The Parkhead hierarchy may have been in uproar over their privacy being punctured on Monday by the publication on supporters’ message boards of a document produced at a meeting between directors, management and the former head of recruitment in April to discuss potential summer signings.
Nine players based in England and another from France were named, as were three first-team players who could be sold before the transfer window closes on September 2.
Manager Neil Lennon had earlier complained about his team selections being leaked online 24 hours before big games and chief executive Peter Lawwell was pondering the possibility of involving Police Scotland in the latest breach of secrecy.
However, club ambassador Tom Boyd believes it is much ado about nothing and claims to be willing to make an Assange of himself.
“I was looking for my name to find out if I was coming back again on it but didn’t spot it,” said the former Hoops captain.
“The club will work it out for themselves. They’re investigating this and we’ll see where that goes but, in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t make one bit of difference to any work that Celtic are doing.
"They’ll try to find out who it is and deal with them appropriately.”
Even so, he isn’t anxious for the flow of secrets to end.
“Plug it? I’ll start to leak one and it’ll have Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo on it,” he said. “Listen, these things can be doctored so we’ll wait to see whether it’s true and where it’s come from.
“This can happen anywhere and in any walk of life. It’s how you journalists try to get your exclusives, is it not?
“With social media everyone wants to get the story and say they put it out there first – just like newspapers do.
“For me, it’s not an issue. The club will deal with it however they see fit but it doesn’t matter.
“Whether or not it’s known about a week in advance makes no difference to me. All I care about is that we get the best players possible on the best possible deals.”
He also argued that providing opponents with their team selection is nothing to be worried about.
“Yes, opponents could adjust their own line-ups and tactics accordingly but, for me, it makes no difference,” he said.
“On the playing side, you put your best team on the park and see how they go.
“In fact, it might be better if every manager and every club put out their team the day before the game so that everyone could discuss it – as they do in rugby.”
Tom Boyd was speaking after presenting the medals and Lisbon Lions trophy at Lennoxtown following a 16-school competition for the silverware.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here