As SFM folk will know, Scottish Football authorities can be enigmatic at best, puzzling and corrupt at worst, and downright crazy and incompetent in either situation. On this blog over the years, we have asked questions constantly of the authorities and the clubs, but like anyone with a fan-centred interest at heart we get ignored. “Fans are not a homogenous entity”, they say, “there are more opinions than there are fans”. This artful premise gives the clubs an excuse to ignore fans’ input, and other than on platforms like this, fan opinion is seldom gathered or curated.
The following blog, put together by Andy Smith, the Chairman of the Scottish Football Supporters Association, asks a lot of simple questions that don’t get asked often. He also invites fans to raise their own questions and opinions.
Of course, there are headline atrocities committed by the people in charge of the game.
The Five-Way Agreement, the continuity myth, the refusal to punish the biggest incidence of systematic cheating ever experienced in the game, and the casual adoption of the post-truth model introduced so successfully by venal politicians on both sides of the Atlantic.
But what enabled those assaults on the integrity of the sport? In order to get away with the big con, there have to be wee cons. Ticket allocations, kick off times and dates for set-piece occasions which make it difficult if not impossible for fans outside of Glasgow to participate, refusal to hold match officials accountable in the way an underperforming player or a misbehaving fan would be, and countless other incidences where fans are inconvenienced, or even put at risk.
The only way to combat that level of arrogance is to unite where we can, and although in a partisan sport that can be difficult to achieve, SFM is testimony that it can work. This blog is an invitation for us to begin to look forward, and not get distracted by the past. I hope SFM-ers participate and make their views clear.
Big Pink
What did Alan Dougherty, Gordon Harvey and Eddie Hutch have in common?
They were teachers who gave their time, to thousands of kids, including me, and asked for nothing back. To a man they gave up, overnight, as part of a ‘work to rule’, in an ugly pay dispute in the early 80s.
They were never thanked properly by the game?
They were and are sair missed.
Why did football let that happen?
Why has nobody ever grasped this particular nettle since?
Should you be able to have a beer at Bayview watching East Fife play Clyde on Feb 5th?
Just like the fans at Murrayfield, just over the Firth can and will, at the sell-out game vs England on the very same day.
Should you be allowed to enjoy a beer at Celtic Park watching Celtic vs Rangers on Feb 2nd?
A smaller crowd than Murrayfield too, and very few away fans. But some history and maybe a different situation altogether.
Are our leagues too small, leading to constant pressure and short termism by clubs?
Club CFO’s say the pressures are brutal and when their team is in trouble everything else gets sacrificed to avoid the financial chaos of relegation.
Many CFO’s dread the thought of promotion too knowing full well the seesaw implications of our small leagues.
Should the bottom of SPFL be an automatic relegation to open up the pyramid?
Our unique, one league only, convoluted play-off formula was only ever a last minute switcheroo/deal by the SPFL2 clubs at the time to protect their places in the SPFL ‘old boys network’.
I’d suggest East Stirling, Brechin and Berwick would change their votes if asked again.
Your Invitation to Say What You Think
Scottish Football Alliance Fan Survey January 2022
The Scottish Football Supporters Association is an independent and growing fans organisation in Scotland with circa 80,000 members. We have members from all senior clubs in Scotland and throughout the pyramid.
Many of those members regularly visit the SFM site.
We have been asked by the new Scottish Football Alliance (http://scottishfootball.org/) to provide an independent insight into what fans think about various aspects of our game, in particular what fans think our game needs to move forward. It is time for change, and football seems incapable of change from within.
Scottish Football might not acknowledge it, but it really needs the input of supporters like you. The fact none of us have been asked our opinions in the past says a lot.
We need to help and tell those running our game and other stakeholders like the Scottish Government what football needs to do.
Scottish football certainly has to think longer term and get closer to its fans.
In any business overview we are the core stakeholders.
The way we are treated and ignored is quite commercially bizarre.
To that end we have commissioned a short two minute survey, but we’d also welcome and appreciate any more detailed insights into what Scottish Football needs to do or do better. Please email those insights (in addition to participating in the survey) to me, at andrew@scottishfsa.org
I know from experience that when you get a group of fans in a room to talk about football, after the local rivalries and stuff gets dealt with, usually with humour, we can all see what the game has done for us, the power of good it can be for our communities and the things that need to change.
I constantly find that most fans not only see the bigger picture but also collectively want to give something back.
When this survey ends we will aggregate and analyse the results and share them far and wide inside the game and to other interested stakeholders like The Scottish Government.
The results will also become the foundation of policies The Scottish Football Alliance will publish and circulate.
At each stage moving forward we will work closely with The Scottish Football Alliance providing then with further fan insight.
And we will keep you and all other fans involved.
Survey Notes
You can participate in the survey by follwing this link:
https://s-f-s-a.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/scottish-football-alliance-survey
The questions are simple Yes/No and there are no right or wrong answers, just opinions and insight into what fans think.
Unusually, we might have to agree to disagree on the merits of the SFSA, JC. What you’ve described sounds to me like a group of people who sit around and comment on how bad things are, with no idea – let alone a plan – of what they should do to effect any change in what they don’t like. Recruiting a number of people to join them and providing a place to discuss the things they dislike isn’t really anything more than what Big Pink has done with this forum. A goal (to improve Scottish Football Governance, perhaps?) without a plan is just a dream.
It seems to me that they’re just a bunch of guys chatting online about how things could be better, just like us. Except we at least talk about the biggest, most visible governance problem while they shy away from it because they’re so desperate to appeal to all fans.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m no better – after all these years since RTC I still can’t see how we shake the applecart sufficiently, given the support for the status quo from the clubs, media and government but I’m not the one setting myself up as a fans organisation to improve governance.
Until they have a fighting Mission Statement; a structured plan for effecting change and a means to make a Change Manifesto public, I’m afraid they’re a bit of a waste of time imo.
I’m glad you took the time to check them out though. That’s more than I did.
Nawlite 27th June 2022 At 13:16
‘… Except we at least talk about the biggest, most visible governance problem while they shy away from it because they’re so desperate to appeal to all fans.’
+++++++++
Perhaps, Nawlite, if we had had in 2012 a statutorily independent Regulator of football , the SFA/SPL/SFL of the time would never have got away with letting a new plc float itself on the market with the misleading claim in its IPO that is would be the holding company of a 140 year old famous football club!
I agree with you, of course, that the running sore of the Big Lie has to be dealt with definitively by the SFA by a public statement that TRFC is not entitled to claim to be ‘continuity’ Rangers of 1872, and that all official football records will show TRFC as having no sporting history predating the granting of membership in the the then SFA in 2012
Ultimately there can be no truthful decent governance until the Big Lie is acknowledged as such by the SFA. RIFC plc/TRFC would rant and rave like demented people :but they would not leave Scottish football, the supporters of TRFC would still there in their tens of thousands, not a penny of revenue would be lost to the game, but Truth would be restored and we could all ‘move on going forward’
New premises for CAS
https://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/ICAS_Media_Release_-_Inauguration_new_CAS_headquarters.pdf
Oh, to be wealthy enough to bring an action against the ‘governance’ of Scottish Football for failure in its duties to uphold and defend the concept of Sporting Integrity by permitting the false transfer of sporting honours won by a defunct football club to be claimed and used to advantage by a new club!
I think the grounds at some clubs would be emptied if this was enacted in Scotland .
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/61979713
Paddy Malarkey 29th June 2022 At 12:10
‘.. if this was enacted in Scotland..’
+++++++++
I have seen no reference to this change in England on either BBC Radio Scotland or BBC Scotland TV sport?
Surely, if there is one of the UK constituent countries where ON-LINE (as well other means of) communicating criminal racist/religious abuse can be expected it would surely be Scotland!
I’m astonished that the Scottish government did not act in parallel with the English.
I’m equally astonished that BBC Scotland chooses not to report the change in English football banning authority’s powers! Or maybe their English colleagues didn’t share the news with them?
John Clark 29th June 2022 At 17:56
Sport is devolved to the Scottish Parliament . Douglas Ross is a fitba’ man ,so mibbes he’ll propose that we follow suit . The link is from BBC Sport .
If I may, can I refer to my post of 5 June at 23.24, in which I copied my letter to the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, asking about the meeting between ‘RIFC plc/TRFC and the Government’?
I note that I got a reply of sorts last Wednesday, which I have only just noticed,
” Ministerial Support Team
4th Floor
100 Parliament Street
London SW1A 2BQ
E: enquiries@dcms.gov.uk
http://www.gov.uk/dcms
22 June 2022
Our Ref:
TO2022/07951/ES
Dear Mr
Thank you for your correspondence of 5 June to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and
Sport, regarding a meeting concerning events at the UEFA Europa League Final in Seville on
18 May. I am replying as a member of the Ministerial Support Team.
Department officials met with representatives of Rangers Football Club and discussed their
submission to UEFA on their experiences at the Europa League Final. Fans deserve better
than experienced in Seville, and subsequently in Paris. The department looks forward to
UEFA’s consideration of both these events.
Thank you again for writing to the department.
Yours sincerely,
Edward
Ministerial Support Team ”
Well, the ‘Edward’ boy shows promise as a future ‘Sir Humphrey’ – replying to only one part of a letter, and telling truth enough not to be caught out in a lie ,and avoiding any observation that might indicate a ‘departmental’ view that someone could reasonably take serious [party political] objection to!
‘Edward ‘ ( and his Civil Service seniors] would not know who the letter-writer was ( just a name and an email address] but a reference to devolved powers from someone writing about a Scottish Football club would , I imagine, ring a wee alarm bell.
I suppose I could have fun.
But since it is clear from ‘Edward’s’ reply that no member of Government met ‘Rangers’ , only departmental officials,
and that , as we already know, no member of Government ‘hosted’ a celebratory party and that that toss-pot Jack had merely been a guest, I won’t waste my time, enjoyable as the exercise might be.
Paddy Malarkey 29th June 2022 At 18:13
‘.. Douglas Ross is a fitba’ man ,so mibbes he’ll propose that we follow suit ‘
++++++++
Sadly, he, in my estimation, has no credibility as being any kind of man of principle.
John Clark 25th June 2022 At 22:24
++++++++++++++++++
Personally I welcome VAR to Scotland as I believe it gets more right than wrong, however that won’t stop the arguments, that’s for sure. As we have seen in some games outwith Scotland it comes to utterly baffling decisions at times, and equally baffling is the refusal to refer certain incidents to VAR for a second look. Neither will it satisfy those who believe Scottish Refereeing is influenced by bias, as they believe that bias will simply be transferred to the VAR room.
@UTH – I agree with you on the pros and cons of VAR. What I am looking forward to is whether we will have the equivalent of Peter Walton in the studio interpreting decision-making via VAR. Invariably he corrects the pundits and explains the rationale based on the rules which with VAR is usually black or white (might not always agree with the rule but it’s the rule – thinking of that daft decision in the Euro’s last summer when because the defender tried to intercept the ball then Mbappe was deemed to be onside and subsequently scored). I saw a number of decisions last year for which there was no basis in the rules for the decision to be made. Who is going to be that wise owl? (I was going to saw Yoda rather than wise owl – then I saw this quote from Yoda and thought maybe he doesn’t apply to Scottish Football: “Train yourself to let go of everything you are afraid to lose”!
Wokingcelt 30th June 2022 At 11:55
++++++++++++++++++++
The media will remain a problem with VAR in the same way they remain a problem with wrong refereeing decisions. We have seen them twist themselves into absolute contortions in the past trying to justify a referee decision that was blatantly wrong, and the fallback always is ‘if you’re good enough the Ref doesn’t matter’, which is utter nonsense in my view. If the default becomes ‘if you’re good enough VAR doesn’t matter’ then where do we go? There is also the problem of Sportscene being extremely selective in what they highlight and what they ignore. VAR won’t ever change that just like it won’t change the fact that Sportsound have only once invited the head of refereeing onto their programme to discuss a decision despite numerous other decisions over the season which could have received the same level of forensic analysis.
UTH – don’t disagree but I do think VAR will shine a light on the competence of our referees. For example if every goal is subject to a VAR check then the decision is effectively taken by the computer/camera. If a referee overrules VAR he risks ridicule. If VAR is used selectively – was their “enough” contact to award a penalty for example then hopefully any bias is shown up for what it is. VAR itself is not a magic bullet but a combination of the embarrassment factor for a referee to be shown to be consistently wrong and for these errors to pretty much go viral on social media should help to raise standards.
Still rumbling on :
From Rolls of Court today
“LORD HARROWER – S Alexander, Clerk
Court 6 – Parliament House
Friday 8th July
Hearing on Note of Objections and Answers
CA9/20 David Whitehouse v The Chief Constable of Police Scotland &c”
I have had another read at the judgment, in October 2019, of the Inner House of the Court of Session, in the Clark and Whitehouse cases.
I hadn’t previously noticed the the straightforward reference to ‘Rangers’ , and not to any ‘company’ separate from the club that went into Liquidation!
You will find this at Para 101 o Lord Carloway’s judgment:
“101. …….There are probably almost no such cases now , other than those relating to the Rangers’ winding-up’…”
https://www.bailii.org/scot/cases/ScotCS/2019/2019_CSIH_52.html
It’s clear to me that Lord Carloway felt no need to pretend that RFC of 1872 , the football club founded by the four young men , did NOT cease to exist as a shareholding club in the SPL and as a member of the SFA. He , I imagine, knows that there was no ‘holding company ‘ that held the share in the SPL or the membership in the SFA, No, it was Rangers Football Club , incorporated in May 1899, which was the shareholder in the SL and which had membership of the SFA. On filing to exit Administration, the shareholding had to be surrendered and SFA membership withdrawn.
And RFC of 1872 died the death of Liquidation and the capacity to add to its many sporting triumphs on the field of play.
Incontrovertibly and
Just by the by, I seem to remember that some time ago there was a ‘contempt of court’ charge brought by the FCA against a very wealthy son of a policeman because he had allegedly failed to comply with a court order.
The details escape my ageing memory, but it seems that, on the promise-after lots of Court time and expense – that he would comply with the Court order , he was not in any way punished by the Court.
I mention this recollection [ damned if I can remember the guy’s name!] because I’ve just been reading the sentencing judgment [in a wholly unrelated case] to be found at this link
https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/F00DD664-Dudley-MBC-v-Stead-Sentencing-7.6.22-V1.pdf
okay, England isn’t Scotland, and annoying/frightening one’s neighbours is maybe as serious as a millionaire giving two fingers to a Scottish Court order!
But still…..
There is no doubt in my mind that VAR will be used to assist the financial agenda of the authorities. If an incident was deemed crucial enough that the decision could see a club who was deemed to be necessary to the Scottish game either thrive financially or go bust, I have no doubt that sporting integrity will once again become a casualty.
Of course, if it is being run by the refereeing service, need we say more.
Shitshow in the offing I’m s afraid.
Just reading the reports on the saving of Derby County by David Clowes buying the club out of administration. As a lifelong Derby County fan David Clowes has taken on the debts of £60m plus (with HMRC owed £36m) as he wouldn’t have been able to “look myself in the mirror if he hadn’t done everything possible to protect it [Derby County].
Not a trace of irony in the BBC’s reporting…
I see the silly season has commenced with Barry Ferguson trumpeting the fact Rangers could reek in $55 million for the sale of three players. Recently Kenny Miller was claiming if $6 million was offered for Morelos they should snatch it. Meanwhile some of the more astute folks on Rangers website are trigging to the fact that they professed interest in Morelos for numerous clubs may not not be all that keen. However they have completed deals for players who maybe more suited for 5 aside old timers teams. However across the city numerous signings and apparently a hunger for more. JC is there any update on Parks vs. Rangers as posted earlier.
Vernallen 1st July 2022 At 23:03
‘..JC is there any update on Parks vs. Rangers as posted earlier.’
++++++++++
Nothing that I’ve seen, Vernallen. Early days yet!
Wokingcelt 1st July 2022 At 22:09
‘..Just reading the reports on the saving of Derby County by David Clowes buying the club out of administration..
+++++++
I make two observations:
First, a wee reminder of what happens if a business is NOT brought out of Administration!
Para 5.18 of the Derby County Administrators’ “Statement of Proposals”, issued to creditors on 15 November 2021, has this:
” If no successful sale ..takes place, then the Joint Administrators will have no other option but to close and place the companies in Liquidation. The result would be catastrophic in that all staff would be made redundant and the football club would be expelled from the football league”
Second, unlike the Court-criticised D&P Administrators of Rangers Football Club plc, the Administrators of Derby County [great credit to them] found a buyer ready to take on the debts and keep the club in existence as a football club, and did not strike a deal with some gimcrack buyer of cut-price assets, while the football club had to surrender its share in the SPL and in consequence lost its entitlement to membership of the SFA- with the consequence that the buyer of (only) some of the assets HAD TO seek a shareholding in a league and apply to the SFA for membership as new club!
There will be no need for the EFL to cobble up any ridiculous lie .
The shame that our Scottish Football governance bodies have to live with is that , having done the right thing to begin with- that is, the SPL called in Rangers’ share, and the SFA withdrew the club’s membership- they crumpled before vile threats and the imagined future loss of revenue, and cast the integrity of the Sport and their own personal integrity to the wind by creating the farcical notion that TRFC, newly created in 2012, is RFC of 1872.
Looked at in the cold light of day, no circle of hell would be too hot for wretches such as those on the boards of our football governance bodies for such an outrageous abuse of office.
And they know it!
The Goalie gone .And Drew Busby .
https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/sport/20251901.rangers-legend-andy-goram-dies-aged-58-following-short-battle-cancer/
https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/sport/football/hearts/former-hearts-hero-drew-busby-dies-aged-74-3753617
Paddy Malarkey 2nd July 2022 At 12:44
..The Goalie gone .And Drew Busby .’
+++++++++
I will say this, whatever else about anything else, the phrase ” Gorum would have saved that” has for years come readily to my lips when watching goalkeepers, in a one-on -one situation ,going down much too early, allowing the striker to evade them.
May Andy Gorum and Drew Busby rest in peace, and my condolences to their families and friends.
There was a quite good discussion/explanation of VAR arrangements by Crawford Allan on BBC Scotland Sportsound, just finished.
I didn’t hear it all, but from what I heard of how it will be operated I was reasonably reassured that jiggery-pokery will be very difficult to engineer: it would require an unconscionable level of conspiracy involving too many and various people without sufficient time for them all to sign ‘non-disclosure agreements’ such as were required for the creation of the Big Lie!
John Clark 2nd July 2022 At 12:58
I’ll second that. Football is not more important than life or death, despite the famous quote from the great Bill Shankly.
Rest in peace Andy Goram and Drew Busby.
John Clark 2nd July 2022 At 16:23
Like you I heard part of the VAR discussion on Sportsound, but not all. I was intrigued that the intention is to show incidents on replay in stadiums which have big screens. How many is that? I can only think of Celtic Park, Hampden, Ibrox and (possibly) Easter Road.
Upthehoops 2nd July 2022 At 18:47
‘.. VAR discussion…….. I was intrigued that the intention is to show incidents on replay in stadiums which have big screens. ‘
+++++++++++
I think I heard [ I may be wrong ] Crawford Allan explain that there was no suggestion that grounds without big screens will be required to incur the expense of installing them. It would be up to the clubs to choose whether to provide the facility for their supporters?
I would like to hear that whole piece by Allan again- particularly the bit about the 3-second delay , and the fact that those in the separate ‘Communications Room’ will not be allowed to have their mobile phones or other means of communication by which they could communicate with the VAR techies, replay players, or screen watchers before the final referee decision is made.
I would also like to hear again the bit about the ‘space ‘between body parts of attacker and defender in offside decisions, and the offside line, and something more about what distinguishes an ‘opinion’ from a ‘fact’!
I would suggest that Sportsound should re-run that session with Crawford Allan as soon as possible!
VAR – as fate would have it my teenage son was completing a refereeing course with The FA yesterday. Whilst picking him up and walking back to the car with another parent and son, the boys were messing around with the other boy showing his dad a yellow card. I commented that at home parents are VAR – to which my son responded “refs make the decisions, VARs only a tool to assist..” that was me told!! ?
Wokingcelt 3rd July 2022 At 20:52
“….to which my son responded “refs make the decisions, VARs only a tool to assist..”
++++++++++
Indeed, VAR is a tool that is available to referees- just as [in old language] ‘linesmen’ were.
But referees were able to exercise their own discretion and disagree with a linesman’s decision if his reading of the situation happened to be different.
And his word would be law! Television replays might clearly show that in fact there was no room for a different ‘opinion’ and that the linesman was right, and the referee wrong.
But , of course, the game was over, the ref’s decision could not be changed…
VAR technology changes that, in the sense that rather than disagreeing with the linesman’s flag and waving play on, the referee can be whistled up to go and look at a multi-angled view of the ‘incident’.
The expectation is that a referee will then be better placed to think about the incident and either review or maintain his decision .
The further expectation is that the referee is honest and unbiased and un-bribeable.
It is not outwith the bounds of possibility that some rogue referee might fly in the face of the evidence from VAR and choose, deliberately, to ignore clear evidence ( clear to the VAR people and to those supporters whose stadia have ‘big screens’] knowing that his decision , however contrary to the evidence, will stand!
And he then packs it in as a referee , quietly pocketing as much money as will set him up for life, his decision to ignore the actual clear cut evidence[ a decision which cannot be changed retrospectively] having enriched the undeserving( sport-wise] club owner who bribed him.
I suppose I’m asking the question: if the whole world of football can see live, during the game, that a referee is clearly wrong in his ‘opinion’ of what is a matter of recorded observable fact to VAR and to the spectators who see the VAR replays, must his contrary decision have to stand?
Should there not be a change in the IFAB rules, such that they would not allow the possibility of any referee being able to cheat the evidence of VAR , and for a perverse decision to be overturned there and then, in the live game?
We know that there have been bad bst.rds in the world of football-some perhaps even at the very top, internationally.
Perhaps it’s time that clearly evidenced wilful ‘mistakes’ seen live by VAR technology should be whistled up then and there and NOT allowed to stand?
John Clark 4th July 2022 At 00:16
The referee is the final arbiter , regardless of the number and types of assistance available to him . I think it would be impossible for any to get away with the scheme you outlined as the scrutiny by authorities and bookies would be a major deterrent , and the Police would be keen to follow the money . And what some may see as bias , others will see as incompetence . Every day being a school day , I learned a new acronym used in VAR protocols -DOGSO . Look it up yourself !
Just had a chuckle at hearing a Scottish-accented (politics] Reporter on BBC Scotland expressing the annoyance that his colleagues feel at being taken for a ride by Downing St , being fed a load of unbelievable guff [ my words] about what Boris knew or didn’t know.
It’s quite possible that the same journalist will, like his sports-hacks counterparts, have been only too happy to go along with the monstrous fiction foisted on Scottish Football , the fiction known as the Big Lie that TRFC are RFC of 1872 , inn spite of having been created only in 2012, while RFC of 1872 is languishing in Liquidation as RFC plc 2012.
There are lots of Borises in Scottish Football reporting who operate on the same basis of selective definition of Truth as he appears to do. A false journalist is, in my book, more deserving of scorn and contempt than people in the world of lies and half-truths that is Politics.
We kind of expect politicians to lie.
We expect unadulterated Truth from journalists.
And we are not getting it , and have not had it since 2012, from our football hacks and sports editors.
May they be sent into the 10th Pit of the Eighth Circle of Dante’s ‘Inferno’ as ‘falsifiers’.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/62067109
Kenny Macintyre about to take over from Richard Gordon as host of Saturday Sportsound. A good football show is about to turn into Radio Rangers.
Macfurgly 6th July 2022 At 15:39
‘..Kenny Macintyre about to take over from Richard Gordon as host of Saturday Sportsound. A good football show is about to turn into Radio Rangers.’
++++++++++++++
An absolutely appalling appointment .
In my opinion, McIntyre has none of the skills required of a discussion leader/presenter: more of a ranter than an expounder, with nothing to commend him as an objective interviewer or balanced ‘holder of the jackets’ in a discussion.
The Pacific Quay establishment shoots itself in the foot again.
Bad cess to them.
Macfurgly 6th July 2022 At 15:39
Kenny Macintyre about to take over from Richard Gordon as host of Saturday Sportsound. A good football show is about to turn into Radio Rangers.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
It already is. They have umpteen ex-Rangers players as regular and occasional contributors. Far, far more than any other club. It is actually shocking that a publicly funded programme can be so imbalanced in terms of pundits.
Upthehoops 6th July 2022 At 20:10
‘…It is actually shocking that a publicly funded programme can be so imbalanced in terms of pundits.’
+++++++++++++++++
I’ve always assumed , UTH, that the BBC Sports staff-recruitment people would, as a matter of course, recruit their ‘ex-player’ pundits or ‘co-commentators’ on the basis of how they met three criteria:
-relative articulacy /verbal expression
– knowledge of the game as it currently is played and assuming that they have kept up to speed with developments since they they themselves stopped playing
-their ‘status’ in terms of being well-known and respected players across the spectrum of football radio audiences/ football support
On that assumption, over the years since the concept of having player-pundits and co-commentators was first introduced [ anyone tell me when that was?] a number of ex-Celtic players MUST surely have been approached?
The fact that, off the top of my head, I can name only Packy Bonner might signal that other ex-Celtic players may indeed have been approached over the last 12 years but said ‘NO’ to the prospect of working for BBC Scotland.
The appointment of McIntyre might suggest that my fair-minded assumption was wrong, and that no attempt was made to recruit ex-Celtic players- unless the player had a strong Irish accent, to represent a club that is seen in certain quarters, not excluding Pacific Quay, not to be really Scottish!
BBC Scotland was only too ready buy into the Big Lie for me to have any trust in it whatsoever: if it can swallow and propagate the Big Lie, it can lie about more serious matters.
upthehoops 6th July 2022 At 20:10
—
Heavily weighted certainly, but Richard Gordon managed to keep the overall commentary lively, well informed and entertaining. The best presenters are those who can communicate their own enthusiasm for the game. The midweek show used to be good too, until Macintyre arrived with his surly, occasionally spiteful hectoring and his audible salivating at anything pro-Rangers. I stopped listening. Which other radio stations cover the fitba on a Saturday afternoon?
In my inbox this afternooon:
“ICAS DECLARATION OF SUPPORT FOR CAS ARBITRATOR
ALIAKSANDR DANILEVICH
Lausanne, 8 July 2022 – The International Council of Arbitration for Sport (ICAS) has learned that
Prof. Aliaksandr Danilevich, PhD in Law, a successful Belarusian lawyer and a Member of the Court of
Arbitration for Sport (CAS), was arrested on 20 May 2022 by the Belarusian police. At the end of
February 2022, he co-signed a statement calling for the immediate termination of the hostilities in
Ukraine.
To the ICAS’s knowledge, the professional reputation of Prof. Danilevich, who was also a member of
the Disciplinary Committee of Rugby Europe, has always been impeccable. Therefore, it is particularly
hard to understand that pre-trial restrictions in the form of detention were immediately implemented after
the investigation started. The ICAS expresses its most serious concerns with respect to Prof. Danilevich’s
situation as a political prisoner. The ICAS very much hopes that he will be released soon in order to
return to his legal practice and to pursue his missions with the CAS.”
I don’t disagree, of course .
I admire Prof. Danilevich’s courage as a lawyer.
I just wish we had football ‘administrators’ in the SFA with even the tiny wee fraction of Danilevich’s level of courage that would have been required to insist in 2012 that TRFC was not, is not and could not possibly be RFC of 1872, and that it would not be allowed to claim to be RFC of 1872.
Sadly, we did not have then, and do not now have, people in Football Governance who have even basic levels of personal integrity to discharge honestly their primary duty : to ensure that Scottish Professional football has no room for cheating and deception by any club, however powerful.
Danilevich could see the lie being propagated by the Russian State machine, but is prepared to go to jail rather than accept it.
Our worthies on the board of the SFA actually CREATED and authorised the Biggest Sporting Lie in Scottish Football!, and continues to support and propagate it, out of fear of what? one football club under their own immediate authority!
Men of straw, indeed!
I spit upon them ( only metaphorically ,of course: I wouldn’t waste even my sphit on them]
Catching up on the Blatter/Platini story, I note this :
“Prosecutors alleged this payment from FIFA, authorised by Blatter, had been “made without legal basis”.”
That made me reflect again on what the legal basis for TRFC’s claim to be RFC of 1872 might be??
No one has yet given a satisfactory explanation as to how a football club created in 2012 was(is) allowed to market itself as being the very same club as a much older club that at the time was (and still is) in Liquidation?
The (possibly illegal and therefore not binding on any of its signatories) 5-Way Agreement is still top secret!
Or as to how a plc incorporated only in 2012 as the legal ‘holding company’ of a now 10 year old football club gets away with claiming to be the ‘holding company’ of a quite different football club which entered Liquidation in 2012?
Send for Lorenz Erni! [How I wish I had the money to get right in there to expose what I think needs exposing in Scottish football]
Macfurgly 8th July 2022 At 18:32
‘…but Richard Gordon managed to keep the overall commentary lively, well informed and entertaining.’
++++++++++
I am , as I think I mentioned a few years ago, biased in favour of Richard Gordon because he was of help to my son in Paris on a World cup occasion. Won’t hear a bad word against him, on that account!
You’re right of course, Macfurgly, and I would add that Richard has the knack of being simultaneously self- effacing and authoritative !
He has the gift of remembering both that the show is not all about him, and that it’s not all about any other participant either, and manages argumentation with a light touch and with respect to others.
Kenny Macintyre about to take over from Richard Gordon as host of Saturday Sportsound. A good football show is about to turn into Radio Rangers.
I never listen, as you already know what you are going to get.
John Clark 6th July 2022 At 22:33
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Pat Bonner is the only ex-Celtic player to regularly contribute to Sportsound. Prior to Bonner, the token ex-Celtic player was Murdo McLeod. I think when you see over the years there have been so few that BBC really don’t see ex-Celtic players as adding value to their output. It is also no surprise to see that ex-Rangers players are the largest group by a distance.
Have Rangers hired a ventriloquist to aid their new signings in interviews. Tom Lawrence signs similar to Aaron Ramsay, here to win trophies, world famous, etc. One part I had difficultly swallowing was that he was on better financial terms then those available in the English Championship. If that’s the case what is in store for all those players whose contracts are running down. Certainly gives them an upper hand in negotiations. The amassing of young talent to fill out the B team is also interesting. Hopefully these starlets ( a term that is most distasteful when describing a young athlete, would prospect not be better) that’s what they are and the gamble is that they become a viable asset and generate future transfer fees.
John C
Came across Richard Gordon often in my previous occupation. Really good bloke. Intelligent, partisan-but-fair Don, witty, very dry, a wink never far away from his countenance.
He is irreplaceable. One difference between he and Kenny Mac is that Kenny believes the same-club mythology; Richard unequivocally didn’t, he just parroted it
I note yet another “undisclosed fee” today. The new £30m ?
@BP – my working assumption is that the fee is undisclosed as it is nearer to £5m than £10m and the sell-on clause is more wishful thinking than something one could take to the bank!
Big Pink 9th July 2022 At 20:23
I note yet another “undisclosed fee” today. The new £30m ?
+++++++++++++++++++++
Not just an undisclosed fee, but a ‘significant’ undisclosed fee…however, not significant enough to tell us what it actually was!
Is it only me?
Not all that long ago, it seems to me, we read about football teams as a whole, and whether they won or lost any game, and who the goal-scorers were , and a very generalised description of the match.
Then in the later 1950s we began to read about superstar footballers..
And then in the 1960s and 1970s about ‘managers’ , and ‘superstar’ managers…or ‘coaches’ as they came to be described in the 1980s and ’90s….
Now we read about the ‘back-room staff’!
I mention this because
a) I remember that Postecoglou kind of surprised the Scottish football world when he did not bring with him his former backroom staff ..
b) I read today a wee piece in today’s “The Scotsman” (by Jon Ball ?) about Postecoglou bringing in another compatriot [ Kewell] to his back-room team.
I’ve no problem with that, of course because these days , sophisticated techniques are required to get an athlete to the peak of physical performance and full development of technical footballing skill ; and [ just as important]the gift of the talent to motivate people is indispensable.
It prompts me to wonder whether ‘back-room’ staff chaps have their own ‘agents’, in the same way as players? And put themselves on the market?
Is there already a body of knowledge on the subject?
Is there a mechanism through which people who want to be ‘back-room ‘ staff [ e.g, club doctor] at a football club ( any football club] can apply, as any other ‘vocational’ job applicant can?
Or is it all down to chance, or luck, or ‘connections’?
I think , if I were a sports journalist, I would have a wee exploration into that subject. If it hasn’t already been done.
Interesting comments from Aaron Ramsay today. In what appears to be a back-handed swipe at GVB and his management team, Ramsay claims with the right management team he could stay fit for a long period of time and play many games. Is it possible that GVB and his backroom staff couldn’t/wouldn’t handle Ramsay. Is this a harbinger of things to come as their highly valued squad fall prey to injury and derail plans for European and domestic success.
Vernallen 9th July 2022 At 18:12
‘…Have Rangers hired a ventriloquist to aid their new signings in interviews..’
+++++++++++
Even a ventriloquist has to have a script, Vernallen, and I have frequently remarked that there appears to me to be no PR person at Ibrox capable of writing a half-way believable script about anything!
Basil Brush [ I thought of him this evening as I watched one of our local foxes casually stroll through the back garden casting a disdainful eye at me!] would make a much better fist as a PR writer than whoever does that job at Ibrox.
However, to be absolutely fair, whoever does that job has to have his stuff vetted by the Board -and we know what they are like when it comes to truth-telling!
All of a sudden , I am reminded of my favourite opera, ‘Boris Godonov’, by Mussorgsky.
Can’t think what the connection may be?
Vernallen 10th July 2022 At 22:52
‘.. Is it possible that GVB and his backroom staff couldn’t/wouldn’t handle Ramsay.’
++++++++++
I see this in the ‘Sun’
https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/sport/football/9137183/rangers-aaron-ramsey-juventus-return-transfer/
” it’s been widely reported that Juventus are keen to reach an agreement that will see Ramsey exit the club, with suggestions that the Serie A giants are willing to pay £3.5 million to get him off the books.’
Poor chap!
To have your employer ready to pay millions to get rid of you must hurt.
But that that kind of situation should arise raises a whole lot of questions about the recruitment of players and who does the recruitment.
Vague memories come to mind of people getting paid substantial sums tax free from clubs that they used to manage years before, for signing players from their former club.
Who in Juventus signed Ramsey?.. is a question I would ask.
This link is quite amusing:
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/football/former-celtic-man-reveals-why-tom-lawrence-could-regret-making-rangers-move/ar-AAZsHUv?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=550a47f0c91d4443a505b2ae81ce0738
I had a wee laugh at the last sentence of that utterance of Frank McAvennie, which is
“The manager[GvB] will have a look at the players, he obviously fancies them. They’re at the right price, Lawrence was on a free.”
A priceless and surprisingly clever wee jibe at the transfer recruitment policy of the [basically cash-strapped] RIFC plc board!
https://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/20272784.elgin-city-charged-fielding-ineligible-player-premier-sports-cup-tie-versus-ayr/
Elgin city the latest Scottish club to be charged with fielding an ineligible player. They really need to up their game and illegally with hold tens of millions from HMRC, while failing to declare contracts to the SFA, then it will just be ‘nothing to see here, move along’.
Upthehoops 12th July 2022 At 12:02
“Elgin …. fielding an ineligible player. They really need to up their game and illegally with hold tens of millions from HMRC, while failing to declare contracts to the SFA, then it will just be ‘nothing to see here, move along’.
++++++++++
How absurdly rotten at its very heart is Scottish Football!
Lie and cheat on a big enough scale over ten seasons or so, and you walk away instead of being humiliatingly expelled with disgust and shamed before the world of Sport.
That any officers of the SPFL have the brass neck and hypocrisy to bring any disciplinary charge against any club given the enormity of the Big Lie which they continue to sustain and foster marks them out as shameless abusers of office and as despicable as any of the lying politicians we are hearing about.
John Clark 11th July 23.41
We have another 7 weeks or so John before the transfer window closes.
One player out for £6 million with the potential for it to rise to £10 million.
Four players in for a combined total of £4.3 million.
There will, imo be more players arriving and departing in the remaining weeks so always best waiting until midnight on the 31st of August before reaching any conclusions.
Only 3 weeks until your first game in CL Qualifying (3rd round) though, Albertz. That’s probably a more important date than the closure of the window.
Tom Lawrence looked very impressive in the video posted recently, displaying the skills he’ll bring to Rangers. Its easy to be impressive when you don’t have the pressure of game situations, someone marking you and a goalie who makes more than a half hearted effort at a save. Lets see what he can with a defender in his face.
Nawlite 13th July 19.32
No doubt about that, Nawlite. The qualifiers will determine the shape of any future transfer activity, both in & out at Rangers imo.
Vernallen 14th July 01.20.
Pretty sure that TL has played in game situations, with defenders marking him, and with a goalkeeper trying to prevent a goal being scored. Having said that i have seen more talented and higher profile players struggling to cope with playing for either half of the Old Firm.
Albertz11 14th July 2022 At 09.52
‘.. Having said that i have seen more talented and higher profile players struggling to cope with playing for either half of the Old Firm.’
+++++++++++++
Just for the record, Albertz11, and as you very well know, there is no ‘Old Firm’.
One of the two football clubs whose readiness to ‘fix’ games for a ‘draw’ so as to get revenue from replays , [as alleged by a far more honest Press than we have had for some considerable time!] no longer exists -except ‘In Liquidation’.
By no stretch of the imagination could TRFC of 2012 creation be that half of the ‘Old Firm’ that was RFC of 1872!
Now, whether those allegations were true at the time is , in one sense, unimportant: the important point is that there were sports journalists who were prepared to think that it was at least a possibility that it was true!
And given the refusal in more recent times by the other partner of the ‘Old Firm’ to insist on an investigation into the granting of a UEFA licence ( the Res 12 issue] to RFC of 1872, who is to say that the original allegations were not well-founded?
The half-arsed ‘one club since 1888’ is an expression of weakness, a capitulation to untruth motivated by something less than principle, a pretendy statement that Celtic does not recognise TRFC’s claim to be entitled to the sporting honours of the now deceased RFC of 1872.
Honest to God!
My grandads are birling in their graves.
It can be interesting when football fans disagree over the transfer fee for a player especially when the selling club is trying to establish itself as a player in the transfer market. What is more interesting when the financial wizards at the DR enter the fray. Keith Jackson of the billionaire type boast has a fee of $25 million attached to Bassey. A fellow reporter in the same publication, Gavin Berry, has a fee of $20 million. Who to believe? And why can’t they address the fee for Aribo as $6 million plus potential add ons raising it to $10 million. The purchasing club controls the potential add ons and if the player was to get close to costing them $ million, even in the rich EPL, could game time be reduced negating the potential payout. I have seen that happen in other sports, why should football be any different.
Vernallen 15th July 2022 At 01:41
I think quite a few players have found themselves sitting in the stands until they find a new club , with their employer reluctant to play them due to the financial implications of another appearance .And remember that Club 1872 claimed to have evidence of TRFC telling porkies regarding transfer values .
In my inbox at 3.45 today:
Russian Football and Russian clubs have lost their Appeals to CAS, against being banned from FIFA and UEFA competitions: see this link
https://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/CAS_Media_Release_8708_8709_8865_8866_8867_8868_Decision.pdf
At first blush there is no connection with football matters in Lord Ericht’s ‘opinion’ published today
https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/docs/default-source/cos-general-docs/pdf-docs-for-opinions/2022csoh48.pdf?sfvrsn=5f7b3b55_1
Lord Ericht was dealing with a request for ‘judicial review’ [in a political asylum matter] of the decision of the Upper Tribunal, which had upheld the decision of the First Tier Tribunal to knock back a Vietnamese chap who had been trafficked into the UK .
The chap had taken part in a demonstration outside the Vietnamese embassy in London.
He argued that if he were returned to Vietnam, his life would be in danger.
The First Tier Tribunal looked at photographs of the embassy demonstration, and concluded that the guy could not be recognised.
And concluded that he would not be in danger back in Vietnam.
The Upper Tribunal agreed.
Now, I’ve just this minute asked Mrs C her opinion on whether demonstrators/demonstrations outside an embassy in London might be comprehensively , hi-tech, filmed by people INSIDE the embassy.
Without a doubt, she replied. Obvious.
Lord Ericht was of the same opinion.
‘..In my opinion it is arguable that by concluding that there was no reliable evidence
that the Vietnamese authorities would have been aware of his attendance at the Embassy
demonstration without taking into account its finding that he was present, the First-tier
Tribunal has erred in law in leaving out a relevant matter and reaching a conclusion on the
facts which is irrational (MA (Somalia) v SSHD [2010] UKSC 49 at para [44]). ‘
So, he has allowed an appeal to be made against the Upper Tribunal’s decision to deny an appeal .
Connection with Scottish Football, anyone?
Well, perhaps it’s the irrational finding that having more money[ by cheating the taxman] doesn’t give you an advantage over others when buying football players!
As the utterly fatuous Nimmo Smith concluded.
And him a judge too!
Stop that giggling!
@Vernallen – no doubt there is jiggerypokery when it comes to the buying club massaging appearances and game time if it were to trigger additional payment. Of course we don’t know what the triggers are in the case of Aribo. I had to take a second read over the summer when I read that Real Madrid winning the CL had triggered a significant payment (£20m) to Chelsea as part of the ‘add-ons” for the transfer of Hazard. Never mind that I was almost as close to the Madrid first team squad as Hazard was last season!!!
The only guarantees with add-ons and trigger clauses is that the lawyer fees for drafting the contracts will be higher!
So the latest on BBC sport on Bassey has him joining Ajax for a deal “worth in excess of £20m…”. My question (and it does not apply only to this deal but many others) is what do they include in the “deal” these days. Is it just the transfer fee or does it include signing on fees, wages, contingent payments, etc.. It would be good to have more consistency and transparency in the wider football world.
Wokingcelt, I was looking and it seems the most Ajax have ever paid for a defender was for Daley Blind from Man U a couple of years back – a vastly experienced Dutch international (90 caps) who helped the Dutch to the semi-final of the 2014 World Cup. He had good experience in the Top 5 Leagues, winning league titles and cups with Ajax as well as the Europa League with Man U. They paid £14.4m for him with that record, so I’m not buying £20m+. He was 28 to Bassey’s 22, to be fair.
Other than him, the most they have spent on a defender is £9m – Owen Wijndal, a 22yr old left back from AZ Alkmaar. They signed him in June for this season. He has 12 caps for Holland, having been capped at all levels from U15. Compare that 22yr old’s record with 22 yr old Bassey – does anyone really think Ajax would pay more than twice for Bassey what they did for Wijnald?
I can confidently predict that this one will go through as ‘undisclosed’.
Wokingcelt 16th July 2022 At 22:10
‘..what do they include in the “deal” these days.’
+++++++++
Well, the word that is missed out is ‘ potentially’.
Geez, any football player is ‘potentially’ worth millions.
In reality, there is no likelihood that TRFC has pocketed anything approaching 20 million for the penalty kick misser!
I am happy to accept that I have no right to know the everyday business affairs of any plc or limited company.
And I can accept that any business will always try to be upbeat.
But I am not happy that the SMSM should simply roll over and accept PR handouts without question.
As they did in 2012, when the very guys who should have torn a faithless, unprincipled ‘Governance’ body apart for its abject surrender to somebody like CG not only failed to do so, but supported with all its strength the Big Lie!
Whit? I never mentioned the new pensioner Jim White.
It’s ironic that the media was trumpeting GVB’s knowledge of Dutch football as a gateway to untold signings of emerging superstars to reinforce the Rangers team. With one of his star players potentially moving to Ajax it appears the Dutch have a better understanding of Scottish football than GVB and his team have of Dutch football. Perhaps one of the media stalwarts go do some digging on the alleged fee as well.
Where does claiming over inflated transfer fees get you ? Is it the hope that other players of similar ability will command the fees claimed , is it hoped to encourage fresh investment from those seeking a good return. For every Ying there’s a Yang and players coming to the end of current deals will want far better deals if they believe the club* is cash rich as will any club looking to sell to the Ibrox outfit. There is also the fans who will not tolerate any austerity when it comes to replacements. Of course the accounts should reveal more reality than the account given by their PR dept. Does anyone really believe the 16m figure for Nathan Patterson even though the caveats “potentially” and “up to” were included. The run to the EL final has undoubtedly brought much needed income along with these sales and hopefully enough to pay Mike Ashley his dues . Could they finally after a decade of trying now break even?
Timtim, only one reason for claiming £20m imo. They have been using the hyped fee for Bassey for months to stop the fans looking at the SD court costs; does Ashley have claws in Castore etc. You just need to read the fan forums, who have believed all the months of deflection stories about £20m for Bassey to realise that if they were really ‘only’ getting £9m for Bassey (per my suggestion above) there would be riots.
Away back in the late 1950s the Daily Record had a regular column by ‘Pat Roller.’
Just into my early teens at the time, it was a wee while before I learned that there was no ‘Pat Roller’: and that the column was just the pasting, in one place , by whatever sub-editor was on duty, of little bits of ‘news’ that had come into the news room in the time that had passed since that morning’s edition until the next morning’s edition was going to bed.
I mention this because I noted today that two reports of the Bassey transfer referred to their source as being one Fabrizio Romano.
I googled him.
Boy, he’s some guy! There seems not to have been any big transfer in European football that he wasn’t the first to report!
He is a real person, born in Naples in 1993(!) , educated in Milan at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, entered the world of journalism at age 18 and now has zillions of followers on Instagram and such, working for Sky Italia, and also writing pieces for ‘The Guardian’ and what-not. He is a Watford fan.
And he is, apparently, the go-to guy for news about transfers.
But, I ask, is he merely a ‘ Pat Roller’ who is provided by clubs with Press statements about what THEY want reported?(like our SMSM folk?)
Or is he a down and dirty actual journalist, investigating and questioning and digging out information for himself?
Would he ever be accepted into the ICIJ?
It would be interesting to know.
I see that the DR still has no grasp on history. The sub headline in the Thomas Buffel story states that Rangers hope to reach the CL group stage for the first time since 2010 if they can navigate the qualifying rounds. That’s quite an accomplishment for a team founded in 2012. Also the stories keep referring to Rangers in the CL but should it not be the qualifying rounds of the CL. Can’t imagine the flowery stories of Rangers past, prior to 2012, and all the teams that crumbled before them.
Here is the draft of a ( snail mail) letter I am considering sending sometime soon:
“Dear Helen Stevenson,
Today I have been reading the Annual Report and Finance Statements of ‘The Daily Record and Sunday Mail’ for the 52 week period ended 27 December 2020 [ the latest available on Companies House website]
Among interesting things I learned is the fact that the ultimate parent company of that newspaper company is Reach PLC.
This prompted me to have a look at the most recently available Annual Report of Reach PLC.
On page 5 of that Report, there is this boldly confident statement of purpose:
“ At Reach, we have a clear core purpose: speaking up and shining a light on the truth”
Sadly, I have to say that I question whether the Board of ‘The Daily Record and Sunday Mail ‘ ever bought into that stirring journalistic ideal.
To this very day, those newspapers have refused to declare the truth in a number of different but connected matters, namely,
first, the truth that the Rangers Football Club that was founded in 1872 , having failed to exit Administration because no buyer could be found , entered Liquidation where it now remains, under the name of RFC 2012 plc; and the truth that it had to surrender its share in the then SPL, and had its membership of the SFA withdrawn, therefore ceasing to exist as a recognised football club entitled to participate in Scottish professional football;
second, the truth that Charles Green did not buy Rangers Football club of 1872: he bought some assets, while the club slid or crashed into Liquidation: there was ‘holding company’ at the time!
third, the truth that the IPO issued on the launch of Rangers International Football Club plc contained the misleading ( in my view, seriously misleading) information that investors would be investing in the ‘holding company’ of Rangers Football Club of 1872, one of the most successful clubs in the world, not the ‘holding company’ of a club newly admitted to Scottish Football.
And fourth, the truth that a new club founded in 2012 cannot possibly have a sporting history going back earlier than that.
I understand that you are the Senior Independent Director on the Board of Reach PLC.
Perhaps you might think it appropriate to ask the Board whether they are satisfied that the Board of ‘The Daily Record and Sunday Mail ‘speaks up and shines a light on the truth’.
their handling of the objective facts of the death of Rangers of 1872 and the birth of TRFC would most definitely suggest that they do not.
Yours sincerely,
John C.
Looks as though Rangers have folded on Chris McLaughlin. Face-saving joint statement but the only change in substantive terms is that restrictions on reporters have been lifted.
Some folk on Twitter, including me at first, seeing it as a climb down by Auntie. Devil always in the detail though.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-62222921
Big Pink 20th July 2022 At 13:31
As you say the devil is in the detail, but the statement issued by the BBC comes close to a groveling apology in my opinion. BBC Sportsound and Sportscene is already heavily imbalanced in terms of Rangers minded pundits, and Sportsound has recently appointed an overtly Rangers supporting Saturday host. This does not bode well for the future. After this statement, and with the existing imbalance in terms of pundits and coverage, it’s difficult to see how BBC can possibly be fair and balanced.
Big Pink 20th July 2022 At 13:31
“..Some folk on Twitter, including me at first, seeing it as a climb down by Auntie”
+++++++
The BBC statement has this:
“..The BBC acknowledges that there have been occasions when parts of the coverage of Rangers FC have not met its editorial standards. It has apologised for those instances and is happy to repeat those apologies now.”
Oh, the unconscious irony!
That statement is true: the BBC has failed to meet its editorial standards since 2012, when it adopted the Big Lie that TRFC is RFC of 1872 ,and still, with partisan delight and/or craven cowardice, continues to foster and propagate that lie.
I thought that SDM and others who were involved in the EBT scandal were bad enough.
But they are innocent as babes compared with the truly perverted minds of those in governance of the BBC in Scotland who betray a far more sacred trust than tawdry business men or sports governance bodies are invested with.
The BBC has never seriously examined or explained how a club that lost its membership of the SFA in 2012 can be the RFC of 1872, or how a new plc could claim to be the holding company of a liquidated football club when it was and is the holding company only of SevcoScotland aka TRFC , a football club created only a few weeks before the launch of that new plc? and has never investigated the ‘5-Way Agreement’ by which Scottish Football was perverted and lost its Integrity.
Its failure to do so in spite of the objective , verifiable facts suggests to me a blind partisanship and/or a level of contempt for truth that should see them in hell.
I call out Pacific Quay as being lying propagandists for a lying football club, and I wonder what more serious lying propaganda it indulges in-at our expense.
Bad, bad articles they are.
Rangers may have backed themselves into a corner when it comes to purchasing players. A Turkish team is claiming a Ranger’s target will not go for less than $6 million. Rangers have apparently balked at said price for a full international. However the spent $3 plus add ons for a player who was purchased for $300,000 and barely featured for Liverpool and ended up on loan. Selling teams will have a look at this deal and start licking their lips at any potential sales to Rangers. Also someone should remind Rangers fans that the much ballyhooed transfer income does not land in one payment. Aren’t they normally spread out over a number of years. $19 million sounds good but a good chunk of that will be coming in down the road.
You’ve read the BBC announcement about resuming coverage of Rangers* very differently than I did, BP, if you think that reads like Rangers* capitulated. With all the non-specific explanations about the BBC reporting ‘not meeting its editorial standards’ and their apology for not reporting in an accurate and balanced way in the past, I read it very much as the BBC caving in by admitting it had reported things that weren’t true pick from a menu including the sectarian singing; the liquidation; how well-off they are etc etc. Believe me, the TRFC fans are reading that non-specific apology as meaning that the BBC has lied about EVERYTHING bad they have ever reported and see this as a big win. Here’s a selection of quotes from the BD –
“Happy days. Between this and Kenny Macintyre taking the lead on Saturdays sportsound is good moves.”
“Mixed feelings on this. Glad to see them apologise and almost grovelling even just a little bit. On the other hand I quite liked having them nowhere near us.”
“They’ve apologised and acknowledged previous biased reporting, I’d chalk that up as a win.”
“This is the result we (fans) wanted I expect. An admission of wrongdoing by the BBC followed by a normalisation in relations. In which case, good.”
By the way, Phil has read it the same way I did. https://philmacgiollabhain.ie/2022/07/20/the-bbc-capitulate-to-sevco/#more-25703