Celtic Must Be Ready For King Camp Media Onslaught
Last night, I published a piece for On Fields of Green where I predicted that Dave King and the new Sevco board would unleash a media onslaught against their purported “enemies”.
This would have two objectives;
First it would be an effort to get the fans onside.
Second, it would give the hacks enough to write about that they wouldn’t have time to focus on what’s really going on inside Ibrox.
Today, as the newspapers drip with drool over King’s press conference yesterday, the need for Celtic, in particular, to be careful, and to be prepared, is clear.
That onslaught is coming.
It’s going to be targeted at us.
It doesn’t matter whether these people spend tens of millions, as they are claiming, or simply blow smoke.
We know that taking us down is their ultimate goal, and they will do anything to achieve it.
Our directors will be criticised. Our fans will be smeared.
God forbid one of our players steps out of line.
Referees will be put under pressure.
There will be proposals to change the league setup, the makeup of the governing bodies … in their quest to climb to the top they will try to turn the whole of the game upside down.
These people will be ruthless, and we’ll have to be too.
Tonight is the Annual Celtic Supporters Association Rally, held in the Kerrydale Suite.
I remember being at the first of the Rally’s held there, the one where Izzy was the Guest of Honour.
It is notable for being the night John Reid made his famous speech about Celtic no longer sitting at the back of the bus.
That attitude is what we need to take forward against King.
Some will say that we oppose this guy because he might make Sevco stronger.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
I suspect, and a good many of the bloggers feel the same, that King will lead them deeper into trouble and debt.
What concerns us are the consequences for the game itself when rules can be flouted, openly, and broken with impunity.
The media onslaught has already started.
Anthony Stokes was dragged onto the front pages yesterday, in a bizarre effort to link him to the plot to murder Johnny Adair.
There was nothing to the story, no substance in it whatsoever, but it’s like those questions the Republican Party used to send out to likely voters in tough races, the ones that go “would you support a candidate who had been accused of beating women?”
Note that it doesn’t mention a candidates name.
Note that it doesn’t say “found guilty of”.
This is all smoke and mirrors, ephemera, but that plants seeds and lets the ignorant draw their own conclusions.
A Celtic player. Linked to a murder plot. To kill a Loyalist.
This is how these people are going to play the game from now on. In the gutter.
Am I advocating our club gets down there with them?
Of course not.
But I am advocating that we get tough, that we fight back, that we don’t take any of this nonsense lying down.
We have to be on the offensive all the time, to kick them hard when they take a shot at us.
The fans can only do so much. The club must be proactive.
These are perilous times for Scottish football.
Thanks to the SFA, the lunatics are now in charge over at the Ibrox asylum.
We’re going to see the Survival Myth enshrined in stone.
We’re going to hear the Victim Myth pumped up to full volume.
Every perceived grievance is going to be aired, and if you have any doubt about that look at the way the media is already being used to shame Ally McCoist into walking away without a payoff.
This is how they treat their own people.
How do you think they view us?
Mark my words, if we’re not vigilant, if we’re not ready, they could do us real damage.
Not on the pitch, but the reputational sort.
They could start to eat away at our power in little bites, one at a time.
If they can chip away, how long before it starts affecting what happens on the park?
You think it can’t happen? It does happen.
We better get ready for a dirty battle. It’s coming.
And because they’re still staring down the barrel of the gun, this one is a fight to the finish.
You can read the On Fields of Green article by clicking on the link below.