Alan Brazil has called on Celtic to sell Auston Trusty following the club’s failed SFA appeal against the red card shown to the defender during the defeat to Hibernian.
The talkSPORT pundit launched into a heated rant about Trusty, though the logic of his position became increasingly hard to follow as the conversation developed.
Trusty’s suspension means he will now miss Celtic’s upcoming fixtures against Rangers, Aberdeen and Hearts. After the appeal was rejected, Brazil made his feelings clear, telling his co-host Ally McCoist that Trusty had been fine when he first arrived at Celtic but that it was now time for the club to move him on. McCoist offered a more measured take, noting the inconsistency in Trusty’s performances and recalling a strong display in Italy where the American had looked like a genuine top-level centre-back. Brazil agreed, saying he had already told a friend before the weekend that something had changed with the player and that he appeared to have lost his way.
The conversation then took a peculiar turn. McCoist criticised the rule that led to Trusty’s dismissal as ridiculous, describing the incident as little more than a player knocking away a hand that was holding him, and arguing it should never result in a red card. Brazil agreed wholeheartedly, calling it a stupid rule.
The contradiction at the heart of Brazil’s position is difficult to ignore. If he believes the rule that got Trusty sent off is stupid, it is hard to understand why his response is to demand the player be sold rather than to direct his frustration at those who applied the rule. McCoist had also spoken to Neil Lennon, who raised broader concerns about refereeing standards, and there is a reasonable argument that the anger here belongs with the VAR officials who recommended the dismissal in the first place.
Celtic now face a genuine selection problem heading into a demanding run of fixtures, with Trusty’s three-match ban creating a significant gap at the back.