Next Saturday, at around about this time, Celtic will take the field for the first league match between our club and Sevco, the successor club to Rangers, the one that has spent the last four years dressed in the cerements of the grave, pretending to be something it’s not.
Once upon a time, we called it The Survival Myth. Now we call it The Survival Lie.
UEFA has spoken, their verdict is clear.
Still, this lie persists.
It has planted roots now, which is what happens when clear-cut nonsense is allowed to go essentially unchallenged by the media and those who are supposed to enforce the rules and assure a level playing field for all. But roots don’t confer any legitimacy on a lie.
A weed has roots. If you want to keep your garden tidy you rip them out.
This week, Aberdeen have been in the news because their official website put up a preview for their own coming game against Sevco, in which they omitted the history of the current Ibrox club. Some have applauded them for this, and for their subsequent refusal to apologise for it.
I understood what they were doing, as everyone did, but it was a cop out anyway.
The official reason why they did this was to do with a website redesign; it wasn’t an “intended snub” or a statement of club policy. They’ve never stated a policy on this, except right at the start where they and most other clubs – as well as the whole of the media – were in general agreement that failing to get a CVA meant death, liquidation and a Newco.
It’s not enough to dance around this though, which, in effect, is exactly what Aberdeen has done. I also know why they’ve taken this middle of the road position; it’s because we’re up first, and our own club’s actions will guide theirs going forward.
This was always going to wind up in our court. There was no avoiding it.
Other clubs have havered and wavered and refused to confront this matter head-on. Those which have tackled it have often been forced to backtrack as a result of the bitching and moaning from the Peepul which always accompanies a discussion of this issue. Our governing bodies and media push this obvious fraud like an addictive drug. They certainly can’t be relied on to tell the truth, when they’ve twisted it for years.
Our club was always going to have to carry this.
Our club was always the one that was going to be faced with fronting up and dealing with this head-on.
There are dangers inherent in this. Not in doing something, but in doing nothing. Celtic has to tackle this, and they have to do it in a manner that leaves no room whatsoever for doubt or ambiguity, and they have to do it no matter how much the club across the city squeals.
We get enough of this lie, every single day, from people who are either utterly hypocritical, stupid or too gutless to face the truth.
A lot of us are force fed it, whether we like it or not, constantly having it rubbed in our faces. Many people bought season tickets on the understanding that our club had a consistent line on this, one consonant with the facts.
Our club will have to issue an official publication for this game; these traditionally focus on the histories of the two sides and features outlining previous encounters are laid down for the record.
The club we are about to play has no history beyond 2012, when they were founded. The previous encounters amount to just two games. All the reminiscence over all our yesterdays … there are two timeframes in question here; before 2012 and after 2012. Before 2012, there was a club playing out of Ibrox called Rangers. After 2012 there was another club playing out of Ibrox, with a similar trading name and the same run of the mill blue shirt.
But they are not one in the same.
If our club makes the conscious decision to treat them as if they are, a lot of our supporters are going to be extremely pissed off. More pissed off than they’ve been since the White’s and the Kelly’s were running things 20 odd years ago.
I find it incredible that this should even be up for debate, that articles like this one, like the E-Tims piece on the same, that Paul67’s excellent editorial of yesterday, have to state the obvious, and ask that our club do the right thing.
This isn’t a revolutionary act we’re asking for here; we’re simply asking that Celtic acknowledge reality, the one accepted by the vast majority of football supporters in Scotland, the one the media itself and the fans who follow a team called Sevco had, themselves, come to terms with in the summer of 2012.
Liquidation meant death. They formed a new club.
That’s all. Just a statement of fact, of simple truth.
Our club cannot endorse the lie.
Instead we need to nail the coffin lid shut, once and for all, and tramp the dirt down.