Today, the guys over at CQN announced that the long awaited Guardian ad on Resolution 12 will not be appearing.
Someone at the newspaper has pulled the plug.
In an article over on CQN today, the Requisitioners have suggested that it’s not even an editorial decision but one that was made over the editorial department’s head.
That normally means legal issues, but that ad had already been reviewed and passed by the lawyers at the paper.
To me this suggests that someone, somewhere, has been issuing threats to pull revenue, or possibly slap an injunction on them. The papers – remember, this follows on the heels of a similar refusal at The Herald – have caved.
Before we think about who made them do it, let’s look at what this means.
I long since lost faith in the mainstream media, but I’ve always respected them for the reach they have and the way they can tackle issues and subjects that people like me simply don’t have the resources, time or audience to do proper justice.
But if you actually want justice, well it seems you need to go elsewhere.
There can’t be many of us left who haven’t read the text that appeared in a newspaper in Switzerland last week. That text is fairly benign. Indeed, I had expected something much stronger, but it hit the right tone and landed the blow it was supposed to. There was nothing in that ad which should have attracted the attention of lawyers, but it was read over by a half dozen of them just the same, at the paper and with the Requisitioners themselves.
This was the moment the campaign was supposed to come off the internet. It remains there for the moment. Not only is the media not doing its own job, but now it’s not allowing the issue to be debated and discussed at all. That is lamentable.
This is a hugely complex project. It has cost time, money and probably more sleepless nights than any of us can imagine. Yet the resistance it has run into seems grossly out of proportion to what the issues actually are.
With all due respect to the guys behind this, it isn’t a life and death matter. This isn’t state secrets. This isn’t government corruption or worse. This is football. This is about a deceased football club and the SFA. This stuff is not going to change the face of the country.
The Guardian has published leaked diplomatic cables. It has published secret tax documents. It stood up for Edward Snowden although he leaked 10,000 classified documents relating to the US intelligence agencies. Many of those documents have appeared as articles in the paper.
So I’m moved to wonder just what this is all about, who or what could compel The Guardian to restrict debate in such a fashion, and I can only conclude that it was, in fact, some kind of legal or financial threat. And who could have made that threat?
Was it Sevco?
That seems hard to believe.
They can’t be seen to be involved in this in any way, and if it was discovered that their people had intervened in this it would beg the question; what exactly are they trying to hide? If Rangers did nothing wrong there’s no reason for them to act. If Sevco’s board aren’t concerned about adverse consequences then there’s no cause for them to be involved, is there?
Was it the SFA?
Regan sat in front of the media last week and told the whole of Scotland’s sporting press that this was an issue that had nothing to do with them beyond them having fulfilled their basic responsibilities vis-à-vis UEFA. So why would they get involved? Why would they be resistant to these facts being properly explored, especially as they’ve already appeared in a newspaper in Zurich? Did Regan lie to us? Has the SFA more to hide than we know?
Something doesn’t add up here, and when faced with something like this the temptation is to suggest the media must run it!
Which is the point; they simply don’t want to.
They were got to, somehow.
There are only two parties with a possible interest in keeping this under wraps.
As we’re not alleging some kind of “Unseen Hand” level conspiracy – and the idea is barmy, the province of crazed Sevconian bloggers with too much time on their hands – then it comes down to either Sevco, whether directly or through one of their pet PR firms, or the governing body itself.
But I repeat; these people keep on telling us there’s nothing to see here, and therefore nothing to hide.
Yet national newspapers don’t normally turn down revenue.
They don’t normally reject the opportunity to sell more copies or garner publicity.
And in this case they have.
Because someone made them do it.
Still think there’s nothing suspicious here?
Still think there’s nothing to see?
Because when you work this hard at something only to see it suppressed, it doesn’t stop you asking questions; it gives you more to dig into.
It gives you more reasons to keep plugging away, because it confirms everything you’ve been saying all along.
Someone is very scared of scrutiny here.
Someone definitely has something to hide.
And you know what?
It’s nice to have that finally confirmed.
We’re not speculating any more.
We’ve got these people and they know it.
The Requisitioners are planning their next move, and an alternative use for the cash.
Celtic are believed to be ready to make a statement.
This isn’t nearly over.
Get ready for whatever’s coming next.
The team behind Resolution 12 are now selling t-shirts, which will help pay for the cost of legal expenses run up in the course of the campaign. If you want to get your hands on one, you can do so by clicking on the picture below.
