Sevco’s more barmy supporters are having a bad day today.
First is this Robin Van Persie guff; let’s handle that at the level which it deserves.
That of sneering contempt for the gullibility of some of them.
This particular “deal” is about as likely as NASA suddenly finding a race of moon people who worship the Sun God. Wages would be the big issue, but not the only one. I suspect that if you mentioned this to Van Persie’s agents you wouldn’t get a respectful shake of the head as much as it would meet with hysterical laughter.
This isn’t simply a case of “made up pish” or even fantasy football stuff; it is psycho ward level delusion splashed all over the papers and it appears to be down to nothing more than an internet rumour that spiked a reaction with the bookies. When our media writes guff it tends to go the whole hog; this one is up there with the “Ronaldo almost signed for Rangers but wouldn’t have played in the league games” garbage the same newspaper was vomiting forth a few weeks ago.
Anyone who believed a word of this was, quite frankly, mad. Anyone who put money on it is a mug the bookies could see coming for miles. Idiocy like that is why the Brooklyn Bridge is one of the most “sold” fixed structures in the world, with ownership certificates hanging in homes the length and breadth of America and around the globe.
Also in the news today is a story which CQN and VideoCelts have already commented on, and which I intended to before I read their own editorials dealing with the matter. It’s concerned with the news that the club has taken the decision to ban a number of its fans for their diabolical behaviour in the aftermath of the Scottish Cup Final.
Now, this one is just simple common sense … they behaved like neds and are being treated as such by the club. Yet it was the club itself who said their supporters had done nothing wrong. Even some of the hacks agreed with the quite ridiculous assertion that their supporters had responded to attacks on their players … palpable nonsense as I intend to demonstrate over on Fields at some point towards the weekend.
The club itself is falling all over its feet with this announcement today, flatly contradicting the stance of its own managing director – you know, the guy who’s going to be on the SFA’s Professional Game board? Yes, this does look like a move to distance them, and him, from his more idiotic statements but they’re part of the historical record and that stain doesn’t so easily wash away. The club is going to be remembered for those comments for years to come.
No, what I find funniest is that a lot of the Sevco fan sites, and one in particular, offered their overwhelming support to the fans who were arrested in connection with these events. They must have thought they had the backing of the club; it sure as Hell sounded like it in those crazy days after the final when they were making announcements that made it sound like everyone on the board had taken complete leave of their senses.
But like with most other board communiques designed for domestic consumption, those statements turned out to be worthless. Once again their supporters were being led down the garden path. In short, they were being lied to and used. Season ticket renewal forms were out, after all. The club needed their money and it was easy, and expedient, to bang the victim drum, particularly as it diverted attention from a number of shambolic aspects of the final itself, and the disappearance of the manager afterwards.
Today the club itself has called them exactly what they are; criminal thugs who have no business being inside a football stadium. The large section of their support which believed these people would be welcomed back to Ibrox to sit in the stand like conquering heroes … what planet, exactly, are those clowns living on? Their support has been indulging in this nonsense – that in fact their pitch invasion was not neddish but a rescue of their players – for too many months now.
Their own club has admitted that it’s ridiculous and banned those prosecuted.
They could, and should, ban a helluva lot more and send a clear message … but with the words today “Your arrest … has brought the reputation of this club into disrepute …” they’ve made their position clear; it’s one rule for the rank and file fans and another for the boardroom and their assorted lackies. When one of the founders of a fan organisation has already had a “life ban” and still goes to Ibrox every week it has to be wondered why there’s a double standard.
Of course, Stewart Robertson’s comments were equally unacceptable and brought the whole of Scottish football into disrepute. Not only is he still employed by the club, but he’s heading for a seat at the SFA too. This is the way things work in the parallel universe of Hampden.
The number of lies which are still swirling about regarding that match and its aftermath still need to be tackled, but the biggest has now been laid to rest, and whatever the fantasists amongst the Ibrox support might continue to think about it, the club itself has spoken.
The guys who invaded the pitch behaved disgracefully, and not out of any altruistic motive.
I wonder if Follow Follow will put their club on the famous “banned” list, or if Vanguard Bears intends to fund the appeals or refund those fans who’ve been told they’re losing their season tickets?
Somehow, I suspect not.
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