Frank McAvennie inexplicably calls out 'woke' Celtic player for attending father's funeral

Frank McAvennie has grossly stepped out of line with his comments on Celtic star Auston Trusty.

Trusty lost his father the week before last and was given time off to head home to the US to be with his family. He then returned to training before Sunday's clash with Falkirk but was also given the weekend off to return to US to attend the celebration of his father's life.

But former Celtic player McAvennie believes it is 'woke' to take time off from football to attend a celebration of life.

"I've got every respect for that, but how long do you want off?" he said on the Let Me Be Frank podcast.

"Martin says he's away to celebrate the life of his dad. Celebrate the life? You've got football. You're getting paid and we're in trouble.

"How long is it going to be?"

To his credit, journalist Simon Houston disagreed with the claim, suggesting it was far beyond them to criticise a player for attending his father's celebration of life, and he also tried to explain that different people deal with such losses very differently.

McAvennie replied: "It's the woke brigade now isn't it. It's nonsense. My dad was the best man, the only man I looked up to when he died, but you've gotta get on with it."

Inexplicable from McAvennie

These comments are almost beyond belief. Being a professional footballer is a job, and the bottom line that it doesn't come close to the importance of one's family.

Trusty has lost his father at the relatively young age of 28, and it is not just him who has suffered the loss, so has his family who may understandably need the support of their son, brother, whatever the relation may be during the celebration of life event.

And that doesn't even account for the fact the defender more than understandably wants to attend the event to pay respect to his father, who he was clearly close to.

Football is a sport, mere entertainment, and Trusty cannot be expected to miss such an important life event just because Celtic aren't playing very well.

Martin O'Neill was completely correct in allowing Trusty the time off he needs, and quite frankly, the defender likely wasn't in the right headspace to play in any case.

That doesn't apply to everyone, some may even prefer to play, but there are a myriad of emotions that one goes through in such circumstances, and everyone is different. That's not woke, it's just a fact of life.

Taking a week off to deal with the passing of your father and to attend his service has nothing to do with woke, and McAvennie's comments are beyond out of line.