However subsequent claims by Timmy on the FF message boards recently would seem to suggest that the thorny issue of Rangers and Barcelona, or rather how Timmy likes to think we are viewed by Catalan fans is a topic that causes much consternation behind that fevered monobrow.
This psychosis was brought home firmly to me in the midweek leading up to Rangers home game with Maritimo, which of course also coincided with the yahoos bringing fashion week in Milan into disrepute.
It basically started with Timmy regurgitating the old story about Rangers fans rioting with The Spanish Polis after winning the ECWC. Of how even today Rangers fans are regarded as rankbadyins in the Catalonian capital. You know, the usual drill.
I couldn't let this go and countered with the reply that Barcelona fans and their club were so put out by the behaviour of the Rangers support in 1972 that they invited Rangers over to compete in their pre season Juan Gamper tournament only two years later on August 20th and 21st 1974 to be precise.
If that wasn't enough to slap down Timmy's argument we also have to remember that this was a special JG tourney for Barca as 1974 was the 75th Anniversary of the formation of the club.
Timmy however was having none of this and he countered with the nonsensical claim that the Barca fans stayed away from this particular tournament. He followed this up with another beezer implying that Barcelona's President; Augustin Montal's coat was also on a 'shoogly nail’ at the Camp Nou because he invited Rangers to said tournament.
When I gave him details of the extent of the Barcelona supports' boycott over both nights and quoted Robert McElroy's Rangers The Complete Record. (Rangers played in front of 100,000 on the two consecutive nights of the competition against Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona) Timmy was still contemptibly dismissive of my response and came away with the following and I quote verbatim; “the crowd was actually 28,000 both in protest at the decision to invite Rangers and also in protest at the defeat earlier at the hands of Leeds in european cup.”
I think it's worth noting at this point that Barca and Leeds had never met in the European Cup as of August 1974. But this is where it all gets even more interesting, where you begin to understand how deeply ingrained into the Tim psyche is the fact that Barcelona FC apparently bears no ill will towards Rangers.
Whilst I was arguing (if you could call it that) with retarded Timmy #1 on FF, retarded Timmy #2 was giving us the benefit of his footballing wisdom on the issue on a Celtic website. Not only did he back up his fellow mhuppet he went one better.
According to this footballing sage, an invitation to compete in the Juan Gamper competition came about thus; “usually the previous EC UEFA/ICFC/ ECWC WINNERS were invited) Rangers couldn’t be invited in 1973 as they were banned from Euro competition due to their fans riotous behaviour at the Nou Camp.”
He also added in for good measure; “He [that's me folks] also doesn't know that the Barca president was very strongly criticised for inviting Rangers and was turfed out at the next election”
This is of course complete and utter garbage and another spectacular figment of Timmy's foetid imagination. Consider this Man City, Chelsea, Tottenham, Notts Forest and Liverpool on 4 occasions all won European trophies in the 1970s and not one of those clubs ever received an invite to compete in the Juan Gamper tournament as European victors back then. (And note how retarded Timmy #2 has the JG down as an official UEFA tournament.)
The simple fact is no club was ever invited to compete in the JG tournament because of their 'previous' success in Europe. It was down to what clubs the Barca directors wanted to invite along. End of story.
There really is no shaming these mentally diseased mhuppets. And anyway, could you imagine Barca ever inviting Real Madrid to their annual close season football fest on the grounds that they'd just had a winning season in Europe? Oh and while we're about it Barcelona's President stayed on in the job until 1978. And does anyone seriously believe that Rangers playing in the Camp Nou four years earlier was a Barcelona Presidential election issue in 1978?
Let's get one thing nailed here and now about how your average Barcelona fan was feeling in the summer of 1974. In the previous year his club had brought the greatest player in the world, Johan Cryuff to Barca from Ajax along with his teammate, Johan Neeskins, and their mentor Rinus Michels.
Between them they had transformed that club and as a result Barca had won their first Spanish League in fourteen years. En route to that title was a 5-0 mauling of Real Madrid IN Madrid. But Timmy would have you believe that despite all of this the Barca fans were seething because Rangers were invited to a friendly close season tournament?
The facts were all too much for retarded Timmy #1 but he still was not for turning and his last riposte was along the following lines (again this is verbatim) ”how could rangers have beaten Athletic Bilboa 1-0 in front of 100,000 fans if Athletic Bilboa were not even in the tournament?”
“If your man (Robert McElroy) is such a stickler for the facts then surely he would know what team a were playing.
“Made up score, made up team, made up book.” (Rangers, The Complete Record)
So let's recap for posterity how the Septic-minded view Rangers and Barcelona thirty years down the line.
1/ We ransacked Barcelona Cathedral. - We didn't this is a lie.
2/ Barcelona fans boycotted the tournament because Rangers were invited. - They didn't. Again this is a quite preposterous lie. The attendance on both nights of the competition was 100,000.
3/ Barcelona fans also boycotted the tournament because they had previously lost to Leeds Utd in the European Cup. - Another whale of a lie. As stated previously Barca and Leeds had NEVER met in the European Cup as of August 1974.
4/ The Barca President, Augustin Montal, was turfed out of his office in 1978 because he invited Rangers to play in the JG comp 4 years earlier. - Again complete and utter fabrication on Timmy's part.
5/ Teams were invited to play in said tournament because they had won a European trophy. - Bollox as anyone looking up the history of the JG tourney on the Internet will be able to verify.
6/ Rangers were banned from playing in this tournament in 1973 by UEFA. We were allowed to play Ajax home and away that same year but Barcelona was strictly off limits. - It's getting a bit tedious now isn't it?
7/ Athletic Bilbao did not participate in the tournament. - Erm, they did.
8/ We made up the teams, scores, and attendances and to top it off, The Complete Record doesn't exist either. - What more is there left to say?
Now I know that we should just ignore these dullards and their deceit and downright dishonesty. But nah, isn't it a hoot that we're always able to see how this shower really operate and what lurks beneath that non-sectarian, happy-go-lucky facade?
Yours in Rangers,
The Govanhill Gub