Yup, it's official. According to the most twisted, bitter, warped, unprincipled shower of undesirables that has ever participated in sport ever, the whole world is against them. Correction. The world would be against them if they only knew what really goes on at Torbett Towers.
But given that they are backed to the hilt by 99% of Scottish journalism, and the other 1% are too frightened to tell the truth. Then sadly the world has a rather nicer view of them, than it should. I can only describe this one way, nauseating relationship as being akin to the relationship Mirror Group and other sycophantic 'left-wing¹ hacks had of Bob Maxwell before they found out what he was really like.
So after all the hysteria, histrionics and Septic-minded bigotry of the last week or so, a simple truth has emerged. The Police and the SPL were correct all along in asking for this last OF league fixture of the season to be played on April 27th. Not only that, but also those 'men in the know' knew fine well that this particular date had been pencilled in for a few months and more importantly the reasons why it had been. Yet incredibly the yahoos and their fans still cried foul?
We all want OF games to go off peacefully, no one wants to hear of stabbings, and slashings or heaven forbids murder. But I tell you what; if all hell does break loose next week then Septic FC in general and McLeod and O'Neill in particular should have the book thrown at them by the authorities, both football and political, for inciting violence. And I mean that I really, really do.
Not that the yahoos are alone, mind. Because this bedlam would not have reached the proportions it has if it wasn't for our scum press. (With very few honourable exceptions) Who almost to a man got 100% behind Timothy and threw integrity to the wind by stirring and cranking him up to the verge of bursting point with their bluster and rhetoric. Without doubt - if O'Neill and McLeod stand accused of fanning the flames of bigotry and hatred but Radio Clyde and The Herald should be standing in the dock alongside them.
When the dust of this April 27th 'controversy' has settled and everyone connected with Rangers has a calm look at what has been said at this time, then really we have came to a watershed in our relations with certain parts of the media. It's not that I begrudge a sellik-minded journalist his point of view and I wouldn't expect a yahoo to fight on Rangers behalf. But it is the way Rangers position over April 27th has been dismissed, has not been
tolerated or even discussed within certain media circles that rankles.
Quite frankly, we should not have, nor do we need any kind of contact with Radio Clyde or The Herald, it really is that simple. I honestly don't know where to begin when bringing up the subject of Snide, but Rangers' actions should be across the board. I.E, the club should be telling any newspaper that employs a Radio Clyde journalist; like The Express who employ Davie Provan for example that he won't be allowed access to Ibrox ever again. And the same goes for Keevins and any other journalist who has a slot at Snide. It is a radio station run by yahoos for yahoos so I really don't see that it would create a fuss for Snide anyway. In fact I think secretly they'd be quite pleased.
Now Snide may be bad, the Rhebel may be worse, but The Herald takes us into deeper, more sinister waters altogether. And really, Hugh McDonald's piece the other day about knowing the yahoos' history and the score really is another striking example, not that we should need it, of the hatred that is festering and lurking within that newspaper.
McDonald is incensed that no one ever took a certain Scottish club to task for not signing players of a certain religion. Does anyone else see the irony of McDonald's criticisms of Rangers, especially when you consider that it is coming from a product of a sectarian, apartheid educational system? Mind you, I'm all for journalists who are not frightened to ask pesky questions. So with that in mind, I wonder if the bold Hughie bhoy thinks
that the authorities, both football and political, should be throwing the book at a Scottish club who preyed on young bhoys for a generation and more? I think we should be told.
McDonald and the rest of the yahoos out there in Scottish journalism (and I use the term loosely) really should wield their power and responsibilities more seriously though. They won't last forever you see and unless they are steeped in the sectarianism they accuse others of, and by that I mean securing jobs only for the bhoys.
Then Protestant/Rangers friendly journalists out there will be making a name for themselves in the future and someone, somewhere down the line assuredly WILL ask pesky questions about Celtic Boys Club and how it was all swept under the carpet? I wonder how history will view the cowards with typewriters who are out there today. Hacks like Hugh McDonald for instance..
If I could get off on a tangent here, the Scottish footballing press doesn't just clam up about the boys club. For example they are covering up at this moment in time another major footballing scandal (that has already started to have an effect on the English game) all because there is a yahoo connection to it.
Before we go any further, I'd like it put on record at this moment in time that there are other Rangers fans that are covering this story. I don't want to tread on their toes or steal their thunder I'd just like to publicise their work on the website and come at it from another angle. Basically hold it up as another example of the wretched and appalling levels
of journalism we have to put up with here in Scotland.
You may or may not be aware but there is a footballing Agency (for want of a better word) operating down south that goes by the name of 'Proactive'. Now, so dodgy are the deals this mob are 'allegedly' involved in, that even Private Eye (and more pertinently our own No1 Rangers fanzine also) have picked up on it. There has also been the quite sensational case down in England where Derby County have sacked their manager, John Gregory, because of his involvement with this organisation.
The Gregory case is worth more than a cursory glance and presumably the only reason it has not been given more national prominence is because Derby County are not in the Premiership. But the bare bones of the story is that it took something of a players' revolt at Derby in response to Gregory's behaviour (with Scot, Craig Burley, leading the way) before the directors of that club were left apparently with no option but to sack him.
There is a real, Scottish (?) connection here, because Martin O'Neill (yes the wee halo halo bhoy himself) had something like 272,000 shares in this organisation as of May 2002, and apparently still had them as of March this year. This is in spite of the fact that his lawyer said last year that his client was going to offload them. For the record, Alan Thomson is a player on 'Proactive's' books.
Ask yourself a question or two. Here we have Burley, a rather high profile Scottish player of recent years by dint of his yahoo connection. And here he is down south leading a players' revolution at his club that results in the manager being turfed out on his ear yet not one single, Scottish footballing journalist thinks that's a good basis for a story? You do have to ask yourself why that can be? Could it possibly be that by digging into this story a whole lot further, the blessed wee troll is going to come out of this smelling of pooh? I'm sure that No1 will keep us up to date with this story.
I'll say it again, Scottish footballing journalism KNEW what was happening at CP all those years. Scottish footballing journalism KNOWS what is really going down at 'Proactive' at this moment in time. It's just that these reptiles ate too scared to come out and give us the goods on what is really happening because it wouldn't go down well at the cesspit. The bottom line is, we don't have Scottish footballing journalists. Only match reporters.
But I digress. If we have came to a watershed in our dealings with the press, then what price how we look at ex Rangers in the media? To be honest after the events of the last week, I have only contempt for Richard Gough, Ally McCoist, Derek Johnstone and Mark Hateley. This less than fab quartet are not so much the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Rather they are the four pony merchants of Scottish football, whose only loyalty is to money and self-preservation.
History will show whenever this April 27th rammy crops up in future conversation that such was this particular rat pack's collective cowardice and lack of principles. They sided with the yahoos over Rangers FC, Rangers fans and their point of view, Strathclyde Police and the Scottish footballing authorities. They actually went against all common sense and
reason and Police concerns for public safety. And for what? All to play the good guys and appease yahoos. The very people who will hate them 'til their dying days.
It get's worse, even more stomach churning when I think back to the rather nauseating part McCoist had to play in that advert for the Gothenburg match at Ibrox back in 1997, which basically verged on financial and emotional blackmail. 'Being a Ranger is for life'.
As far as I'm concerned there should be no way back at Ibrox for this particular foursome.
But I won't be holding my breath. Honourable mentions this time around to Gordon Smith, who had the integrity to come out and mention the proposed yahoos-after-Cologne scenario back in 1979. Why should this type of normal behaviour by Gordon Smith be so hard to expect of ex-Rangers in the media?
There's been another rather funny wee side-show this last week to Timothy's twisted view of the world. And that is how they've been quick to try and point the finger of betrayal at any club that had the temerity to vote against them over 27/4. To my mind the only clubs that should be subject of any scrutiny are the ones who still voted in the yahoos' favour even after being advised by Plod about safety. You do have to wonder at the motives behind the way the chairman of these clubs voted?
Mind you another 11/10 has to be awarded to the yahoos for audacity and gall. Truth be told, the way this shower of unprincipled curs can accuse anyone of double dealing is breathtaking in the extreme. Because the only relationship in Scottish football that can in any way be described as hooky and corrupt, is the rather incestuous one between the yahoos and Livingston.. Indeed you do have to wonder (hypothetically this season of course) what way the yahoos would vote if it was a Falkirk up and Livi down scenario? I mean would the yahoos, who have of course been allowed to groundshare when it has suited them, deny Falkirk the same opportunity to save the scrawny necks of that shower at Almondvale? I think we all know the answer to that one.
The winner of this week's 'Hell, even Bob Crampsey refuses to tell the truth on the subject' is won by erm, Bob Crampsey. I had to do a double take when I came across the following question in last Saturday's Now You know Column in the Evening Tims;
Q - 'Can you confirm the Celtic manager Willie Maley made a disparaging remark about Sam English when asked BY THE PRESS for his opinion about the tragic collision between English and Celtic goalkeeper John Thomson?' (Bricton Boab)
A - 'Willie Maley is said to have expressed the hope that the collision was accidental. Anyone who has seen the film would PERHAPS say the film was purely accidental and the forward was perfectly entitled to go for the ball.'
Dear oh dear oh dear, it's not usually like Bob Crampsey to allow a lie in the actual question to go unchecked yet this is exactly what he has done here. Put simply I am totally astonished that such a respected figure as Mr Crampsey did not have the integrity to say Maley's warped and bigoted views were actually made at the Fatal Accident Enquiry of October 15th 1931, rather than made to the press. I can only add that I'm glad Mr Crampsey wasn't my History teacher, goodness knows what I'd have grown up believing. Certainly not the truth anyway.
Now you may well be thinking at this point, 'Oh here he goes again, I'm fed up listening to this guff'. Well let me put it to you like this, if a nice decent Tim like Crampsey refuses to tell the truth of the extent of Maley's outrageous behaviour back then, what chance your average yahoo? Rangers fans in the here and now owe it to Sam English's memory to keep an eye on what these chancers get up to. Because if we don't do it no one will!
Last Sunday saw possibly Rangers best performance since the midwinter break.. It was the more refreshing given that it was achieved in quite appalling conditions. The Tannadice pitch shows up once again the extent of the hypocrisy in Scottish football when you consider that Dundee Utd would vote against Falkirk regards the Bairns' stadium not reaching certain criteria.
But I digress once again. Ronald de Boer looked positively in the mood and showed what a class act he CAN be when he wants. I really would like him to take the next OF game by the scruff of the neck and show the whole bloody country just what he does possess. I'll say it again, it truly is quite unbelievable that a no-mark like Moravcik will be remembered more for his time in this footballing water than a guy who really has played at the top of his profession. Over to you Mr de Boer.
Arteta who gave us his best performance since coming back from injury was another who caught the eye. It is a nice thought to contemplate this pair and Barry Ferguson possibly hitting a wee bit of form together as we move into the home straight.
Apart from what looked a rather cohesive Rangers performance on a dangerous ground the highlight of the day was the flak that ratbag Sandy Clark copped from the travelling bears. From my vantagepoint on the couch there seemed to be a stunned silence in the commentary box as it finally dawned on the two fuds with mikes what was actually being sung.
It's almost as if Clark was sitting thinking Œwhat have I done to deserve this?¹ Well just in case he reads this, you're getting it Sandy, because you are the most toadying, excruciatingly embarrassing, play up to the yahoos, worm that any Rangers fan has ever heard on TV. 'Hartson didn't dive there Rob, he was just tired' is but one example. You are the most nauseating piece of cowardly trash it has ever been any of our misfortunes to hear in charge of a microphone. And it gets worse. I don't think the bears are in a mood to stop. You wanted to jump under the duvet with Timothy now you're going to pay the price.
THE GOVANHILL GUB