything, let alone make a Champions League appearance, during his career?

Anybody remember Nigel Reo-Coker?

Anybody remember what he won during his illustrious career?

I do, nothing.

Nada, zero, zilch.

Well, okay, if you want to term a Football League Championship play-off medal as winning something, fair enough.

I suppose it is classed as the biggest financial jackpot in club football.

Not sure if it was back in 2005, but hey, I suppose it’s something.

Does anybody remember Reo-Coker ever playing in the Champions League?

Nope, I didn’t think so.

Because he never did during his glittering journeyman career, which encompassed 11 clubs, from England, to the USA, to Canada, to Norway and then back to England.

Won nothing.

Achieved nothing.

But he can sneer at Celtic.

Have a good laugh at our expense.

I’m not usually inclined to do post mortems on games like last night’s, because everybody else does.

But when I saw this shite article about Reo-Coker in the Daily Record today, it pushed me to say my piece.

I’ll get back to Reo-Coker later on, but first I need to talk about something that rankled with me from last night.

Donatas Rumsas.

This man was a joke last night.

His refusal to use VAR to review several incidents throughout the game is mind boggling.

Namely the punch in the face on Hatate, which was a blatant red card, followed by his decision not to review whether Pedro’s goal was offside or not.

It’s highly questionable whether Daizen Maeda actually made contact with the ball at all before it fell to Palma for his goal, easily as questionable as to whether Pedro was offside for their winner.

Yet Rumsas felt our goal should be disallowed without looking at himself, and never bothered to request a review on Lazio’s goal.

Granted, it might not have been offside, but similarly, Daizen Maeda might not have made contact with the ball either for Palma’s goal.

It’s inconclusive.

No matter how many times I’ve looked at it, I can’t fully tell whether Maeda actually touched it or not.

In that respect, the decision to allow or disallow the goal should have been left to the ref.

Rumsas was allowing it to stand until VAR intervened.

VAR is there to assist him, not the other way round.

The Video Assistant Referee advises him, it is not up to the VAR to make the call.

That’s up to Rumsas, and in that respect, he should have over-ruled VAR, and allowed the goal to stand.

Indecision seems to be the over-riding theme from last night.

Nobody seemed to want to take responsibility for anything within their remit, from the referee to the VAR.

How in God’s name did the VAR not see the punch on Hatate from Elseid Hysaj?

The whole stadium saw it, along with the cameras showing the game.

How did the VAR not stop play and ask the ref to review it?

That is the correct function of VAR, to assist the referee in making decisions.

But instead, last night, the VAR was making decisions for the ref.

I knew when the Palma goal was disallowed that Lazio would sucker punch us.

I just felt it.

It took the wind out of our sails and killed our momentum.

When they scored, it just felt like Deja vu, the same old story.

Which brings me right back to Nigel Reo-Coker and his sneering.

He likens us to a Champions League “broken record”.

Which he seems to find amusing.

I liken us to a broken record in Europe too, but here’s the thing, as a Celtic fan for over three decades, I reserve the right to do so.

Reo-Coker, who has achieved nothing in the game, does not get to sneer at us.

He seems to think this is a funny statement:

 In England we make fun of Tottenham and say Tottenham are very Spursy doing Spursy. For the Champions League, we can say Celtic are being very Celticy.

Oh man, where to start with that?

Ironically enough, Spurs don’t seem to be doing Spursy any more, and it’s taken an ex-Celtic manager to stop that.

Don’t think anybody is laughing at them now, do you?

Second in the EPL and unbeaten this season so far.

As for Celtic being Celticy?

I can categorically state that nobody else in the history of the game, ever, other than Nigel Reo-Coker, will make that statement.

It’s that stupid.

Kind of like this:

It is something they keep doing. It’s a broken record. There’s good opportunities, good chances, don’t take it, not clinical enough. Giving the ball away the ball in a Champions League game just in front of your backline in the dying minutes of the game? Being very Celtic.

Talk about stating the obvious?

Is this what passes for quality punditry these days?

Being very Celticy??

I’d rather be very Celticy than a has been, who won nothing throughout his journeyman career, and comes out with shite like the contents of that article.

When you’ve actually participated in the Champions League, and maybe actually won something during your career, then perhaps you can pontificate to Celtic about being Celticy.

The only broken record at Celtic is in the boardroom.

It keeps playing Zadok the priest over and over again.

The board love listening to it, because it fills the coffers with cash, none of which they’re willing to use to improve our squad.

We the fans, are once again left to lament that fact after last night.

I do not blame the manager.

I do not blame the players.

In fact, I will never blame them.

I blame our board, the fault lies with them, and their total and utter lack of ambition.

The grey men are holding back our club from competing at this level.

As long as they are in charge, we will never see progress in Europe.

All the while, they will line their pockets with the huge profits European participation brings with it.

And in doing so, denying us, the fans, the chance to see our team progress at this level.

Yes, the “broken record” as Nigel “I never won anything of note in my career” Reo-Coker sneeringly pointed out, will continue to play.

It will continue to remain stuck on the same bloody song, over and over again.

Until someone breaks it over Peter Lawwell’s fat heid.

One can dream…..