There has been a narrative building that somehow Kyogo Furuhashi is a diver or a cheat or goes down too easily.
It has built from a small swathe of twitter users from fans of rival clubs to now hitting the mainstream radio stations as Vital Celtic reported yesterday.
Journalist, Mark Guidi, on the The Go Radio Football Show said of the Celtic striker, ““And on diving, Kyogo has not covered himself in glory. But it’s not exclusive to Kyogo.
“It happens in Scottish football. And what I’d say is, as I’ve said this many times on another station, for me, I’d love to see the PFA take the initiative, set an agenda on their own, and say, ‘We do not condone diving you are cheating your fellow members‘.
Yesterday I questioned this on the blog and asked when has Kyogo ever dived or feigned injury to gain an advantage?
No one could answer it and now the Celtic bloggers and fan media sites are starting to call for action by the club to come out and defend our striker.
The Celtic Blog wrote yesterday, “We now have a number of “media personalities” openly suggesting that Kyogo is a cheat. Now we have this former official suggesting that the SFA has to put him under scrutiny.
“The narrative is building that Kyogo is one of those players who dives at the drop of a hat.
“If that is allowed to become part of the established “story” around Scottish football, it’s open season on him.
“Somebody in a position of authority at Celtic Park to say that, openly, and slap down anyone who suggests otherwise.”
— TheCelticBlog (@CelticBlog2018) December 7, 2021
The popular Celtic podcaster, 4 Tims and a podcast, also took to twitter to call on the club to defend the player from attacks from the media.
The attacks on Kyogo the last week from sections of the media have been wild. The board have a responsibility to protect our players, it is imperative they release a statement defending him. They also must confirm Bernard Higgins won’t be joining the club. Grow a set @CelticFC
— 4 Tims and a Podcast (@PodTims) December 7, 2021
And even the popular fan media podcasters, A Celtic State of Mind, have dedicated a show to challenge the club to speak up against the media treatment of not only the player, but the club as well as presenter Colin said, “We’re getting it from all barrels right now.
“We are getting it from unintelligent football pundits, we’re getting it from ex Premier League referee’s with a bias, we’re getting it from managers who had a decision go against them on Thursday but had one go for them on the Sunday and was very quiet about it.
“We’re getting it from every where at the minute.”
Popular Celtic fan site The Celtic Star, have also called on the club to act:
Celtic are a club under attack but have a Board who are as always mute on these matters | The Celtic Star https://t.co/WITBSP6jMf
— The Celtic Star News Feed (@CelticStarMag) December 7, 2021
It really has been an incredible week for the club and he silence from them is deafening.
Over to you Ian and Michael.