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The Daily Record Hotline’s Sevco Bigots Don’t Get To Lecture Us On Songs. Or Anything Else.

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I see The Daily Record hotline goons are having a go at Celtic fans again. This time it’s over our club’s decision not to take tickets for the Linfield match. I commented on this yesterday. I commented on our clubs decision and I supported it.

One of the things I wrote about was the club’s reputation, “protecting the brand”. I stand by every word.

But I’ll tell you right now, these people do not get to lecture us on this.

They can pull out all the rickety soap boxes they want and climb right up there and crow like roosters at dawn. It makes them look petty. Small. It makes them look pitiful. And it casts a light where they do not want it to shine, on them, on their own behaviour, which is appalling.

UEFA’s position on “political chants” is ridiculous, hypocritical nonsense.

It is a confused position fully at odds with the organisations anti-racism stance, its opposition to fascism, its honouring of Nelson Mandela and a hundred other things that it promotes and encourages. These are all political positions. The idea of keeping politics out of sport is a non-starter.

Celtic fans sing political songs. These offend some people. Tough luck.

Their wee hurt feelings are of no consequence to me at all.

There are lot of political decisions with which I disagree; I live with them. I am offended by Tories and their politics. I am offended by unionists calling me a separatist even as they try to pull us out of the EU. I live with it. So people don’t like songs about Ireland. I don’t particularly care for soppy romance ballads on the radio. Nobody has ever suggested banning them, and I wouldn’t support it if they did.

In Scotland political chants are illegal. Unless they are on 12 July. Unless they are about William Wallace and independence. Or about some other cause which members of the commentariat agree. Only songs about Ireland are deemed criminal, and only in the context of football. Have you ever heard such utter goddamned absurdity?

And not even for that much longer.

But racist and sectarian chanting is illegal. Everywhere. And it has been for years. And not just in the context of football. Sevco fans want to get into a discussion about this stuff? Any day of the week. Bring it on. Let’s have the discussion in the open. Numerous Scottish football sites now have podcasts; let’s get debate the issue for one of them. I’ll volunteer my services on behalf of political singing any day of the week.

Let’s see if Sevco nominates someone to defend theirs.

My guess is that it’ll be a cold day in Hell before someone has the balls.

Our club has been fined by UEFA several times. I have no issue with them doing so; we broke their rules. I disagree with some of those rules, but their competitions means it’s their house and they have the right to impose sanctions on us as they see fit. The flares and the smoke-bombs ought to have no place in football stands; clubs deserve to be fined for those. Political singing and our banners, for which the bulk of the sanctions have come … that’s just ridiculous, and don’t even get me started on the Palestine thing. The ludicrousness of that position was ably demonstrated in the global publicity and the money we donated.

Sectarian singing is despicable. There is no excuse for it. The backward nature of a huge section of their support stinks and it offends more than just opposition fans. It is a stain on this country that the SFA has done damn all about it. Need I mention Ibrox? It was months ago now. The sum total of nil was done about it. What happened to the report? Did the officials that day see nothing, hear nothing, and why are we pretending that’s credible?

These are the people who’s former club was fined on countless occasions. They rioted in Manchester. They had a pitch-battle with Hibs right here at home, not that long ago, although they didn’t pay any serious price for their conduct. Ibrox was a disgrace. That nothing has been done about it is an outrage.

Where do they get off?

As that question remains, hanging there, in the air, these morons can keep their shitty opinions to themselves.

They are a disgrace.

They don’t get to lecture us. Not on this. Not on anything.

Their NewCo is monument to hate.

Nobody who stands under that enclosure gets to tell the rest of us how we should behave.

How dare they even try?

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