This week, we had one of those bizarre moments that seems to define Scottish football at times.
The discredited former hack Hugh Keevins apparently forget, entirely, the four matches that all but destroyed Rangers as an institution and a football club.
Keevins, who spent much of his career disdaining social media before leaving The Daily Record to become a blogger for a radio station, recently appeared on Twitter, to much bafflement amongst Scottish football fans who had become accustomed to hearing him tell the world how full of idiots the internet is.
I guess he felt it needed one more.
His career as a journalist ended last year, and can probably best be summed up by two things; his Wikipedia entry, which is a mere two lines long and the fact that when asked to choose a career highlight for a book he didn’t pick a story he had broken but the time he was kicked out of the Celtic Club in London Road.
That about covers it.
Over the years he gave us many hilarious moments, like when he declared the league race to be “over” in November 2007 or when he described Kaunas as “a two bob team from a two bob country” before they knocked Rangers out of Europe in 2008 or when he predicted that Atletico Madrid would turn Celtic over in 2011 and then, when challenged on the radio, could not name a single member of their first team squad.
In the course of his tenure at The Record and The Sunday Mail, he made excuses for bigots at the same time as he was suggesting that those who were calling for sporting integrity weren’t to be listened to because that’s what motivated us. He decried the signing of Lubo, suggesting we should have gone for John Spencer instead.
This week’s example of his sheer idiocy manifests itself in his on-going campaign against Celtic manager Ronny Deila, who has a big job to do to convince this writer and others of his ability to take our club forward.
The difference is, we’re basing our scepticism on what we can see before our eyes.
Keevins, and others, were determined Ronny would fail from the start, and that bitterness didn’t manifest itself in anything but arrogance and snobbery, the kind that can dismiss an entire country like Lithuania or Ronny’s native Norway.
You don’t have to look far to find evidence that this has little to do with results on the park.
In fact, shortly after his appointment Keevins wrote a quite deranged article saying our club should have ditched the idea of Deila as our manager because of the footage of him doing press ups on the park in his boxer shorts after Strømsgodset had won the league title.
That cannot even remotely be classed as “informed opinion.”
That article was nothing but a character assassination with the ancillary benefit that it took a poke at Celtic as a club.
The campaign against Deila has been relentless.
It reached its nadir this week when he had a go on Clyde and then followed it up on Twitter, calling Deila’s European record into question.
He has a point, because that record isn’t remotely good enough.
But with Keevins you know if it wasn’t that it would be something else.
Just so he could say “told you.”
Just so he could break out into his favourite song; “Celtic in Crisis.”
Then a Tweet asked him to square his treatment of Deila with the free ride he gave McCoist for much of that media’s darling’s disastrous tenure at Rangers and then at Sevco.
Keevins’ answer had Celtic cyberspace united in stunned disbelief.
“My point about RD is his failure to improve in Europe. Nothing to do with McCoist. He wasn’t in Europe.”
McCoist wasn’t in Europe? Really?
As history shows, quite clearly, and as many of us never tire of reminding Sevco fans, their former club died as a direct consequence of Ally McCoist’s notable failures on that very stage.
Were it not for the twin calamities of Malmo and Maribor they might well not have had to enter administration in February 2012, with everything that followed it.
The truth is, Keevins and others gave their mate Ally an appallingly easy time of it, which prolonged the agony for Sevco fans long after the rest of us had graduated from giggling to gales of laughter all the Adam Sandler movies in the world wouldn’t have stopped.
There are honest-to-god journalists working in Scotland, and even in Scottish football.
You can tell who they are because they get on with their day jobs without trying to be more than they are, treating their readers, listeners and viewers with a certain amount of respect.
They are careful in their pronouncements because they know it’s their job to inform the public, and not simply to shovel them bull.
Their not interested in making their names on controversy or cozying up to players, managers, chairmen or PR firms.
My disdain for Keevins goes back a long time, and he’s never convinced me that he’s more than a tabloid hack who often indulges his personal bitterness and spite, and lets that permeate his work.
This is unforgivable in any journalist – his mate Traynor was a disgraceful example of it too – but especially in someone who holds open contempt for the views of those who bought his paper or who listen to the radio show on which he still works.
Keevins is one of the reasons so many of us view that show with derision.
It could have been a crusading platform, doing real journalism and discussing the issues.
Instead, Keevins and others have turned it into a freak show instead.
When the panel on that show decries the attitudes of their audience they might want to consider that those attitudes are a direct consequence of a media that stopped caring years ago and went for the cheap laugh and the one day story.
They stopped doing journalism.
They treated us like mugs, turning the whole thing into a circus.
In promoting the views of hacks like Keevins they made damned sure Clyde became a forum only for slagging matches and one-upsmanship.
I don’t mind that if it’s marketed as entertainment.
But they dare not call it journalism.
That they market it as such is why I listen once in a blue moon and never for very long.
Cause it ain’t that.
“It’s all about opinions,” is the constant refrain on Clyde.
Surely no statement in the English language can be more intellectually lazy – or as fundamentally dishonest – as that one is.
Primary school children have opinions too, after all.
Try debating one of them on the finer points of Keynesian economics or particle physics.
All that particular excuse does is allows ignorance to flourish and people like Keevins to keep their jobs.
Because if he was being judged on any other criteria he’d have been washing dishes for a living years ago.
I had a run in with this dick at Celtic Pk years ago and told him what I Thot of him..He’s just an over paid Copy Boy..He knows feck all about the game..Everytime he open his gob it’s all negativity bullshit..Thats the sign of a henpecked hubbie..I continually Emailed his Record email page and asked Him about Newco/Oldco so much he threatened to take court action against me if I didn’t stop..I told him I’d see him in court and then he’d be forced by a judge to tell the truth in court..He blocked me from sending him anymore Emails..He thinks he is something..Really he is..Arsehole comes to mind..HH
I sent a polite email to Mr.Keevins a few years back after his comments on Scott Brown….whilst giving players marks out of 10 for performance, he gave Broonie…. 2….. In his opinion….FOR PUTTING HIS BOOTS ON THE CORRECT FEET….. That to me was a personal attack on another human being……his total disrespect was all too clear……when he DID answer my email…..it was ALL in capital letters…. Every single last letter….. Another feeble attempt at trying to portray a persona of….. A couldn’t care less arpttitude in my opinion.
His response was again based on….it was HIS OPINION…..
The man is NOT. A reporter…..Graham Spiers, Roger Hannah etc….they are reporters who do a decent job, am sorry… Mr.Keevins is not a hack, not a reporter and definitely NOT as important as he thinks he is…..
I used to commrnt on an old Celtic website called The Celtic Hub a few years ago and I repeatedly asked Celtic fans not to feed the frenzy by phoning in and essentially keeping Keevins in a job
“the four matches that all but destroyed Rangers as an institution and a football club.” Here was me thinking that Minty running up tens of millions pounds worth of debt over many years was what scuppered Rangers. But no, it was 4 European games.
Mr keevins the person who goes on the families of JOCK STEIN and TOMMY BURNS, protecting them from the songs that scum sang about them, he just never had the fckin balls to go, after the scum and protect the families honour that way. you should be fckin ashamed of yourself, but scum like, u have no shame, coybig
its time to bar this clown from parkhead again He has obviously got a hidden agenda with celtic get rid of this disgusting little crawler he never ever slagged off ma cost but when DEILA IS CONCERNED this prick is full in his hatred for the manager of scotlands most famous team what a parasite ODIOUS LITTLE CREEP
He shouldn’t have been let back into Celtic Park after the way he treated Dr Jo, a complete disgrace to his profession.
The standard of journalism in Scotland has gone through the floor thanks to the contribution of Keevins and is ilk.
He has an opinion of himself that belies his abilities.
I’ve had several email ding dongs with him.
The minute you introduce facts into an argument he has a hissy fit and resorts to name calling.
An extremely poor journo an even poorer human being.
The radio show that he appears on is a mockery and a laughing stock amongst football punters, though it would appear that those taking part seem blind to the fact.
At the end of the day I suppose It’s take the easy Mo ey and move on.
Instead of being informative we are fed bullsh*t either from the punter phoning in or in the rep,y from the pundits.
A guy came on last week and swooned over the performance of Rangers since the magic hat took over…..yes, I’m lost on that one too? Fair enough, the product on the park is 100 times better. Instead of the pundits analysing the differences between Warbs team and that of Super the opportunity passed by.
I doubt if Keevins, for one, has the ability or knowledge to make such an analysis.
But the best part was still to come…..the guy finished by stating that the financial clouds that had hung over Ibrox since 2012 had finally been dispelled!
This went unchallenged by the pundits, oh come on I expected at least one of them to burst out laughing, but he’ll no…….
Such fun.
Stand by for the same bunch of nitwits crying their eyes out at the failings of the SFA when the fast approaching financial tsunami hits.
That’s what the party line will be. 7 months after King’s ascension to the throne and no sign of his investment, yet there’s hardly been a murmur in the media.
If Level 5 is now off the case perhaps the dogs of war will be released but I wouldn’t count on it.
I’m sorry but I am going against everyone here, I was taken by Peter Martin at my request to meet Hugh in his dressing room at a do in the Fir Park Social club.
He was the perfect gentleman and spent quite a while with me talking about football, I am not saying he is always right, no one is, but he is entitled to his opinion, and as a Celtic suppporter myself, did not find him anti Celtic at all.
He is entitled to his opinion, ie he said after the cheating officials display in the Scottish cup semi final against Inverness that the referee should be banned from handling any more games until the end of the season.
I am not a fan of Radio Clyde, but it is the only football phone in I can listen to out here in Thailand, so I hope it stays on air, and I also hope that Hugh Keevins is on it for a while yet.
Keevins=Clownshoe
HH
Unfortunately, slagging off Celtic is good for business in Scotland. The Huns love it and Celtic fans tune in or read to be enraged and/or are quite often quick to agree with a negative slant on the club.
The Huns don’t read or listen to negative stuff about them but lap up positive bollocks.
Therefore, a paper or a radio show in Scotland will be more successful if there’s a clear bias.
I tuned into a clyde podcast recently from my home in Australia where games are on at 5am so i don’t see enough theres a new format i gather where someone phones in and takes on hugh keevins on current trivia he couldn’t tell you who was top of the premiership. For a paid professional thats staggering. I won the comp against the caller and the expert and i know nothing
Well said mate. I haven’t listened to Clyde in years. It stopped being a journalistic platform yonks ago. It now merely serves as a self promotion vehicle for all involved…. that and a means for them to lambast and ridicule the preselected and demographically challenged zoomers they let through to the studio. Anyone with a measured and intelligent point to make has less thon no chance of getting on. Its Chuckle Brothers broudcasing, but with less brains!!
Once a clown always a clown gutter press reporter
This clown has talked down fans of scotish football for years calling them bigots for hating ther biggest rivals real football fans love beating ther biggest rivals if we didnt it would make the game less passionate for me a celtic fan i love beating rangers but i dont hate anyone just ask man.u fans man.city fans arsenal chelsea ect how much they enjoy humping their biggest rivals.
Great piece. Keevins is a joke figure as a person and a lazy spiteful journalist.