23-04-2025
Celtic fanatic flayed on the Hotline as Champions League claim blown to smithereens by rivals
Brendan Rodgers has been bigged up but not everyone agrees with the regular Hotliner's assertion
Fierce responses and strong disagreements are a key part of Hotline culture.
Regular correspondent Gordon Ashley has sparked the latest stream of heavy debate after his call in yesterday's edition.
Ashley's views on Brendan Rodgers being the only choice for Manager of the Year and that the manager has re-established Celtic as Scotland's top European club among other opinions from him lit up the lines.
Philip Borland said: 'Can you please inform Gordon Ashley that Celtic is not the most successful football club. Al Ahly is the most successful club in the world.'
Peter Cooperwhite continued: 'So Gordon Ashley thinks Celtic had a good Champions League? Three wins out of 10, a 7-1 thrashing and a 4-2 pumping. Only one player with merit was Daizen Maeda.'
Gary Stevenson, Newtonhall, said: 'Has Gordon Ashley picked out a date yet for his Player of The Year Awards Night? The press and media will be waiting anxiously on his selections. And just in case you were going to ask, I am busy that night.'
George Wilson, West Sussex, said: 'Comical reading the latest piece of nonsense from Gordon Ashley. So Celtic are Scotland's top European club? Unlike Rangers, they have been humiliated and been a total embarrassment in Europe for the last 25 years and only stayed in Europe this season after Christmas because they changed the format so it was harder to get knocked out than stay in. They were then gifted three home game wins against the worst teams in the competition which were their only wins in 10 games.'
Alan Flett said: 'Even the most diehard Celtic fans must cringe when they read all of your nonsense. The gospel according to Mr Ashley thinks Rodgers should be Manager of the Year for beating the teams that he should be beating and failing in Europe.
'Manager of the Year should be someone who exceeds expectations, so for that, it has to be David Gray.'
John Scott, Grassmoor, expanded on the conversation and said: 'If we can't be honest about Celtic winning a Treble, we may as well all go watch knitting. Where is the challenge to Celtic? I watched Aberdeen v Hearts in its entirety and enjoyed every crazy moment of it. Next day I sat down to watch Celtic v St Johnstone, but after 20 minutes I got so bored I went outside to pressure wash my decking. That's me as a neutral, so what about Celtic fans when they realise this treble business is too easy?'
Donald Dundas, Uddingston, said: 'Getting close to the pre-match excuses of a dead rubber Old Firm match and a treble in the bag by the usual suspects. I know it won't make any difference if Rangers win at Ibrox, but it will show up how an allegedly worst-ever Rangers team prove how average Celtic actually are.'
Stephen Mulhern, Dumbarton, said: 'I see positive signs that Greg Taylor could extend his stay at Celtic who I've already said would be a huge loss. He only needs to look at previous outgoings to figure out the grass is not always greener on the other side.
'To fellow Celtic fans that say he is not Champions League level. I would ask the question. How many current Celtic players are?'
Hearts' complaints in the wake of their Hampden semi-final loss to Aberdeen sparked comment.
Alan McPherson said: 'All this bleating about John Beaton being biased towards Aberdeen is the craziest thing I have ever heard. We have suffered dodgy decisions by this ref for years. All this bleating on from Hearts is nothing short of sour grapes.'
Ryan Stevenson's Record Sport column got the nod from Ian Hunter, Penicuik, who said: 'The article is spot on. It's just huge deflection tactics from the board. Only one team wanted to win that game, Hearts only had one shot on target. I won't be back this season, I'm done.'
