Jamie O’Hara’s Celtic comments on Sky Sports have backfired.
So much so, in fact, that Sky had to delete the clips of his exchange with Celtic fan Paul John Dykes from their social media accounts.
Sky’s decision to platform a man with such a thirst for sensationalism and disrespect has confused many.
And given their position as the primary broadcaster of Scottish football, fans should expect better than a whole discussion on Sky Sports News to be based around mocking the league.
O’Hara’s words – especially his ridiculous claim that Stockport County would win the Scottish Premiership – have been ridiculed by many. John Barnes is the latest to hit back at them.
Barnes’ spell as Celtic manager is infamous among Hoops fans.
The experiment with him working under Director of Football Kenny Dalglish simply didn’t work, and he was sacked after falling to an embarrassing defeat against part-time Inverness.
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Jamie O’Hara – Credit: Sky Sports
But he’s still more qualified to talk about Celtic than O’Hara, a ‘pundit’ who has built his platform on poisonous football discourse.
On the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast, Barnes was asked about the Stockport claim.
He said: “No chance, no chance. They probably wouldn’t even stay up. I don’t even think they’d stay up.
“But of course, you know, depending on what programme you’re on, and the profile you want, you can say things and make a name for yourself, which is fine, because this is the age that we live in.
“But people have to obviously understand that. It may have been tongue-in-cheek, and if it’s not tongue-in-cheek… not got much sense then, has he?”
Dykes embarrassed O’Hara in the interaction, exposing him and Sky for their desperate approach to generate controversy.
Who else has criticised Jamie O’Hara’s nonsense claim about Celtic?
Barnes isn’t the only person to have slated O’Hara since his comments.
The most notable of them is Celtic captain Scott Brown, who laughed them off and told O’Hara to get back in his box.
Hoops cult hero Ramon Vega and ex-striker Tony Cascarino have also spoken out against the pundit, who also works on Talksport.
Even Stockport podcaster Russ Johnson laughed at O’Hara’s comments, saying that his side wouldn’t even get top six