Gordon Strachan, the Celtic manager, claims there is a “serial killer” mentality in Scotland’s media which has made him give up reading headlines about the club.

Strachan was complaining about recent reports suggesting he wished he had someone like David Weir, the veteran Rangers and Scotland, defender in his side. Out-of-favour players, Derek Riordan and Bobo Balde, also expressed their dissatisfaction at their situation at Celtic Park this week, but Strachan insists he stopped reading about his team in the media before the fringe pair spoke out.

Strachan said: “What happens is that players politely answer questions from you people and it’s amazing the spin that goes on that. They give up their time to be nice and honest and then it gets an incredible spin on it.

“Nine or ten years ago, I might have said, ‘That wasn’t good’, but now I know what’s happened between the time that the words have left the players’ mouth and the time you people regurgitate and make them into a headline. I think you play on players’ naivety at times.

“I never read about them [Riordan and Balde] because I am past that stage now. What I am talking about is the David Weir situation. Last week, I was told of the headline that I wished I had David Weir. No way at any time did I say that I wished I had David Weir. You people sometimes are like serial killers you see in films who send out these horrible messages.”

Strachan responded brusquely to the suggestion his team have been less entertaining this season. He said: “We are top of the league. We are scoring more goals. I feel more content, I like what I’m seeing. We are scoring 2.9 goals every league game. Last season at this time it was 1.7 so that is a huge increase. The top goalscorer in the league is Scott McDonald, the second top is Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and he has missed a lot of games.

“We have scored 32 goals in the league up until now and if you go that way then you could end up scoring 109 goals for the season. Last season we scored 66 goals so we are nearly halfway there after 11 games.” (PA)