With certain journalists (I use the term loosely) admitting that their primary reason for attending Saturday's match at Ibrox was to report on any “sectarian” chants coming from the home fans, we could easily have been waking up on Sunday morning to the usual negative headlines. That the gutter press representatives left the ground disappointed was a great credit to the Bears. From watching the game online, whilst listing to the commentary on BBC Radio Scotland, it seemed to me that the atmosphere was better than usual for a non-Old Firm/European game. Most importantly, however, we did not fall into our enemies' trap and showed a tremendous amount of self-restraint and respect for the club by refraining from singing The Billy Boys or chanting FTP.
The behaviour of the fans was praised by an SPL representative, the Strathclyde Police Match Commander, the club's security chief, Lawrence McIntyre, and by Chairman Murray. Yet, and as if we needed a reminder that there are vermin with a not-so-secret anti-Rangers agenda, James Traynor and Hugh Keevins were quickly to the bottom of the barrel, scraping about to find something to be offended by. There is no doubt that they will be rejoicing if we start belting out The Billy Boys or FTP, so please do all you can to disappoint and frustrate these maggots in the future.
The interjection by Lawrence McIntyre on Traynor's phone-in show was, initially, a welcome surprise. McIntyre has never gotten the best of press on FF, and it has to be said that a lot of the criticism thrown at him has been entirely justified. However, it was refreshing for a Rangers official to participate in a live radio broadcast and praise the fans, instead of having a go at them. This approach is to be welcomed and does a lot for relations between the powers that be at the club and the support (it must be stressed that the club still need to do a hell of a lot more in this respect).
The impact of McIntyre's second point, regarding the fact that it was the Dundee United fans who were treating us to a rendition of a banned song, was significantly weakened later in the week by Martin Bain's apologising to the Dundee United Chairman, Eddie Thompson, for this “slur”.
This episode once again shows how much we have to learn on the PR front. All club employees should, in public at least, be singing from the same hymn sheet. When I heard McIntyre getting stuck into the Dundee United fans, I thought for a brief moment that the club were going on the offensive. But Bain's apologising on his behalf shows that the current Rangers regime will do the utmost not to offend anyone else, even at a time when they are not slow in sticking the boot into us, or failing to provide support when we need it. In my first draft of this wee article, I wondered whether McIntyre's appetite for having a go at other clubs' fans might extend to the filth when they visit Ibrox; a high-profile Rangers official speaking out about pro-IRA and anti-protestant tunes being sung at our stadium would firmly push scrutiny onto the scum from across the city. Sadly, after Bain's intervention, I would doubt if McIntyre would ever dare repeat Saturday's utterances, and the dignified silence will be maintained.
Still, as we know to our cost, if you fling enough dirt, some will stick and perhaps McIntyre's words will make other teams' supporters think twice of coming to Ibrox and attempting to goad us into belting out that song, a move which would see us crucified by the press and football's governing bodies. OK, Bain has apparently said sorry to Dundee United, but what's to stop McIntyre including the fact that other sides are getting away with singing banned songs in his next report to UEFA? Again, I guess I'm being overly optimistic here.
Notwithstanding the club's ability to screw things up royally, the fans must continue to put pressure on the SPL, the SFA and UEFA to be fair in their dispersal of disciplinary measures. If we cannot sing the Billy Boys “in any form”, neither should anyone else. That is why the immediate response from Dundee United fans to McIntyre's statement was comical. A couple ventured onto the FF board looking for an apology, but they were quickly put in their place. One trotted out the line that it was only Rangers who were banned from singing The Billy Boys. As I have said, the rule should apply to all, or it should apply to none. The Arab then argued that their version was non-sectarian. Of course he was obviously of the opinion that “fenian” means Roman Catholic, and said that being up to your knees in Derry boys is obviously less offensive than being up to your knees in fenian blood. It is funny to see how people who would no doubt have applauded the decision to ban The Billy Boys react when it is their own non-sectarian tunes under the spotlight. The ridiculous nature of UEFA's decision may now be sinking in, but it is too late for Dundee United who should now, if consistency is being applied, be reported to the SPL, the SFA and UEFA.
Moving on to Sunday, and Hearts' humbling of the Shettleston Globetrotters was a good laugh, especially given the nature of the winning goal and the role super-sub Lennon played in it.
But what was most encouraging for me was the number of Bears who made the effort to make a note of the sectarian and pro-terrorist chants emanating from the away end at Tynecastle, and forwarded this information to the press. It's sad that we have been reduced to their level, but I'll be damned if we are the only ones who are going to be punished by football's governing bodies when we are clearly far from the worst offenders. It's time to shift the spotlight, but we can only do that by taking the moral high ground – we need to box clever, avoid sectarian chanting and the singing of The Billy Boys both at Ibrox and away from home. Make no mistake, they will be waiting for us to slip up at Dunfermline in order to undermine last weekend's good work and our reporting of their misdemeanours to the media. We cannot afford to look like hypocrites as it will weaken our arguments against them in the future.
Keep up the pressure on the media. It seems as though they took on board some of our points with The Sun, The Rhebel and The Scotsman all making mention of the Celtic fans' sectarian chanting. Tell the SFA and the SPL you expect them to take action against the mhanks, or UEFA will take action against them. Inform UEFA of the situation and tell them you are looking forward to them adopting an even-handed approach to it. We have an opportunity to shut the tarriers up once and for all. Whereas we could, theoretically, sing in praise of our team and culture for the full 90 minutes and beyond, take the IRA songs out of their repertoire and they have very little left. Let them either sit in silence or show themselves up as the scum they are, while we sit back and laugh at their stupidity.
This weekend will be an important one. Listen to their game on the wireless on Saturday. Fire off quick e-mails when you hear them giving their IRA chants big licks. Get on the phone-in shows and tell all and sundry how sickened you are with their blatant sectarianism. Come Sunday morning, and if such news has hit the newspapers, the reporting of those incidents should encourage anyone going to Dunfermline not to chant anything which would bring us into similar disrepute.
As I see it, after last weekend we are one-nil up on them. They could have scored another own goal before we play again, but we can't let them back into the game. We know we are better than them, always have been, always will be. There are those who do not agree, but this is our chance to prove them wrong once and for all.
Mon the Bears!
Yours in Rangers,
Master Shake