Rangers fans have been reacting to the news that Michael Stewart has landed himself a job with Celtic TV next season.
The former Scotland midfielder has signed a deal at Celtic Park that will see him working alongside Chris Sutton and John Hartson on the Parkhead club’s coverage amid the coronavirus shutdown.
Whilst Sutton and Hartson are ex-Celtic strikers, Stewart has no prior connection to the club but has been presented as an unbiased commentator across BBC Scotland’s and BT Sport’s Scottish football coverage.
This move suggests that Stewart will favour the success of Celtic next season.
Not that there was much doubt about this before anyway.
Stewart was suspended from BBC Scotland’s coverage last season after comments he made about former Gers PR guru Jim Traynor.
These suggested Traynor had invented allegations of racism towards Alfredo Morelos from Celtic fans.
It’s not the first time Stewart appealed to the paranoid fantasies of Celtic fan blogs and he also raised questions about the finances of Rangers after they signed Ianis Hagi.
This is commonplace in Celtic fan media which seeks to speculate over Rangers’ finances with obsessive coverage and half-truths into the goings-on at the club.
Some individuals have let this seep into mainstream media to help develop dangerous stereotypes or elevate their own profiles. Rangers know it cannot continue.
And that’s before we talk about the biomechanics, the constant moaning and the moral war-bringing which is so prominent in Stewart’s coverage of Rangers.
The likes of Club 1872 have been vehement in their response to Stewart’s inflammatory coverage.
However, all of this has naturally increased Stewart’s popularity amongst the Celtic support and it’s little wonder the Parkhead club have moved for him.
BT Sport no longer have the rights to SPFL coverage and it’s not yet clear if the outspoken commentator will have a spot with Sky Sports next season.
Rangers fans think it’s further evidence that he cannot be an impartial pundit on the nation’s leading highlights programme, Sportscene on BBC Scotland:
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