Nothing to see here……….

 

Well, I guess it wasn’t supposed to be like this. The clouds were to be fluffy and Scottish football was to be exciting and a sell-out every Saturday. Bigotry and hatred would end in Scotland when Rangers died. At least that’s what they told us. But now we have effigies of executed Protestants and Orange Men hanging from the stands of Celtic Park, the home of Celtic Football Club.

Those pictures of the effigies hanging by the neck execution style should be sending a chill through Scottish life, images that ISIS would have been proud of, but instead they are ignored by a media and police force that is now no longer fit for purpose.

Once again the Scottish media, Celtic, and their fans blame it on a small minority. The ongoing deterioration of the press in this country is well known. The denial of the truth over the shocking images from Celtic Park are a stark reminder of how far the press has fallen and how much control Celtic have in this country.

There is much national outrage when Rangers fans sing words that are deemed offensive. But sectarianism, violence, prejudice and bigotry give no concern when it happens inside Celtic Park.

In Scotland, they are trying to package bigotry as something that comes in many shapes rather than a one size fits all. It is different if a Rangers supporter chants a bad song compared to when a Celtic fan does it.  That’s the message they are trying to get across.

Celtic and its support declared war on Rangers last weekend, from the trolls who attack our club and call us the Klan, to the politicians and media who operate a blind eye policy regarding bigotry against Rangers and demonise the support. Rangers are in a war whether the club acknowledges it or not.

The Celtic support are hypocritical to a man and woman and only a few weeks ago were calling out Israel for so-called apartheid in Palestine but they only like to be social justice warriors when it suits them if it’s Palestine or soup kitchens. But the mask slips time and again when it’s Rangers; we see inside their mindset that they are like supremacists with their “know your place Hun Scum” banner. This is the language of the racist and the bigot. Yet those who fight back and defend Rangers are denounced and ridiculed as point scorers.

In Scotland, we have to talk about bigotry but this cannot happen when one-half of the city is in denial and doesn’t want to admit or accept that it has a problem with sectarianism.

Rangers Football Club must take action and protect the support from this type of open hatred, a banning order must be placed on the Celtic support and they must not be allowed inside Ibrox.

In any sane society, there would be calls for the Celtic chief Peter Lawwell to resign or at very least for the Green Brigade to be kicked out of Scottish Football after the disgraceful scenes at Celtic Park. But sadly Scotland and Scottish Football is an open sewer at the moment and I don’t see things improving anytime soon.

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Rangers versus the Establishment

It hard to find another football club that has been subject to as orchestrated a media campaign of lies and negative spin as Rangers Football Club. For Rangers, it now seems that the mainstream press has become a bigger threat than the blogging internet loonies. In almost all of what passes for newspapers in Scotland, Rangers are the main headline and everybody’s favourite bad guy.

 

The anti-Rangers hysterics has reached many peaks over the last four years but just when you think it can’t get any worse up pops the Daily Record. The lies told by the Record and its reports after the Cup Final riot say more about them than it does about Rangers or its supporters. The Record reported that Rangers supporters blocked police efforts to get to Hampden and stop the riot by putting their children in front of police vehicles. The IPSO (Independent Press Standards Organisation) upheld a complaint that this story was false and was not based on any evidence.

 

The Record was playing to the green side of Glasgow and the Scottish nationalists with their blind eye policy towards anything anti-Rangers when it printed its lies about the Cup Final. The world watched as Hibernian fans invaded the pitch and tried to goad the Rangers support into a fight. So when the truth hurts, tell lies and apportion some of the blame to Rangers, singing bad songs.

 

Why do they keep telling lies about Rangers? Because it sells papers, the haters obsession with Rangers will never end. Those who read the Record, mostly the haters, end up writing for the paper. Bloggers promoted beyond their credibility and newspapers unable to afford real journalists due to financial downsizing The media are part of the Establishment, an Establishment that doesn’t include Rangers Football Club. The more the media in this country has become tribal and less about printing serious opinions about Scotland and football, the more the lunatics and bigots have seized control. They are stuck in a world of tribalism and old world politics.

 

In the past four years Rangers have grown bigger and stronger to the utter disbelief of the haters who pass for journalists, and the 45% who lost the referendum struggle to come to terms with the fact that Rangers are a Scottish Institution, loved by millions and that isn’t going away. They literally can’t understand that simple situation.

 

They are trying to implant what they think an independent Scotland should be like and what fits their agenda and this is why they hate the Club, the songs, the colours and the fans with such deep feelings that lead them to print lies. Rangers don’t fit the mould of the 45% and should be marginalised or even better closed down.

 

Scotland as a country has a lot of problems from poverty, unemployment, sectarianism and education but Rangers are not one of them and that’s the truth.

 

https://www.ipso.co.uk/rulings-and-resolution-statements/ruling/?id=03188-16

 

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One small Step

Welcome to the big time Mark, after the Scottish Cup riot, Rangers manager Mark Warburton can be in no doubt of the hatred Scotland has for Rangers.

The sectarian hatred that runs through Scottish football bubbled up to the surface at Hampden like an open sewer and showed the world that Scotland is a dark place.

The failure of the Scottish Government to condemn the attacks on Rangers players and staff is a shocking indicator of where Scotland is in the modern world, a place of religious intolerance and a small minded country unable to govern itself without religious tribalism.

It is clear the Scottish Government cannot or will not deal with the impact of the open hatred festering in this country and Scotland is at a moment of truth. The failure to challenge the open hatred and demonising of Rangers and their fans has widened the chasm they have created in Scottish society.

The Hampden riot is not a one off, just ask the Rangers support about the play-off game against Motherwell, this has been allowed to happen and will happen again.

Under the SNP Scotland is becoming a more divided society, where violence against the Unionist community is seen as acceptable. The rioting of the Hibernian supporters at Hampden and it was a riot, not a pitch invasion as some would have us believe, has thrown not only a shadow over the cup final but a dark cloud is now hanging over next season’s league games. No one connected to Rangers can feel safe in the current environment of hatred.

Rangers must attempt to leave the Scottish league before someone is killed. Scotland is now run by people who are conceited and unaccountable. Leaving Scottish football will be risky but the danger of staying is now too great.

Next season will see the haters visit Ibrox on a regular basis and no one wants that, these last four years have taught us that Rangers are stronger than any other club in the country and the support will follow the club through the lower leagues in large numbers. Rangers must now form an exit strategy to remove itself from the cancerous atmosphere now present in the Scottish game.

The mocking from officials, the media and politicians of the assaults is an insult to a once proud country that prided itself on tolerance and decency.

This has led to a bigoted movement being formed who live and breathe hatred for Rangers and a society that has become desensitised to the hatred and dehumanisation aimed at Rangers.

This country is facing a huge decision on Brexit and whether to stay or leave the European Union. The erosion of national identity is at the heart of the decision. Rangers are facing the same question and there will be uncertainty if we leave this small minded nation, but the future doesn’t just happen, it has to be created. Rangers must take the power away from the haters and leave them behind. The time is right for Rangers to take the first steps and try and secure a future as far away from this place as possible. One small step for a club, one giant leap for Rangers.

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Fire with fire

 

 

Fire with fire.

 

As I write this Rangers are once again under siege. This latest, and probably not last, an attack is once again focused on Rangers use of EBTs to minimise their tax on players’ wages.

 

Rangers had almost, almost got back to normality and doing what they do best, playing football, but just when you think its safe to go back in the water the Sporting Integrity sharks start snapping at the clubs heels.

 

Fans were talking about formation, new players being brought in and winning the Championship, but don’t worry it doesn’t take long for the morality brigade to become offended, I’m sure there will be online campaigns, hashtag #stripthetitles and no doubt a candlelit vigil.

 

http://rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/dave-king-statement-5/

 

Dave King’s latest words are a statement of intent. Rangers have had enough of the wailing and weeping. The club will no longer keep a dignified silence. The big question is, does he mean it?

 

King’s statement seems to be a warning to the haters, either move on or move out. The EBT saga has become tiring, nearly destroyed the club and Scottish Football. The accusation thrown at the club hurt the support more than anyone and Dave King must not pay lip service to the people who follow the club.

 

The BDO or Sir David Murray must appeal the decision taken to favour HMRC over the use of EBTs. The fight must be taken to the enemy. Sir David Murray must stop hiding behind the institution and find his voice again.

 

If the haters have their way the club will not be allowed to move forward because that would mean Rangers regaining their place at the top table and for many that is the worst case scenario. There is a huge portion of Scotland that would like to see Rangers wiped off the map,

 

Rangers cannot win this argument by appeasement, if there is any attempt to strip titles from the club then Dave King and Co must choose the nuclear option and face off any challenge to Rangers history.

 

There will be no happy ending to this, there are too many people blind to the state Scottish Football is in to see clearly and focus on the future and not the past.

 

 

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Here we go again…….

In spite the fact that Celtic, Hearts, Dundee and Motherwell have all gone into financial meltdown, it seems that only the Rangers story can dominate an issue like no other.

 

As a club, we have been here before, with HMRC winning the latest, but let’s hope not the last round of legal arguments on whether the tax should be paid on the EBTs operated by the club.

 

This campaign to demonise Rangers has only served to polarise Scotland down sectarian lines, obsessing on every aspect of the club, and invoking fake guilt in a reaction to tarnish the name Rangers.

 

This has led to a cancerous and bigoted movement to strip Rangers of the titles they won while operating a perfectly legal tax scheme used by many clubs including Arsenal and Celtic. The narrative that Rangers cheated is being pushed by those with an agenda against the club.

 

Dave King has stated that he hopes Scottish Football and Rangers can move on from this period and start to put the best interests of the game in this country first.

 

 

Until facts become part of the conversation we are never going to see a way forward. Rangers were not formed to win a popularity contest. I don’t care what Celtic, Hearts, Dundee United or the rest think. I genuinely care about Rangers; the club must defend its history against those who seek to damage it.

 

In the latest instalment of the tax case, we’ve seen the MSM further misrepresent the story and legitimise and justify those who tell lies about Rangers, pushing the myth that EBTs are illegal. They stoke unrest targeted at Rangers.

 

This is truly bigoted behaviour and by pandering to the knuckle draggers, by pushing the lies, they are helping to keep Scottish Football on a downward cycle which will lead to more division in what is left of our game.

 

Tax avoidance is a huge problem amongst society, football and footballers but until we address the real issue of what this story is about, it will continue to be all about getting Rangers and not about Sporting Integrity or fair play.

 

Until we tackle the deep-seated problems within the game until that becomes part of the national debate, the issue is never going to be resolved. If these facts are kept out of the dialogue, Scottish Football and those who genuinely care about it will be drowned out by the faux morality that has taken hold of the game we once loved.

 

 

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Twenty’s Plenty

There is an old saying that ‘You should be careful what you wish for.’

Celtic owner Dermot Desmond is back in the press with the old chestnut of Rangers and Celtic moving to play in England in some type of Elite League. The English Premier League is worth over £5 billion until 2019 and matches are broadcast all over the world. Dermot Desmond’s comments say a lot about what he feels about Scottish football and the long term aims of his club. Celtic had their lowest attendance in years in their recent League Cup game at Celtic Park with just over 10,000 fans bothering to turn up. A game that we have been told for the last four years is booming suddenly got a lot less attractive for the Celtic owner.

The prospect of playing the big teams in England may be the solution to the slow death of both Glasgow giants, but logistically and financially, can the fans afford to follow their team in the current economic climate? Once the novelty wears off, will fans really be able to pay the cost and inconvenience of travelling to London for a half twelve Sunday kick off against Chelsea or Arsenal, the cost of travel, hotels, food and drink, the time it takes to get there and back, the ticket prices every other weekend?

This weekend saw fans of many clubs down South protest about the cost of match day tickets. Fans protests were held outside grounds around the country and banners and flags unfurled stating the Twenty’s Plenty slogan. Fans complained that tickets for Arsenal v Manchester United saw the away fans pay up to £64 for admission. It is clear that fans in England want ticket prices reduced: Arsenal charge an unbelievable £97 for a home game, West Ham charge £70 for an away game.

The Twenty’s Plenty scheme has much to admire about it but can it turn the tide in the war that modern football seems to be waging against the ordinary fan? If it doesn’t, how many ordinary fans from Glasgow or those from Ulster or Ireland could afford to travel to away games when just a ticket is in the region of £60? Put this together with League Cup and Scottish Cup games, European games and fans may well have to pick and choose what competitions they go to see. Celtic already gives two free tickets to season ticket holder for some games with little uplift in attendances.

Some hard decisions may need to be made. Football in Scotland as a working class sport may not survive. What would become of the traditional cup competitions? How would the rest of Scottish football react to Rangers and Celtic moving South?

It is clear Celtic would abandon ship in a heartbeat if they felt there was a way into the lifeboat that English football may become, but it is clear with the protests over the weekend at some English grounds that for the fans the grass isn’t always greener.

Football in this country is far too expensive as it is and the standard of play and competition is at an all time low. Perhaps those like Dermot Desmond, who are in a position to make the game better, would be more productive channelling their resources inward instead of running to the English for a saviour.

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The Wait is Over

Once again we see the sham that is Sporting Integrity in Scottish football. Just days after admitting his guilt to singing racist songs about refugees, Leigh Griffiths of Celtic is awarded Premiership Player of the Month.

One constant frustration to anyone who follows Rangers is the polarised difference between the words and the actions of Celtic FC and Scottish football’s governing body over the treatment of their players guilty of racism. Former Celtic manager Neil Lennon stated that anyone found guilty of racism at Celtic would be sacked.

At this time of heightened tensions and concerns of the refugee issue it seems the only people not making headlines are Griffiths and Celtic. Once again the SMSM are giving Celtic a get out of jail free card over another player being found guilty of using racist language.

One is left wondering why a club like Celtic says one thing yet does another. The hypocrisy at Celtic between talk and action is sewn into the fabric of the club.

We all know that good governance is easy to talk about but much harder to do. When the conflict between the business and the football side collide hypocrisy is almost inevitable and Celtic are masters at paying lip service when found wanting in the Sporting Integrity field.

Celtic has gone out of its way to portray itself as the club open to all and has never shied away from playing the victim card. Even at Pittodrie in the league against Aberdeen the Celtic support were giving Shay Logan verbal  abuse while holding up a banner welcoming refugees, Logan, of course, was also racially abused by Celtic player Tonev.

Only a true optimist would state that football clubs can be completely sincere in their attempt to rid the game of racists. Players are paid too much money and clubs stand to lose too much if they let a player go every time one of them misbehaves. No one seriously believes Celtic will sack one of their star players. Apart from not having the money they also don’t have the personnel to replace Griffiths if they did keep their word and sack him.

That is where the importance of the role of the SFA comes into the debate. Integrity is important if what we say is what we mean.

Griffiths is the latest in a long line of players to face charges of racism. Chelsea captain John Terry was banned for four matches and fined £220,000 for racially abusing QPR defender Anton Ferdinand by the FA, and Liverpool striker Luis Suarez was given an eight-match ban when an FA disciplinary panel found him guilty of racially abusing Manchester United defender Patrice Evra last season. The panel stated at that time that simply using racist language was enough to constitute a breach of FA rules.

Griffiths was admonished in the courts this time after pleading guilty to using racist language, it took nearly two years to come to trial. It is now over to the SFA to deal with Griffiths and to show that the SFA really has given racism the red card. The wait is over, time for action.

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Why does it always rain on me

Once again the Celtic support is getting itself into a state over a refereeing mistake in their Scottish Cup semi-final against Inverness Caledonian Thistle. The Celtic support has been carrying an assumption for years about what should or shouldn’t happen in a football game and that they are being cheated every game they play.
The error by the referee was a gift from the gods to most Celtic fans. It reinforces the misguided perception they have that their team is not as bad as they are, and that it is the dark forces that stop them winning.
The Celtic support is living in a false world that they created themselves and have lost touch with reality. In their world decisions never go for them and they are always being cheated, when the reality is that they get more dodgy decisions than most other teams. They have taken their own delusions as absolute truth. Life for a Celtic fan must be taxing. Walking around all day seeing conspiracies everywhere, and every way they turn they thud into more plots and schemes.
Celtic supporters are ruled by their assumptions of corruption and this makes the environment they create in their own minds feel suspicious and hostile. They have set themselves up mentally so that the world meets their negative outlook, a self-fulfilling prophecy and any time things go wrong they react in the same old way. They have tunnel vision and can’t see clearly.
Celtic are stuck in a world of delusion. These delusions about referees and conspiracies have mostly been lying dormant while Rangers have been on their tour of Scotland but when triggered by a mistake like at the semi-final then the old paranoia and envy comes bubbling up to the surface.
Scottish football should not give these accusations any credence but with the cabal running the show in Scotland, who knows what will happen. Celtic are not treated any less or any more favourably than any other team and there is no bias against the club. Of course no amount of evidence will convince them that they are not being cheated. Even with one of their own, Peter Lawwell CEO of Celtic at the SFA, the organisation is still working against them in their twisted minds.
The Parkhead club’s overconfidence is breath taking by claiming the referee’s mistake cost them the treble, after all wouldn’t they have had a final to play if they’d got through?
Celtic are determined to see ghosts in the dark rather than accept how low is the quality – not just of referees – but the game in Scotland overall.

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I Fought The Law

How can the football authorities ask the fans to be more law abiding while allowing someone with Paul McGowan’s criminal history to earn a living from the game?
Dundee player McGowan has been convicted of his third assault on the police and once again has done his very own Houdini act and escaped a jail term. People quite reasonably ask how this can come about.
As a professional footballer, even in the Scottish game where every penny is a prisoner (no pun intended) McGowan must live a more prosperous life than the average football fan yet he still chooses to pursue a life of reoffending and anti-social behaviour.
There is widespread public concern about levels of crime in Scotland, especially at election time. Crime and how to deal with it is near top of most political parties’ manifestos but having a low rate of imprisonment should mean we have low rates of crime not that some are treated in a special way because of the profession they are in.
It is no wonder parents are finding alternative sports and activities to take their kids to as football in this country is no longer the beautiful game.
Ranger’s fans despair at being demonized and jailed for singing songs with a certain word in it while thugs like McGowan walk away with a slap on the wrist. A large amount of tax payers’ money is spent on reoffenders like McGowan both in convicting them and monitoring them. Dundee FC say they will stand by the player but any attempt to change him is closing the door after the horse has bolted. How will Dundee react if a fan sets off a flare in their stadium, a life ban presumably?
The important thing is to deter young people from a life of crime, catch those that do commit crimes and to deal with them appropriately, but the result of this case makes that harder when we see that violence towards the police on more than one occasion is not a reason to be sent to jail.
The Dundee thug will miss two forthcoming games against former club Celtic because he is under house arrest.
He has also been placed on a 16-week restriction of liberty order which confines him to home between the hours of 7pm and 7am. McGowan will be laughing to himself as he once again beats the system and enjoys the liberty denied to a young Rangers fan. The message given out by the McGowan sentence is that crime and anti-social behaviour are now so much part of the norm of Scottish society, why bother jailing him.

Scottish football is without a sponsor and that’s not going to change anytime soon when the professional game allows a player to take the field with three criminal convictions for assault, so much for the integrity of the game.
The real victims in this are the people assaulted and injured by McGowan. Scottish football is now a game where bigots, racists, and violent thugs are the new role models and can take to the field to play the game, a game that is dying on its knees and unable to save itself from its own self-hatred. The acceptance that Paul McGowan can continue to play by the Scottish football authorities and Dundee FC is a new low in the game in this country and gives one more reason for people to turn their back on what was once the national sport.
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The Celtic Fatwa

With mock outrage from certain quarters surrounding the tweet about the prophet Mohammad, new Rangers non-executive director Chris Graham has resigned after three days in the post. The issue of freedom of expression has come to the fore and once again the press in this country cherry pick which issue to take offence at.
The Fatwa issued to Salman Rushdie after he published the Satanic Verses may no longer have the support of most Muslims. However, the fatwa remains in place but the fanatics aligned to Celtic Football Club are still trying to control our right to think and speak and are being aided by certain elements of the Scottish press in an attempt to stifle free expression.
Once again certain journalists are pandering to the permanently offended who now pollute Scottish society. If the press has an issue with religious intolerance and bigotry then perhaps they should focus on the Celtic Fatwa that is still in place regarding Mo Johnson. Even after all these years the Celtic support can still not let go of the hatred they feel for Super Mo.
How many Catholics have been put off playing for Rangers by the threats and treatment of Mo Johnston, who snubbed Celtic to sign for Rangers under Graeme Souness and received death threats, needed police guards 24/7 and has not been able to return to his native Scotland since? The Mo Johnson situation puts some perspective on the Neil Lennon case.
Even a charity game played by former Old Firm players was threatened by the extremists in the Celtic support because Mo Johnson was going to play. Johnson withdrew and the game went ahead and the fanatics claimed victory. This is Scotland’s real shame.
No Roman Catholic player who played for Rangers – and there has been many over the years; Lorenzo Amoruso captained the club and Frenchmen Paul Le Guen went onto manage at Ibrox. Nacho Novo, a Spanish Catholic is another Rangers player no stranger to death threats, an Ibrox legend after his penalty took Rangers to their fourth European final. None of these have ever experienced a problem from the Rangers support.
What motivated the press to out Chris Graham in this way? That is, apart from the obvious, his promotion to the Rangers board. Reporters in Scotland don’t want the Rangers supporters feeling good about themselves. Remember Tom English saying Rangers supporters should be ashamed for what the conman Craig Whyte did, why? Tom English is clutching at straws and only in the parochial world of the Scottish press could he seek to apportion blame in such a way to a fan base.
Let’s hope there a no sinister reprisals against Chris Graham for doing what everyone all over the world was doing at the time of the Charlie Hebdo massacre, standing up for the right to express views and prove that the pencil is mightier than the sword. This miscalculation of fake outrage against Chris Graham’s tweet is dangerous and foolhardy just to settle some petty old score. The press has fallen back on its default setting and lost perspective on the real threat to free speech to point score against someone of the Rangers persuasion. Let’s hope those fanatics who wage the war against free speech don’t latch onto the skewed ranting’s of the Scottish press.
When journalists such as James Foley are beheaded for doing their job it is sad that no one in the Scottish press is willing to admit that this storm is about getting at Rangers, anyway and anyhow, instead of standing up against intolerance and hatred.
In Scotland we are used to people using their religion to be offended and outraged. This is expected and the norm. Former football referee Hugh Dallas lost his job for forwarding a joke email about child abuse in the Catholic Church ahead of Pope Benedict’s visit to Scotland.
Benedict has subsequently resigned as Pope amid controversy of his handling of the child abuse scandal and the head of the Catholic Church in Scotland Keith O’Brien has been kicked into the long grass after revelations of improper behaviour of a sexual nature against priests.
Just as freedom of speech is a right, so too is the freedom to practice religion, but what some people believe to be the word of God must not be allowed to silence the words of humanity, offensive or not.
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