Last Friday night, Radio Scotland’s podcast opened with a bit of self-congratulation from Tom English about how many podcasts he’s on.
The discussion on the show was about Scottish clubs making cuts.
Hibs and Aberdeen had just announced that they were preparing to, and of course Neil Lennon had given our own fans a little bit of hard truth.
“No club is immune to this,” English said, and then he repeated it. “No club.”
Much of the show that followed a discussion on the impact this will have on Celtic. Guess which club was not mentioned at all, in spite of being the only club in the land who are telling people that everything is just fine?
Celtic did get praise for being well run, and we got credit for being honest, but the “how will they cope?” chatter was in stark contrast to the dead silence about the club across the city.
I don’t expect the media as a whole to cover the on-going situation at Ibrox; the papers won’t touch it. But surely the BBC should? When you hear them discussing situations at other clubs but leaving that one alone your mind boggles.
As I’ve said repeatedly, one club is acting as if nothing is wrong.
The papers – especially the club’s cheerleaders at The Daily Record – are lapping it up and regurgitating everything Sevco’s board and manager tells them; more on that later. We expect this from the tabloids, when there’s not a single person with any bottle at any of them.
But the BBC should be discussing this … it’s clearly a news story. How can it not be? Either Sevco really is immune to this – and if they are, people should be querying the source of their funding – or they are lying to their fans, their manager and the press.
It’s pretty straightforward to me.
Last night, on the Sportsound podcast, they pulled apart the financial position at Dundee Utd.
They got raked over the coals, with English in particular firing out questions he’d like to ask their directors. Not one similar question has been levelled at Ibrox, and Gerrard made his ridiculous comments about their finances being fine just a few days ago.
What is the media’s reluctance to bring this matter to the fore? Do they believe they spin out of Ibrox? Do they know something the rest of us don’t? So much of what goes on over there is shrouded in mystery … the press seems content with that.
Sevco has always got an easy ride. Right now, Sevco is getting a free ride.
This is the largest health emergency the world has faced in decades … nobody on the planet is unaffected by it, and not one business will come out of it the same on the other side.
Funeral directors and Amazon are having a good time, but Sevco neither buries people nor sells goods and services online … they are a football club and much of the football business in on its knees.
We cannot be the only people who think there’s something wrong with this picture.
We are, however, the only people talking about it.
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.