Celtic star going through a 'tough time' after over the top fan abuse

Celtic midfielder Luke McCowan is said to have struggled over recent weeks, having been frozen out of the starting XI by Martin O'Neill.

McCowan notably had what was likely one of the worst performances of his career during the Champions League qualifying second leg with LASK, which saw Celtic blow a four-goal lead to lose.

McCowan was far from the only player to have a nightmare, but he did make some rudimentary mistakes, and he was heavily criticised by fans. As we detailed at the time, a lot of the criticism crossed the line into being abusive, and fans will do well to remember that no player is actively trying to fail. Ultimately, it does not benefit them to fail, either.

But with McCowan being a fringe player who doesn't likely have a long Celtic future ahead of him, he became an easy target. The midfielder has struggled for game time since that game, and he has not been helped by the arrival of loan signing Oliver Sorensen, while the currently injured Joel van den Berg also arrived and may well slot in ahead of him.

McCowan backed to bounce back

Former Scotland under-21s boss Tony Docherty says he has spoken to McCowan and that it has been a difficult time for the midfielder.

He told The Sun: “I saw him yesterday and we had a good chat. We keep in touch regularly.

“That can be difficult (him going through a difficult spell). I know he’s going through a bit of a tough time at the moment. All through his career he’s been resilient and faced adversity so I would back him to get through it.”

It's a tough one for McCowan, and it's difficult to see a solution. If we are being honest, the midfielder isn't good enough to be a starter in this team, and that's with this Celtic midfield not being good enough anyway.

A higher quality midfielder is going to have to be signed in January, especially if Celtic remain in Europe, and that's likely to see McCowan fall further down the list.

But that's football, and there is nothing wrong with dropping down the pecking order. The only hope is that he can have a good game here or there to ensure that when he is offloaded, he doesn't leave with the bitter taste of that game still in his mouth.

The abuse he received wasn't nice to see.