It has taken a year longer than predicted, but a critical appraisal of TRFC’s progress through the lower leagues must include recognition of the improvements on the playing field made under the new manager Mark Warburton. SFM usually precludes lengthy discussion on subjective issues like relative abilities of players and managers and referees, but on this subject, and by any objective standard, that is a given.
It is therefore right that he and his players should receive the congratulations of us all at SFM.
It has to be said that, despite the pitfalls, man-traps and honey-pots that remain to be successfully negotiated by the Rangers board, they have implemented their own stark version austerity, contrary to their rhetoric, whilst managing the expectations of their supporters. Perhaps some of what we have come to term “reasonable” Rangers fans would argue that the lack of humility still evident in the demeanour of the TRFC board is an essential part of managing those fans whilst imposing the austerity package on them.
Much like a political party conference, a football board has to play to it’s core support as well as the rest of the country.
How that will pan out is anybody’s guess, just like the random bagatelle that is the “TRFC in Court” saga.
There is also the existential problem to deal with. Many TRFC fans bought into the ‘same club’ myth at the outset, not because they actually believed it, but because it suited them, and because it served as an understandable GIRUY to the rest of us. With the passage of time, the suspension of disbelief, even in that constituency, is now complete and arguably irreversible. The problem for them is that the rest of have not subscribed to that rather bizarre set of contradictions. No other club has to have the “company that operates” prefix. Nor does any other club compel observers to skirt around the facts and search for a form of words acceptable to both sides of a mutually exclusive argument. In short, and existentially, the new Rangers don’t fit into the same kind of comfortable groove that other clubs do.
All of these problems for the new club, and many more, will exercise our minds to a greater or lesser extent moving forward, depending on how sensitive our outrage thresholds are to the various legal and Jungian issues. However we at SFM need to focus our sights on those whose maladministration of football gave rise to those problems in the first place – the SFA, SPFL, and by extension, the clubs – all of them.
Here are some facts;
- The SFA award clubs a licence to participate in UEFA competitions.
- The licence is only to be awarded if the applicant club has no unpaid tax debts.
- Both the club and the SFA have responsibility to notify UEFA of any debts (belt and braces routine in case the club ‘forgets’ to notify the SFA).
- In 2011, one club applied for and was awarded a UEFA licence.
- That club had accepted debts to HMRC – which were outstanding and overdue.
- These facts have been in the public domain since 2012,and were brought to the attention of ALL clubs in Scotland as well as the SFA.
- Nothing has been done by any club, or the SFA, to investigate the claim at #5
- SFA Chief Executive Stewart Regan, when asked by an SFM member what he would do if these claims could be substantiated, said; “Nothing!”
- All clubs will be within a few weeks, issuing season ticket renewal forms.
The story contained in points 6 and 7 above is a lengthy and protracted one.
From sources inside two clubs I have been informed that the problem here is subversive and obsessive fans, who don’t represent the vast body of fans generally. On points 1-5, my sources refused to comment. Conversations with SFA officials and print journalists yield the same reaction, with the addition that it is “just Celtic fans obsessed with Rangers” making the claims.
The lesson, if there is one worthy of the name, is that the bearers of the message need to attacked, and the message itself ignored. We could speculate why that is, but that would be to fall into the trap, taking our eye off the ball.
Perhaps I am being naïve, but my inference is that the SFA and clubs have no intention of doing anything about what was at best incompetence on an unbelievable scale, or at worst corruption. A source at Celtic Park was complaining in victim-like fashion to SFM that many Celtic fans were threatening to close their season book accounts over this issue, and that Rangers might have 45,000 SBs next season whilst Celtic could be down to as low as 20,000.
It had never occurred to him that actually supporting an investigation into SFA malpractice would add another 10,000 to the SB takeup.
Overall, the clubs and the SFA want us to believe that an investigation into this licensing issue is a Celtic or Rangers thing. It is neither of those.
An investigation, even if finds that corruption or incompetence has taken place cannot harm Rangers – old or new. There are no titles to strip here. The licence has been used and thrown away, so it cannot be “un – awarded”.
The only people who have anything to lose out of this are those individuals who allowed it to happen – those who our clubs seem so keen to protect.
More importantly, an investigation may be the catalyst for changes in procedures at the SFA to ensure that rigorous accountability is enforced -accountability that the clubs are eager to avoid.
Are we wrong? I hope we are not foolish enough to imagine that everything we believe is set in stone. I am confident that we are correct in our assumptions and in our interpretation of the facts, but please, let’s hear the counter-argument. Thus far, not one word of rebuttal save the usual invective reserved for the messenger has been uttered.
So what do we do? For me it is simple. If we really love our sport, and do nothing, the sport is lost to us completely and irrevocably.
If our view that sporting integrity has been killed off by those in charge of the game is correct, we lose nothing by embarking on a season ticket boycott. However by doing so we may awaken those in charge to the realities of our power as fans and prioritise in their minds the need to listen to what we say.
My view? if they ignore us, they can take their industry that they pretend is sport, and put it somewhere away from my reach. I neither want it nor need it.
If enough of us feel the same way, we WILL get a clean game. If we are as few as the MSM claim we are, at least we will have freed ourselves from a bent one.
I won’t be buying any more season books until I see these issues addressed. It certainly is tough love, but it is the only way for me. And it is driven by love – a love of the game I spent decades supporting, thinking that on the whole it was played on a level playing field. Certainly not driven by a sneering disregard for truth and integrity and a worship of acquisition.
Maybe it’s not just the end of Rangers’ journey then. Certainly if it’s not the end of ours, we find ourselves at a crossroads. The fans, the clubs, and Rangers too. The decision we make over the next few months may determine the future of our clubs, our sport, our Saturday afternoons.
I can tell you this though. Even when the dark facts are laid before us starkly as this, and when football is at the mercy of those who really do hate sport for its own sake, it is worth mentioning the common thread of decency and purpose we have all shared here on SFM, the friendships we have forged, and the love of football we have demonstrated.
Firstly, you can only return to somewhere you’ve already been. The Rangers who recently won the Championship have never been in the top league, nor have they been in a Scottish Cup final before this season.
As for your assertion that without the now defunct Old Firm, Scottish football was destined to be another Irish League, are you Stewart Regan or Neil Doncaster? Is it beyond your comprehension that if any form of Rangers was ‘out of commission’, whether temporarily or preferably permanently, another club or clubs would fill the gap like Aberdeen have done this season? If Aberdeen (for example) was to challenge Celtic at the top of the league on a regular basis, crowds would increase dramatically, along with prize money, allowing the purchase of better players who would in turn continue to provide a stiffer challenge to Celtic. There isn’t a law that says competition must be restricted to the offspring of the deceased club from Govan, although you could be forgiven for thinking so!
But no, your solution seems to be in line with those of our corrupt officials – have a rigged competition instead!
SHUGAPRIL 20, 2016 at 12:29
[Moderated]
Shug, we know you are disappointed, but you really need to consider where you are posting this stuff. I might also advise you to take a breath before posting it anywhere, but that’s your choice. Just not here please.Tris
Ok no probs I will post no more addios
Imagine, if you will, a city where two giant football clubs vie for supremacy in a fiercely contested co-existance which goes back to the 1800s.
Continue that imagination into the fact that the BBC radio station which covers this scenario has an early evening football programme which is hosted by a presenter who has a season ticket for one of the two teams and the pundits are from the local evening paper, albeit one covers one team and the other covers matters relating to the opposition.
Imagine what it would be like in this programme just prior to the Derby between these two teams and the discussion re the background and outcome to the game.
Well, no need to imagine it.
I listened to it last night on BBC Radio Merseyside and there was nothing but objective, unbiased discussion without anything like an agenda one way or another. Neither team nor manager was ‘disrespected’ and it was good to listen to.
if only it was like that up the road.
Can I just say, in desparation, “come on you blues!”
REIVERAPRIL 20, 2016 at 10:10
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B_X7aVh2s6qcQTA5X0t5b1lwQ0U
printing off now
Shug,
Please don’t give up on this site. I never read your moderated post but take it on the chin. You are normally a good poster.
Can I be first to throw Roberto Martinez’ name into the hat for the CFC vacancy ? Managed in EPL and his team in Europe, knows Scottish football, and won’t be with Everton next season .
IMO
Theres a well used comment in business about failing managers
“Nice guy but hasn`t a clue”
I`ts usually commonplace just before the bullet
With Celtic however the comment is misplaced
It actually applies more to PL than to RD
Think about it
Does anybody think for a minute that someone could be plucked from a small Norwegian club who could at least equal the performance of NL and GS and possibly do better?
Nope
No chance
It was reported at the time that RD was considered a serious candidate for the Asst Mgr role but so impressed PL that he was given the Mgr role and promoted to the Board and the Fans(by PL) as someone who could deliver the new role model. This idea was compounded by the absurd concept that a failed Man Mgr who caused a Player strike at another club was somehow the “right” person to guide RD through the pitfalls of working in a foreign country with a different culture
Or put another way
The RD/JC Mgt Team were peddled as a concept that would deliver trophies and concurrently bring young players through to the stage where they could be sold on at a handsome profit
What transpired over the past 2 yrs was the failure of PL not RD
It should be laid at his door
He should not have selected RD as Mgr or JC as Asst Mgr
He should not have forgiven the CL shambles in Year One. At that point he should have launched an immediate enquiry into team morale , tactics ,inconsistent selection and the blatant lack of quality defenders
If this had caused RD/JC to walk then so be it
But
Celtic are where they are
The real solution is to bring in a proven Mgr and get a RD lookalike as Asst Mgr
The top candidate for firing ought to be PL
I dont` know if PL is a nice guy
But he certainly hasn`t a clue
He`s the one who should go
For the avoidance of doubt, and just in case anybody was wondering, I’m still in it (SFM) for the long term – no wavering!!
My great grandfather was born in 1855, fourteen years before Kilmarnock Football Club was established. He was a Killie supporter all his life and so is my daughter – that’s five generations.
I refuse to consider the possibility that the charlatans who run Scottish fitba’ at the present time could force me to end that run of support.
There is no alternative – we must succeed in exposing their heinous activities. Judicial Review – bring it on.
Re Shug. I think several posters have misread him as a disappointed Celt but I think his posting history would prove him to be a Hibbee.
One of his earlier removed posts suggested the throw-in was not the best only mistake made by Thompson and other officials. I agree with him on that but the throw on was probably the most crucial mistake and Celtic should have defended better a throw-in only just in their half.
Then there is the Rogic penalty. I agree in superslomo the ball does appear to move as it is about to be struck. Unless someone can link it to remote control it was bad luck on what already was a lottery added to by the farcical decision to play 2 matches in 24 hours on a pitch laid 72 hours before.
Given bizarre stuff that has gone before I wouldn’t entirely rule out hirsute pursuits suggestion that maybe CFC were not sent out to win the game. But unless incontrovertible proof to the contrary emerges I’m still of the belief tactical flaws, like fielding a lone misfiring striker with a backup of 3 far from prolific scoring midfielders, are what lost the semi.
As for is it worth Hibs turning up for the final? I hope they do so and more than just physically so that any “honest mistakes” to aid the opponents are exposed. Also should the opponents triumph I hope SFM and others expose any shenanigans involving licences issued against FFP criteria along with outstanding social taxes which “The same club” would certainly have.
Finally I agree with Jimbo. Shug don’t stop contributing posts to SFM
Honest truth, the reason I am posting less on here has nothing to do with Rangers. Whether they win lose or draw, whether their finances are appalling or in rude health, whether it is old club or new. We have had those discussions for quite some time so there is no change there.
Rangers beat Celtic in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup, it’s hardly the first time Celtic have lost in matches where they were considered favourite. In all honesty Rangers deserved the win in my opinion, they played better and wanted it more. Every Celtic supporter I have spoken to feels that way. As indeed does every Rangers supporter.
However the notion that Celtics owners, board, management and players played a certain way in order to make Rangers look better to support future revenues is quite frankly nonsense, in my opinion. The notion that they all did it in the Scottish Cup semi-final where Celtic had the possibility of a double makes it even more ludicrous.
People are of course entitled to their opinion, and to express it so long as they do it in a reasonable and respectful manner. However do people really believe that is the case, that this conspiracy involving every level at Celtic Park really took place. I assume they do because if they don’t it’s clearly just mischief making.
I’m afraid that, in my opinion, that way of thinking does this blog no favours. Celtic lost because Rangers were better on the day, it’s that simple.
If the new club win the SC and are given a euro licence with the £4.2m still oustanding then I think that should be the end of the same club nonsense for good .
There is a concerted effort ongoing to expose the SFA over the 2011 one ,would they be so stupid as to issue another in a few months time .
Over to you DCK looks like it maybe time to pay for the peddling of a lie .
HomunculusApril 20, 2016 at 23:52
‘…However the notion that Celtics owners, board, management and players played a certain way in order to make Rangers look better to support future revenues is quite frankly nonsense, in my opinion. ‘
________
I agree.
But it is now an incontrovertible fact that Celtic’s anxiety about their own future finances impelled them to accept cheating on a seismic scale:
the cheating by SDM by the sleekit non-disclosure of just how much he was paying his players (whether those payments were in conformity with tax legislation or not)
the support for the deceit of the UEFA club licensing boardy by the SFA,
and the wholesale support for the fiction
the cheating involved in the creation of the sporting myth that the new football club created by CG is somehow the identical club in respect of which BDO are still toiling to reach the end of the liquidation road.
It might be argued that Celtic were faced with a force majeure, to expose the cheating and tackle it would only have resulted in chaos and the kind of ‘armageddon’ scenario that the spin-meisters so glibly and shamelessly purveyed.
I can appreciate that dodging the column and staying schtum in the face of threat might seem to be an attractive idea, in the very short term.
But ,of course, the price in terms of personal, business and Sporting Integrity ( and football as a business depends on honest and clean sporting endeavour under the agreed rules ), is very high.
The whole RFC(IL)/ TRFC saga has demonstrated that our Football Administration is rotten, and that even good men running our individual clubs have dishonoured themselves either by participating willingly in that rottenness or by failing to stand up for truth.
That wilful participation or craven cowardice will come back to haunt them, as the concept of Scottish Football as a genuine ‘sport’ is seen to be as laughable an idea as the idea that the RFC of our fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers is somehow simultaneously languishing in liquidation and playing football at Ibrox stadium
GOOSYGOOSY APRIL 20, 2016 at 22:47
Thanks for your input on Lawwell’s job prospects Goosy. I’m sure Celtic will take it under advisement. In the meantime, in so many Rangers fans eyes, he’ll just continue to work to maintain Celtic’s financial strength and the apparently be the “eminence grise” scheming away for Celtic’s benefit at the expense of the poor hard done by NewGers… when in reality everything at Hampden is stacked with Rangers alumni.JockyBhoy Prediction: All the negative SMSM press coverage that was aimed at Deila will now be aimed squarely at Lawwell.
Cluster one
~REIVER APRIL 20, 2016 at 10:10
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B_X7aVh2s6qcQTA5X0t5b1lwQ0U
printing off now”
Much appreciated Cluster.
Anyone else?
I don’t know if he is speaking on behalf of the Celtic board but I see that Chris Sutton reckons that Delia’s fate was because of pressure by the fans.
Methinks he is either confused or trying to muddy the waters what the fans’ pressure is actually about.
Reiver @ 9.26
Symptom and cause dear boy, symptom and cause.
After seeing the report the other day about English refs not being allowed to officiate certain games, I emailed Darryl to see if anything similar applied in Scotland.
“Darryl,
I see the attached article today on BBC Sport. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36075347
As you’ll see, it shows that in England when allocating referees to games, some weighting is put on a referee’s potential preferences based on where he lives and even the club he is known to support.
While this is not reported as a strict no-no, it appears that the EPL and EFL try to minimise both the potential for subconscious favouritism and – probably more tellingly – to minimise any pressure on a referee who may be accused of such favouritism whether he applied same or not.
Reading this, I wondered if the SFA/SPFL takes such concerns into account when allocating referees to games. Let me stress that I do not believe there is necessarily any favouritism shown and, as I said, it appears that it is not an overriding factor in England. I genuinely just wondered if the football authorities in Scotland did anything similar?
Given that the support of Rangers and Celtic among referees is likely to replicate that of the general public i.e. most supporters support one of the big 2, I would imagine it could cause you problems when allocating referees to specific games.
Is there such a list for Scottish referees? I imagine there might not be in this small (minded) country where even poor wee Chick has to pretend to be St Mirren fan!!
I’d really appreciate a response here, Darryl.”
In Darryl’s holiday absence, I got the following response.
“Darryl is currently on annual leave and passed me your message.
The Scottish FA operates a conflict of interests profile on all referees although we do not restrict a referee from officiating matches based on their place of birth.”
I’m not sure if that implies they DO restrict a referee from officiating matches based on the club they support.
jockybhoy
April 21, 2016 at 09:17
__________________________________
I’m no great fan of the SFA but to suggest they are stacked with Rangers alumni is as much of a paranoid fantasy as the one you suggest many Rangers fans have about Peter Lawwell. For example, there is no representation from Rangers on the SFAs non-professional or professional game boards. Perhaps you have an example to back up your claim?
RD was deeply unpopular with a large section of the Celtic fans and the same is true with PL. The SMSM have not made this up or whipped fans into a frenzy. I sometimes get the impression a section of Celtic fans believe only they can have a negative opinion of their club and if it comes from somewhere else it is agenda driven.
In Phil’s latest blog he claims, and I have no reason to doubt him, that:
“the senior people in the Parkhead board room have their well-placed shills in the Fifth Estate. Think of it as the message board equivalent of succulent lamb. That can be a useful deflector shield at times like this.”
He is suggesting there is an attempt by senior people at Celtic to influence the media narrative, perhaps for self-preservation, by drawing attention away from their own failings. I’d like to think most on here would be disappointed with such a turn of events.
Most big clubs will have a PR presence. The SMSM is far from perfect and we go online to get, hopefully, an unfiltered version of events. It’s maybe naïve to think the internet is always supplying a ‘meat free’ diet.
http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/paul-baxendale-walker-admits-falsely-11207693
Blast from the past.
“Hibs win over Rangers will have no bearing on Scottish Cup final”
…according to the ‘journalist’ Graeme McGarry at the Evening-Shark Jump, [(c) The Clumpany 2015].
Hibs just shouldn’t bother to turn up at Hampden then?
Anyone with half a brain would observe that Hibs has now secured a significant, psychological advantage going into the Final.
As if we didn’t already know that the SMSM/SFA/SPFL operates for the benefit of 1 club in particular ?
And God help us next season…!
Something for the SFA to aspire to ?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36106041
PADDY MALARKEY
APRIL 21, 2016 at 19:18
—————————
Tom ‘Tiny’ Wharton’s a shoo-in for this year’s Cup Final, obviously
Came back from my holiday yesterday, catching up on the blogosphere and was saddened to learn that ‘The Clumpany’ was no more. It was a must go to for me every day. Apart from his scathing attacks on the usual suspects it was often hilarious. Satire at it’s best. I will miss it a lot. If you read this Clump, a big thanks.
Next week’s Court of Session entertainment. I think this is the Ashley v SFA case re Dave King’s FPP status.
TO BE ALLOCATED
Thursday 28th April
P1039/15 Pet: Mash Holdings Ltd for Judicial Review – Brodies LLP – Burness Paull LLP – Anderson Strathern LLP
It would appear that somebody or something has touched a nerve with JohnJames which has nothing to do with fitba’.
I have taken an interest in his site for some time because, despite his forthright and, at times, quite unpleasant views, he is knowledgeable about more than just a certain game in Scotland. He also has the complete measure of the present regime up the marble stairs.
However, his mask has slipped and he now appears to be metaphorically foaming at the mouth regarding the monstrous regiment of ‘wimmin’. One wonders what has prompted this eruption – personal experience perhaps?
I won’t be going there again. He has just been removed from my Bookmarks!
Jingso.Jimsie
Wonder who oor Tiny will favour – the dead or the undead ?
Haywire,
Didnt seem to say anything too outrageous to me, what in particular irked you?
In addition, what is this mask you speak of, and how has it slipped? I have been accused myself of having had my mask slip on this forum previously, and I wasn’t aware I had one on. The inference I take is that if a Rangers fan appears reasonable but then says something you / others find disagreeable, then the “mask” has slipped because in fact Rangers fans can’t be reasonable people, so when they gave that appearance they were wearing a mask. Is that correct? Please advise if and where I am going wrong.
Interesting interview on STV’s ‘Scotland Tonight’ programme. It featured Dick Pound being interviewed at Stirling University on doping in sport.
In short he was making the point that it is very under reported and discovered, why? mainly the sporting authorities themselves who don’t want to know. OK he was talking about drugs doping but it is not a million miles from financial doping. And we all know the position of financial doping with the Scottish football authorities. ‘We know nothing’ as Manuel used to say.
In footballing terms the seriously low amount of drug testing in football (Especially here in Scotland if I remember correctly) and the fact that they choose footballers to test who are known to be clean is a cover up of the real situation.
Let’s see how Regan and Doncaster move the sport forward on this matter.
‘Nothing’ again springs to mind.
ianagainApril 21, 2016 at 13:46
‘..http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/paul-baxendale-walker-admits-falsely-11207693Blast from the past.’
______
I’m not long in from a visit to a beautifully sunny Glasgow , and a jar or two in ‘ Maltman’s’ with friends of some forty forty-odd years’ standing.
And I see your post, ianagain, and I see red at the way the ‘media’ even south of the border have bought unthinkingly into the Big Lie.
I have accordingly this very minute sent the email below to Tom Southwaite, the author of that piece about the porno struck-off solicitor.
I loved, incidentally, the kind of language of Judge Moss: ” trick and underhand” kind of goes with the South Africa judge’s ” glib and shameless”, don’t you think?
“Dear Tom,I’m sure you would wish to be completely accurate in your reporting, so you will appreciate my telling you that Glasgow Rangers was NOT ‘relegated’ to the bottom tier of Scottish football. (Your report on pornographer/solicitor Baxendale-Walker refers)
The club was liquidated in 2012 and thereby lost its ‘share’ in the Scottish Premier League, and ceased to exist as a football club.
The assets of the liquidated club were bought by Charles Green, who founded a new club ( in disputed circumstances) variously called Sevco 5088, SevcoScotland, Rangers 2012, and ‘The’ Rangers Football Club.
This new club had to APPLY for membership of a Scottish football league in order to apply for membership of the Scottish Football Association.
It was not admitted to the then Premier league, or to the First Division or Second division of the Scottish Football League.
It was reluctantly admitted ( ahead of other candidate non-league clubs) to the third division, as a new club.
It is quite, quite wrong legally, sportingly and commercially to speak of this new club as being identical to the club that is languishing in Liquidation.
Yours in sporting and news reporting truth’
me (real name)
JOHN CLARKAPRIL 21, 2016 at 23:22 ianagainApril 21, 2016 at 13:46‘..http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/paul-baxendale-walker-admits-falsely-11207693Blast from the past.’
J.C. – Looks like your reputation precedes you as link no longer available?
PADDY MALARKEYAPRIL 21, 2016 at 19:18
Alas Paddy the SFA make the Nigerians look like amatuers regarding appointing a dead ref
They have been allowing a DEAD CLUB to participate in their competitions for four years
or so they would have us believe .
INCREDIBLEADAMSPARKAPRIL 21, 2016 at 13:32 I’m no great fan of the SFA but to suggest they are stacked with Rangers alumni is as much of a paranoid fantasy as the one you suggest many Rangers fans have about Peter Lawwell.
=================
Perhaps the fact they’ve overlooked Rangers liquidation and awarded the new club all the trophies and history of the old one is skewing peoples thinking! The fact they were trying to force the new club into the top league despite all the tax crimes is another reason people think the SFA is biased. The same man responsible for this is still in office. He might as well have issued a statement saying ‘taxes are for the little people’ like the famous American tax evader Leona Helmsley once said. What an incredible situation, and worse still the media fully endorse it. Yes, that’s the same media who rage about everyone else except Rangers evading tax and getting away with it.
GERRYBHOY67
Baxendale-Walker news.
The word “Blast” has got added to the link. Try this:
http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/paul-baxendale-walker-admits-falsely-11207693
upthehoops April 22, 2016 at 07:17
_______________________________
You write that people claiming the SFA is stacked with Rangers alumni is skewed thinking? We are in total agreement on that and I’m glad we don’t believe that’s the case. It would be very easy to prove by providing a list of the people in decision making roles within the SFA/SPFL. Who are these people, if you like?
You and I know any list would contradict such a claim. But these last few years have shown us that football fans believing something to be true doesn’t always make it so. All fans have been let down by the authorities and by a spineless media lacking the desire to go after the facts and report the truth.
JC
The Advertisers belief in the relegation mythology is unfortunately prevalent darn sarf.
The average fan cannot conceive such a concept that “fan power” could result in the fact that the various Sevco iterations had to re apply for entrance to the league.
I recently contacted the BBC with regard to their sports report aired on 2nd April.
I received the following reply, which refers to the team, the two companies and the club in the same sentence.
Contradictions abound. Draw your own conclusions.
Dear Mr *****
Reference CAS-3*****6-Z8**S6
Thanks for contacting us regarding ‘Breakfast’ on 2 April.
We note that you feel reporting on Rangers FC’s promotion to the SPL has contained inaccuracies regarding the history of the club.
We continue to refer to Rangers FC as the same team; where we will make a distinction is between the old company and the company which currently runs the club. This is in line with the BBC Trust’s findings on the matter:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-22951447
Thank you for your feedback. Please know complaints are sent to senior management and news teams every morning and we’ve included your points in our overnight reports. These reports are among the most widely read sources of feedback in the BBC and ensure that complaints are seen quickly by the right people.
Kind regards
S**** W***
BBC Complaints
Anyone got a date for the release of bdo,s report to creditors?,the last one available is dated 12th june 2015.Cheers.
Haywire/Ryan,
) then my iPad is in danger of being hurled oot the windae!
Re: JohnJames
Like many others, I’ve followed his blog with interest from the beginning, all the more so as it’s from a Govan perspective.
He clearly does have an inside down Edmiston Drive and has DCK’s cards well marked
However, I’m getting to the stage that if I see one more ‘posit'(after this one
It’s all about perception, but I now find him to be patronising and intellectually arrogant with just a hint of the supremacist WATP attitude of late which the rest of us in Scottish Football so abhor.
Ryan, you say that you don’t find what he says as being ‘outrageous’ and feel he’s being attacked for saying things we don’t like to hear.
Well, I don’t want to hear, in the 21st century, women being attacked for being women and having their sexuality questioned whether they be in politics or working at the BBC.
Furthermore, I see he’s now started attacking Police Officers in various criminal investigations as being nothing more that promotion chasers on the back of poorly evidenced cases.
He gives the impression that he’s a bit of a Legal Eagle but doesn’t seem to know that the job of the Police is to investigate an alleged crime, gather any evidence and submit a case to the PF or CPS for them to decide whether it meets the required criteria for prosecution and trial.
There’s nothing worse than knocking your pan out in an long running investigation only for the CPS to knock it back, believe me.
Not a guaranteed path to promotion by any means.
So I’m with Haywire on this one and I hope Ryan can see it’s not knocking JJ just because of the team he follows.
PADDY MALARKEY
APRIL 21, 2016 at 22:45
Jingso.Jimsie
Wonder who oor Tiny will favour – the dead or the undead ?
——————————————————————–
I’m of an age that I think I saw Tiny referee a game at Rugby Park & (possibly) never leave the centre circle during the entire match, except at half-time
Apologies for taking so long folks but I decided to do a reformat of the printouts to be left on public transport etc to make them a more convenient size for carrying. They are now ready for download at
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B_X7aVh2s6qcQTA5X0t5b1lwQ0U
They are named Busdropback and Busdropfront. The original poster and handouts are still there also.
Can I suggest again that you buy a pack of printer card from the £1 shop and use that as it is less easy for it to be screwed up into a ball and thrown away.
Thanks.
AlthetimApril 22, 2016 at 10:17
….’These reports are among the most widely read sources of feedback in the BBC and ensure that complaints are seen quickly by the right people’
_________
The right people , that is, to make sure that the truth is distorted and that no offence is given to their many sports reporting staff and hired pundits who do not ever miss an opportunity to faithfully sustain the myth.
I seriously believe that the Nazi regime’s doings in war time were more objectively reported on by the BBC than the dirty deeds of SDM , RFC(IL) and our football ‘governance’ bodies in our own day!
tangoedApril 22, 2016 at 10:22
______
The last Creditors’ report was on 2nd September 2015, tangoed.
http://www.bdo.co.uk/services/business-restructuring/rfc-2012-plc-formerly-the-rangers-football-club-plc-in-liquidation
BDO’s request to be allowed to argue their case against LFL’s claim was denied by Lord Doherty recently. They have appealed against that decision, so probably won’t be able to report anything new until all that has been done!
I’ve been reading JJ’s stuff for what must be years now, both on the LSE site and on his own blog. I feel that his pricipal motivation is personal animosity towards Dave King. I’ve no problem with that at all, King needs to be called out, together with the laughable “administrators” who rolled out the red carpet for his takeover at Ibrox.
His stuff on the football side is generally very good, and the fact that he is a self-proclaimed “bluenose” just makes his views more interesting to me.
However he sometimes strays into the political sphere, and I personally find the tone of the language he uses regarding the SNP, the Scottish Government and the First Minister totally unnecessary and pretty nauseating. But that’s just me,and of course there is an audience for that sort of stuff.
The criticism of JJ in some of the posts above has nothing to do with him being a “bluenose”. Or even a Unionist. We all have our own views, but there are ways to express them without denigrating the views of others in the rather unpleasant way he does. That is where he goes wrong, in my opinion.
An example? Bien sur AdamSpark.I note you talk about boards, which by their very nature would require a spread of participants, whereas my point (poorly made perhaps) was actually with regard to the SFA executive itself.
Ex-Ranger Gordon Smith was Chief Exec from 2007 to 2010, when he left and subsequently joined Whyte’s Rangers. A former general secretary and director of Rangers in its first incarnation, Campbell Ogilvie was appointed Treasurer of the SFA in 2003, rising through the ranks to First VP in 2007 and subsequently President in 2011. It’s interesting to note that these two Rangers Alumni, filled two of the top executive roles in the SFA for much of the period that Rangers’ EBT schemes ran. You’d have thought that if anyone was keeping an eye on player contracts and registrations it would be a former agent and a former general secretary of a club, but apparently not…
As described here in.
Mince features prominently in the form of Jackson
http://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2016/news/high-five-as-daily-scoops-quintet-of-awards/
RyanGoslingApril 21, 2016 at 23:00
Haywire,
Didnt seem to say anything too outrageous to me, what in particular irked you?
……………………………………………………………………………….
Ryan,
Since I generally like your posts and have even laughed at some of your comments, I did wonder if you had actually seen the post I was referring to. I’m also fervently hoping that you don’t hold the same extreme views on the human condition as JJ does.
I have no problem at all with his views on the management of your team and some of your co-supporters. However, I very quickly part company with him over his other corruscating thoughts. Mungoboy and Neepheid spelled it out far better than I could.
I also recall that, a few weeks back, he commented on the extra-curricular activities of a former Rangers player in such an extreme fashion that another poster said that they assumed that he was joking rather than being serious – I don’t think that he was joking.
Jockybhoy April 22, 2016 at 13:07
_________________________________________
Agree entirely with you about Smith and Ogilvie and they have serious questions still to answer. Still to be properly asked, truth be told. But only two examples prove that not ‘everything at Hampden is stacked with Rangers alumni’, or any other club for that matter. Which I think is what you were suggesting?
Could this be the turning point???
REIVERAPRIL 22, 2016 at 16:36
Looks promising, if it’s what I think/hope it is, Reiver. Could you give some more detail on what it’s about, hopefully confirming what I think it’s about
Yeah AJ
I sent this group a copy of what I sent to UEFA and followed up with a couple of phone calls. They seem to be inundated with people reporting issues that should be investigated, most of them about drug abuse. The change of subject matter seemed to be a breath of fresh air to them when I resent the documentation today. Here’s hoping. I don’t know how big they are but their output is prolific.
It is always getting that first opening, no matter how small, that is the most important. The egos of reporters tend to kick in if they see something being reported that they turned down. They usually try to make up for lost time. We can but hope.
While I am on. The petition is ticking along at a ridiculously slow rate just now so can I remind everyone that any friend that they haven’t already got to sign up, if encouraged to do so, would be a great help. This is not just for what I am trying to do but for any group that is fighting the same battle.
The petition isn’t mine, it belongs to the fight against the malfeasance we see daily in Scottish football.
https://www.change.org/p/scottish-football-association-return-integrity-to-football-administration-in-scotland-94421b40-2d6b-4d4b-9cff-912c9849478f
Actually, maybe I underplay the response that we have had to the petition. I regularly compare it to things like a petition to save a hovercraft which beats our count tenfold.
Comparing it to something similar, the demand that the match day ticket prices at Scottish football should be reduced, you guys have actually beaten them by a factor of ten and in half the time.
I maybe don’t say it enough but “Thank You” you have done well.
Now, get off your arses and get more to sign.
https://www.change.org/p/scottish-football-association-return-integrity-to-football-administration-in-scotland-94421b40-2d6b-4d4b-9cff-912c9849478f
tykebhoyApril 20, 2016 at 23:32
…
Given bizarre stuff that has gone before I wouldn’t entirely rule out hirsute pursuits suggestion that maybe CFC were not sent out to win the game. But unless incontrovertible proof to the contrary emerges I’m still of the belief tactical flaws, like fielding a lone misfiring striker with a backup of 3 far from prolific scoring midfielders, are what lost the semi.
…………………………………………..
I just want to clear up that I did not say – or suggest – that “…maybe CFC were not sent out to win the game.”
I’m sorry if anything I did say gave that impression.
It should be noted that the possession Rangers enjoyed on Sunday didn’t actually produce much of note and on chances/shots Celtic should have won the game reasonably comfortably. I pointed out that Celtic had 33 shots to Rangers 9. They had 10 shots on target to Rangers 3. So the strategy clearly did not mean that “CFC were not sent out to win the game.”
What I did try to say is that the second half of the game last year and the entire semi final last week, CFC allowed Rangers unfettered possession in their own half. It seems to me, that sitting back in their own half was a deliberate tactic by Celtic.
It was this style of play that resulted in a game on Sunday that made Rangers look as if they were competing at a broadly similar level.
When Celtic took their foot off the gas in the first game (and you’d have to work hard to convince me they did not) that game was already won. The gulf between the teams was such that Rangers did not (if I remember correctly) have a single shot on goal in the second half of that first game. That 2-0 scoreline was just about acceptable to both sides in the prevailing circumstances. Although I don’t believe there was any “arrangement” between the sides, I still couldn’t help thinking back to West Germany v Austria in 1982. The result at half time suited both sides and it was effectively a non-contest in the second period.
What surprised me on Sunday was that Celtic adopted the same style of play on Sunday that had nullified the second half of the first game.
It is pointless asking – how would the game have panned out if Celtic had adopted a more positive outlook? – they didn’t, so we shall never know!
However, RD made a great point of stating that he understood Celtic’s traditions and thought he had been selected as manager because he had a reputation for putting out attractive/attacking formations. In that context, Sunday’s game is even more puzzling. When you take into consideration the number of goals Rangers have conceded against lower-league opposition recently you would be forgiven for thinking that Celtic could/should have won the game – regardless of the formation.
Perhaps Ronny was a broken man before Sunday’s game and had simply lost his nerve. Perhaps his players did not play to instruction. These are the most likely reasons for the performance.
What makes me sad however, is that the past 5 years have provided many examples where commercial expediency has apparently trumped footballing integrity. We have endured many disappointments in the way our own clubs have submitted to the narrative that a strong Rangers is needed to keep Scottish football “healthy”.
It is the fact that I can’t 100% rule out the possibility that the way Celtic set out their stall on Sunday was related to a commercial imperative – not that I actually believe it – that tells me the baw’s already burst.
I don’t believe it – and I don’t want to believe it – but there have been so many other things I would have refused to believe in the past. LNS, Bryson, same club, 5WA – 5 years ago you would have been laughed out of town if you had tried to explain/justify any of them.
As mentioned, it was surprising the timing of Deila’s announcement.
But the impact on CFC / Scottish football ?
If they want an established manager, he would presumably want full control of player purchases – and a decent transfer ‘warchest’.
Neither might be on offer to the next manager.
Even with TRFC in the top league, IMO, from a financial perspective neither CFC nor any other SPL club will feel obligated to splash extra cash on better players, and TRFC could realistically be mid-table contenders. Time will tell.
So, IMO, it would seem more likely that CFC will go for a manager ‘still to prove’ himself, give him a limited budget, and he will not have the control of an established manager.
So that probably narrows down the search significantly.
However, I don’t think they will opt for a virtual unknown name again as manager – but mibbess a name which the CFC fans will recognise and give him time to develop – regardless of real abilities ?
If I was a miserable person holding the CFC purse strings, I would like to hold fire and see how TRFC performs next season.
However, there is also a fine line to tread wrt encouraging ST sales, Res.12 negativity etc.
A ‘sentimental’ management appointment to boost ST sales as a priority – and to buy some time then ?
Terrific effort, Reiver, let’s all hope you have some (a lot of) success with this. Sometimes all it takes is one success and, as you say, others jump on the bandwagon. Even award winning journalists have been known to plagiarise or steel other writers’ work once they realise it’s not in their own best interests to hide the truth from their hitherto unenlightened readers.
Hirsute
I hope I will be allowed this as this site is not about the football per se but you should perhaps view your teams performance in the semi against the Hibs v TRFC game after it. The tactics of the two teams in green were the same. Sit back and let them have the ball because they are not too effective with it unless perhaps they get a free kick. But my team, and this is not a boast (believe that if you will), did the other part of the tactic pretty well. You know, the when you are on the attack play on the blue central pairs’ fragility(albeit with a huge helping hand from the rest of their team).
So basically RD did exactly the same as Stubbs did so what’s it to be. Did Celtic try to win or did Hibs try to let TRFC win?
There is so much going on in our sport that we SHOULD have genuine concern about that we really don’t want to be diluting our concerns with pinning our losses on a conspiracy.
Haywire,
im not on the wind up here – I genuinely don’t know what you’ve found so disgusting in the article, which is why I asked what you had found so bad. The post I read was Moral Turpitude? Perhaps there is something that you find offensive about it that I have understood differently or am not fully aware of the facts of which he speaks?
I can’t really comment on the rest of what you said as I can’t say I’ve ever read much of his blog, other than when it is linked to here. But I will say that I do not consider I hold any extreme views so if he has expressed some then the chances are I don’t agree.
Just watched the Saints Aberdeen game. Heavens what is happening to the dons. Fair play to the Saints who deserved their win but it was painful to watch Aberdeen give up the chase so wimpishly. Barry Robson is a shadow of the player he was at Dundee United but at times it seemed he and Shinnie were the only players trying to win.The Celtic manager has been hounded by the media for every perceived slip…but in truth his players let him down too. Aberdeen’s manager will feel the same.It is really frustrating because last season the only game I attended was Celtic Aberdeen and did so with a real thrill and tension of wariness. This is how sport should be …the outcome uncertain , both teams trying etc FFs Aberdeen get it together and make a better show of it next season.
ianagain, redetin, gerrrybhoy
I thought I had posted this a little earlier tonight,but I don’t see it now.Maybe when I tried to amend my text I ran out of time or some such.
Anyway, I was delighted when I went into my email inbox wile listening to the St Johnstone v Aberdeen game to find this reply to the email I copied on here yesterday at 23.22 pm.
This guy surely would not fit in to the cosy little SMSM set.
“Tom Smurthwaite <tom.smurthwaite@trinitymirror.com> Today at 9:03
To (me, real name)
Message body
Hi Mr (my real name)
Ah, okay, thanks for explaining the situation – I’ll amend the web copy.
ThanksTom“
I replied to acknowledge his courtesy in replying. I would like to think he would be curious enough to ask serious questions of the ‘authorities’ to hear what kind of nonsense they would tell him.
Hello again Ryan,
I am very pleased to hear that you do not hold extreme views. In passing, I’m sure that there’s a joke in there somewhere in relation to the team you support, but, as a number of people have said recently, Let’s Move On for the sake of the game!
I recommend that you grit your teeth and have another look at JJ’s site. In particular, consider some of his replies as Sitonfence to comments on ‘Moral Turpitude’. He goes even further off the wall in today’s offering under, ‘CAFCASS’. I suspect that some of his more extreme statements on that topic could be actionable.
I can quite understand the frustrations of fathers who have been denied access to their children for whatever reason.
However, I would suggest that you look at the following two links regarding Fathers 4 Justice. Nadine O’Connor is mentioned in them, and she was quoted as a reference by JJ today. I leave it to you to make your own mind up about this organisation and its present leaders:
http://www.mumsnet.com/info/fathers-4-justice-statement
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/fathers-4-justice-and-the-mother-of-all-hate-campaigns-9786179.html
I really am now going to ‘Move On’ and draw a line under this issue and shall comment no further.
I’m not quite sure how your comments relate to what I had to say.
I’m especially confused by: “Did Celtic try to win or did Hibs try to let TRFC win?”
Genuinely don’t understand the question! Or why it was posed.
Hirsute
I do write a bit confusingly at times I know. What I was trying to say was that both RD and Stubbs saw the correct tactics to beat TRFC and used them. Celtic lost and Hibs won was the difference but in using the same tactics they showed that they were BOTH trying to get a win. I read your post as suggesting that Celtic went out not to win. I believe that we are in danger of being called fantasists if we start labeling our teams’ losses in such a way.
A win is a win and a defeat is a defeat. I still believe that is the case and if it is not then it is most likely that an individual player would be the cause of am engineered result for personal gain than it being a conspiracy from within the game. I know that within the current climate of our sport that the conditions are right to allow a conspiracy but we have no proof of it happening. We have plenty of proof of other wrong doing and I believe we should just concentrate our attention on that.
GunnerB, take a quick look back at the last few seasons results for Aberdeen against St Johnstone and you will find that St J have an excellent record in these games. For some reason Aberdeen tend not to turn up against them, why this should be I have no idea but if Aberdeen are playing St Johnstone then a bet on a St J win is often worthwhile.
I just realised that with a loss to Hibs, Rangers have now lost more games in the lower league this season, than Celtic have in the league above. Yet Warburton is lauded as a genius and Deila has been sacked. Trump gives the impression that the system is rigged against him, yet his actual vote percentage is far less than his percentage if delegates, in reality the system is rigged in his favour.
In this world, perception now defeats reality. Hence, I think, the reason for the drop off I SFM and support. There is a feeling of despondency and defeat based upon the perception that cheats have prevailed. The reality is of course somewhat different. The SFA still face a day in court over the fit and proper persons test, LNS is not the final word, and once all appeals are over legally, it will be revisited, and as Phil remind us Rangers are a loss making business, held in existence by personal finances with no line of credit from the bank, in other words a fundamentally unstable institution.
We appear to be defeated, but it may in fact still be November 1940, with a long road ahead to victory.
Or we may, in fact, be totally screwed.
Reiver
I can only repeat what I said previously –
I think we agree that Celtic adopted a strategy that could/should have won the game last weekend.
My question – and it is to myself more than anyone else – is what made RD think that he could not adopt a more attacking/attractive style and win in a way that way that would have been more pleasing to his team’s support.
I suggested-
As I said, I have no doubt that Celtic were put out to win last week. I have been quite careful to say so.
What I find strange is the manner in which the win was sought.
Celtic adopted a style with which the manager would not normally be associated and with which the players were not familiar. The fact that it could/should have brought a victory is beside the point.
…or at least beside the point I have been trying to make.
Re all the talk of Celtic’s tactics last week against Rangers. During Rangers nine in row period they won several games against Celtic where Celtic had the majority of the possession, but made little inroads behind the Rangers defence bar defensive errors and the odd wonder goal. Pretty much how the game went last week except in Rangers favour. Celtic had many more clear cut chances and Rangers rode their luck in spadeloads with the free kick right at the end. I don’t think overall Celtic played well but I’m sure they were 100% trying to win. I was as disappointed as anyone but the ridiculous media forecasts of Rangers domination next season based on that one game are just that – ridiculous. I wonder whether Warburton will even be there to oversee it. His family remain in London and despite the Scottish media failing to mention that, bar Graham Spiers, I believe he would leave at the first decent offer to come his way. Spiers even went as far to state on Twitter that Warburton’s position on wanting to move to England is well known.
Iceman63 — Well spotted fact regarding number of games lost i’d given up looking at the Championship and your remarks about how the rags report it is very true.
Last night’s fish supper wrapper was good reading ?- Graham Spiers a man whose writing was once well respected reported on how wrong The Cardigan was with his inciteful comments before last week’s game and his opinion that his old club were hard done by was flawed.Also Mr Spiers kknows of at least one ex- player who set aside his ebt payments expecting HMRC to come calling when the scam was discovered so could have been a topic among the players over the year’s.
UPTHEHOOPS, I haven’t heard or read any claims Rangers will dominate next season. Challenge, maybe, but that is about it. Granted I don’t read every paper or listen to every radio program. But a media forecast suggests a pretty ubiquitous view across the board and I’m not sure that is the case. Happy to be corrected though.
iceman63April 23, 2016 at 09:55
‘…We appear to be defeated, but it may in fact still be November 1940, with a long road ahead to victory.Or we may, in fact, be totally screwed.’
________
The Third Reich is perhaps the best example of how spectacularly, and quickly, an apparently invincible ,evil empire can crumble and collapse.
There is not a football club director, or a member of the SFA or SPFL boards, or a newspaper editor, or a High Court or Sheriff court judge, or a QC, or insolvency practitioner, or business-man, or serious football supporter , or professional or amateur footballer in Scotland , who, being apprised of the actual facts, could conceivably convince himself with any degree of internal personal conviction (as opposed to external pissing-in-the-wind bravado) that there was not a fix done for sordid financial reasons, and perhaps some other reasons, to create a myth and sustain a fiction.
Our Football Authorities are not , of course, genocidal maniacs.
But in the matter of the Liquidation of a football club, and the creation of the 5-way agreement, they are guilty, nevertheless, of murdering truth, and have no answer to that charge, other than bluster and cant,
” let the galled jade wince, our withers are unwrung”, we can say with Willie S, 400 years (tomorrow) after his birth.
Because Truth, of course, will always win out in the end. And the little 6th Floor Empire will not survive administering a business living on a lie.
INCREDIBLEADAMSPARKAPRIL 23, 2016 at 12:36
UPTHEHOOPS, I haven’t heard or read any claims Rangers will dominate next season. Challenge, maybe, but that is about it. Granted I don’t read every paper or listen to every radio program. But a media forecast suggests a pretty ubiquitous view across the board and I’m not sure that is the case. Happy to be corrected though.
================================
Look no further than the national broadcaster. Apparently Celtic fans are now ‘scared’.
upthehoopsApril 23, 2016 at 13:53
Look no further than the national broadcaster. Apparently Celtic fans are now ‘scared’.
___________________
Of Alloa? No need for you to worry, according to the commentator at today’s game, Alloa are already relegated, while ‘Rangers’ are moving in the other direction, ‘back to the Premiership’! Bad enough that they continue to flog the nonsense of a return, but he gave an obvious emphasis to the word ‘back’, as though that was the main reason he made the comment. Sky do seem committed to this illusion.
This continual search to find ways of repeating ‘back’, ‘return’ etc is not only an unnecessary piece of information (I wonder how often it was made about Hearts last season, who were undoubtedly ‘back’ to the Premiership, or top league), but is becoming the new ‘1872’ on the back of TRFC’s first top, something not required if what it says is true!
UPTHEHOOPS, just BBC Scotland and they predicted Rangers would dominate next season? Hope I’m not being too pedantic but where can I hear/read this? Seems like a bold statement given the match was pretty close and was settled by penalties.
I’d question whether this is the ‘media’ forecasting this or just a section. It gives the impression it’s a widely voiced opinion when it looks like the opposite might be true.
Well at least one Ibrox spokesperson seems confident of domination next season:
“Martyn Waghorn says Rangers can win the Scottish Premiership in their first season back
The fit-again striker, who has his eye on a Scottish Cup Final place, reckons his side have proved they have what it takes, especially in last Sunday’s Old Firm clash.
With major strengthening expected at Ibrox this summer, Waghorn firmly believes they can challenge Celtic for the league crown.
“Of course we can,” said the 25-year-old. “It’s Rangers Football Club we’re playing for and we want to be competing at the highest level.”
(Daily Express)
Of course that was said before the home draw with bottom of the second tier Alloa.
INCREDIBLEADAMSPARKAPRIL 23, 2016 at 15:27 UPTHEHOOPS, just BBC Scotland and they predicted Rangers would dominate next season? Hope I’m not being too pedantic but where can I hear/read this? Seems like a bold statement given the match was pretty close and was settled by penalties.
===============================
I don’t know if the post match phone in is still available from last Sunday, but there was zero perspective on that from the presenter and every pundit, particularly Tom English. Rangers might even be favourites for the league next year, according to them, such was their total superiority in the game. Then during the week Paul McStay opined if Celtic played Rangers again tomorrow, they would approach it differently and win. Only his view I agree. The reaction of Kenny McIntyre “…where is he getting that from?” in an incredulous manner. Tom English (again) pipes up in a derogatory tone “…wishful thinking”. As for Tom English I can’t recall when he last spoke of Celtic, or any person associated with them, without adopting a sneering tone. Unacceptable for a publicly funded broadcaster in my view.
So the upshot is Celtic can’t ever beat Rangers again! Interesting.
UTH,
I’ve given up on Tom English presenting a fair and balanced account of anything to do with Celtic. He was better a couple of years ago in the print media, on a par with Graham Spiers (regarding TRFC). But since he joined the BBC he has been consumed by the party line.
All any of us want is fairness and truthfulness, not bias or lies. Why is it so difficult for them? I can almost understand it with the football authorities and complicit chairmen. Covering their backsides and pure greed.
Journalists on the other hand should be above all of this. A real journalist would have been all over the Rangers saga of the past 20 years like a swarm of locusts. Words fail me with this lot of hacks, stenographers, copy and paste merchants. Call them what you will, but they certainly are not journalists of integrity.
UPTHEHOOP, you obviously don’t have a high opinion of the BBC or their pundits/presenters and that’s fair enough. But your examples are clearly not anyone claiming Rangers will dominate next year and that’s where I’ll leave it.