Articles

The Asterisk Debate: Celtic Deserve Their Title. There Are Others Who Should Have To Give Medals Back.

|

As we get nearer to Celtic getting this title – and most experts think that it will be finally decided for us on Monday – the rancour amongst some of the Sevconuts is going to reach fever pitch. There are already calls for a rethink on the null and void nuclear option; they will be roundly ignored.

That leaves just one stratagem open to them.

To call our title win “tainted” somehow. To suggest it carry an asterisk beside it.

Many of the people who are pushing this toxic line are, themselves, vulnerable to the allegation because some of them were at Ibrox during the era of the EBT’s. It is amazing to me how many of them are darlings of the media, able to spout the worst kind of nonsense and be taken seriously by the press no matter what.

It is even more amazing how many of them have landed jobs within the press, from which to talk this crap. BBC’s studios have allowed a fairly big number of them to troop in and out over the years, apparently without a second thought.

This is the story of some of those men … and in particular, the winners medals that they would have to forfeit if we take this thing to its natural conclusion … as we should have and sometime in the future almost certainly will.

Hey they wanted the conversation about tainted titles … they’ve got it.

Alex Rae, EBT value: £569,000. – had a side letter.

One of the most vocal amongst the Voiders and idiots calling this a tainted title is Alex Rae.

He has the IQ of an amoeba and looks like he’s given up a promising career haunting houses.

Instead, he’s doing punditry for – amongst others – the BBC.

His playing career is pretty undistinguished, but next to his journalistic credentials it looks immaculate.

For all that, he has only ever won a handful of honours; he has an English First division title medal and one for the First Division playoffs.

His two major honours were both won in Scotland, both at Ibrox.

The first was the league title he won in 2004-05. The second is the League Cup he won in the same season. Unfortunately for Rae, he had was the recipient of a quite generous EBT worth more than £500,000 … and he had the side letter to go with it.

Which means every match he played in for those two campaigns was invalid due to deliberate non-disclosure of his contract details to the SFA.

Hand those winners medals in before you talk about “tainted titles” and “asterisks” Alex.

Barry Ferguson, EBT value: £2.5million. – had a side letter.

Barry Ferguson has been vocal in not thinking Celtic should get the title, even though it created a potential conflict with the club he manages, Kelty Hearts, who accepted their title with nary a word about the unfairness of it all.

They did subsequently complain about not going a play-off tie and possible promotion to the professional league.

Ferguson doesn’t think our title is entirely legitimate. Yet a quick glance at his own career shows that if we were going to take a proper look at legitimacy he would be on shaky ground to say the least and some of his own medals would need to be handed back.

Ferguson is another media darling who’s been a frequent guest on radio shows and TV panels … and he has a column in The Daily Record.

Not only was his EBT a whopper – £2.5 million – but he had the side-letter to go with it.

The question is when he first signed a contract with one; the first time he was at the club or the second?

The scheme ran from the year 2000 until 2010.

In that time, he was there twice; in the second half of his first one he won a league title in 2002-03, two Scottish Cups in 2001-02 and 2002-03 and two League Cups in those same years. All would be considered void if the side letter applied to them.

He returned to Ibrox in 2004-05, and won another league title that year and another in 2008-09.

They would definitely be gone. A

s would his Scottish Cups of 2007-08 and 2008-09.

His League Cups of 2004-05 and 2007-08 would, likewise, be voided.

There’s actually an argument for saying that it doesn’t even matter when the contract was signed … because in his first spell at Ibrox he certainly played in teams which contained one or more EBT recipients who did have those side letters … so cancel all his Ibrox honours anyway and take those medals off him.

He won them with a cheating club.

Neil McCann, EBT value: £500,000. – had a side letter.

Neil McCann is another pundit who has spoken in disparaging terms about Celtics title.

He has been a frequent contributor to the BBC and a panellist on Clyde, on BT Sports and on Sky. No-one ever asks him about the tax-payer funded chunk of change he got whilst at Rangers … a cool half million, half of which should have been paid to the Exchequer.

McCann was at Ibrox a good while.

During the years the scheme ran he won titles in 2003, he won three Scottish Cups from 2000 to 2003 and two League Cups in 2002 and 2003.

McCann has become a real hate-figure with the Celtic fans during his time in the press.

Watching his face when he’s in the studio for Sevco defeats is hilariously brilliant.

Imagine how much fun it would be to watch him hand back those medals?

Kris Boyd; EBT value: £215,000. – had a side letter.

The Village Idiot’s Idiot, Boyd is one of the most bitter, small-minded and petty men working in the Scottish press.

He has a newspaper column so bad and so rabid that it makes some of the Sevco bloggers look like reasonable people.

Boyd simply opens his stupid fat mouth and newspapers and radio and TV regurgitate his remarks no matter how stupid.

When they started putting him on the telly most of us wanted to gouge our eyes out.

He has talked such nonsense during the last month that he has made Tom English – who once fawned over him in an interview – sound intelligent.

And friends and neighbours, that is hard to do.

Boyd won two leagues, two Scottish Cups and two League Cups at Ibrox.

They are the only honours of his entire career.

All were won during the EBT years, and he had the side letter to go with his £210,000 wedge, half of which should have gone to the tax man.

The side letter invalidates every game he took part in.

Hand those medals in Boyd, and keep your mouth shut about Celtic.

Steven Thompson: EBT value: £485,000. – had a side letter.

Steven Thompson is one of the people who inspired this article. His comments on BBC Sportsound have been ridiculous of late.

He has questioned the legitimacy of Celtic’s title even as he admits that we would have won it anyway.

Earlier this week he talked about the “immorality” of relegating Hearts; he is, in a sense, trying to cast our ninth championship as tainted.

Thompson won two league titles, a Scottish Cup and a League Cup as a Rangers player.

He had a nice fat EBT with a side letter. None of those winner’s medals would stay if our debate on asterisks and tainted titles was taken to its natural conclusion.

Every one would have a black mark beside it.

If he wants the discussion we should be all perfectly willing to take him on.

Nacho Novo: EBT value: £1.2 million. – had a side letter.

Novo is a person I’ve written about a lot previously, and although not a pundit his every word is deemed good enough for the media to write it as if it’s Holy Scripture.

Novo was in the papers just this week, disparaging the late, great Phil O’Donnell.

This blog wrote a piece on that, and about why we shouldn’t be surprised.

When Celtic is awarded the title, Novo will certainly have plenty to say about it, and the press will certainly rush to print whatever that is.

But he ought to be keeping well clear of this debate because has serious problems where actual tainted honours are concerned.

Novo was at Ibrox for many of the EBT years; all his professional honours in Scotland are corrupted by his holding of a side-letter, as part of a £1.2 million payment.

Half of that is owed to the tax-man.

One can only hope that when it’s collected it bankrupts him.

Novo won three league titles, a Scottish Cup and two League Cups during his time at Rangers. His EBT and his side-letter have invalidated every single one of those winner’s medals.

When he does what he’s bound to do, try to remember that … and make any hack who prints his words remember it too.

Alan Hutton: EBT value £364,000 – had no side letter.

Alan Hutton is frequently asked for his opinions on the Football Insider blog, and those opinions invariably make their way into the national press.

He has not been as nasty as some of the other people who’ve weighed in on this debate, but like others he has tried to cast doubt on the legitimacy of Celtic’s ninth title on the bounce.

Hutton is a curiosity in this argument; he has not yet made his way into the environs of the Scottish press corps, but he has a high profile there.

He is one of the general exceptions to the rule in this article as he did not have one of the damning EBT side letters; this is an important distinction as it means that his contract was not, itself, a violation of the rules.

Unfortunately for Hutton that could not matter less; he played in a team that was filled to the rafters with players who did have EBT’s and side letters, and so sadly for him any examination of tainted titles and asterisks would have to invalidate his honours whether his own details and his own contract were technically in keeping with the rules or not.

For him that only means a solitary league title … but it’s the only title win of his career and so losing that is going to hurt.

He ought to stay well clear of this debate.

This Is Our Title … We Earned It And They Cannot Taint It.

These are the main Sevconuts you are likely to see in the media being asked for their views on this matter; there are others, like Alex McLeish, who doubtless have a view but are yet to be put on the spot over it. The thing is, this article can always be updated or enhanced.

So many people wound up on those EBT lists over there and so many records exist of that, it makes it easier to shoot down in flames those who feature.

It also makes it easy to expose who the hypocrites in the press are.

Take English for example; he has spent the last month telling us all why the SPFL should be investigated, what questions there are to answer and why Doncaster and others should be feeling the heat.

But he has done that, at times, sat in the same studio as Steven Thompson.

His interview with Kris Boyd last year was sycophantic drivel.

The Daily Record is full of reporters who don’t just talk this language of tainted titles but voiding the league. That paper still runs columns written by Barry Ferguson, and not that long ago were allowing him to write about why he wouldn’t be giving up a single winner’s medal even if the league demanded it.

Do not let any of these people talk about “tainted titles” or any of that nonsense without calling them out on it.

They share offices and studios with folk who really do have medals which were won by cheating, and concealment and fraud.

Scottish football needs to move past this kind of thing for the time being … it is parochial and small minded when the very survival of the game, and of numerous clubs, is at stake. But there seem to be people determined to have this debate … so arm yourselves with the facts.

Because if they insist, we’ll be ready for them.

In the meantime, all of us have an announcement to look forward to. It is not the same as seeing us secure the flag on the pitch, but then we have won it on the pitch anyway … this is our reward for an outstanding run of form towards the end of the season.

Do not let them taint that for you, don’t even let the doubts or the questions enter your head. We have already secured nine in a row, for the second time in our history. All that’s left is for the league to confirm it. When they do, I advise that you enjoy it in whatever you can.

And then get ready for the quest for ten.

As Scottish football goes through the current crisis it is important to keep up with developments and the key issues. We are determined to do so, and to keep you informed as well. Please subscribe to the blog.

Share this article