Articles

The BBC Just Trapped Ange Into Endorsing The Aussie Farce. Blame Celtic For That.

|
Image for The BBC Just Trapped Ange Into Endorsing The Aussie Farce. Blame Celtic For That.

Before the game tonight I caught Ange doing an interview with self-confessed Ibrox fan Kenny McIntyre, and of course he only wanted to do one thing and that was promote the Australian farce. Ange is clearly totally unaware of how the fans feel about this and McIntyre did not bother to enlighten him. No matter. Someone will soon.

Until that happens, Ange must not, in any way, be held responsible for this dire and indefensible decision that was taken above his head. I am absolutely certain that he was not informed beforehand that this was a controversial idea. Like a lot of other people who view our club from afar he has no idea of the politics and history that we have with the “Old Firm” issue or with our own board’s inconsistent, and even deceitful, stance on it.

Ange has already seen some stuff that would be considered weird elsewhere but here it is as normal as toast and coffee in the morning. He had to deal with a fan presser where he was expressly warned not to trust the media or officialdom. He knows already the logic of that. He had to watch in what must have been bafflement as the loudest fans in the ground effectively went on strike over the club’s abhorrent decision to offer a job to Bernie Higgins.

So the idea that fans might not be as overjoyed about the prospect of playing a match in Australia against our domestic challengers probably hasn’t dawned on him at all, but I doubt that he’ll be in the least bit surprised by it. I do suspect that he’ll be less impressed when he’s clued in on one salient detail no-one at the club will mention; that the board of directors agreed to this, and put his name on it, knowing that our fan-base loathed the very idea of it.

But that’s on them, not on the big guy himself. He cannot continue to be in ignorance of it though and I think it is better that someone rips the scab off this running sore right away. Ange needs to know what the depth of feeling on this is like because cynical bastards like McIntyre, aided and abetted by those at the club, are going to leave him twisting in the wind otherwise.

We have to show understanding in the meantime. Ange did not do this. This decision was taken over his head and he was shoved into the spotlight to promote something nobody else at the club has the guts to attempt to. That man has been giving a proper going over here by those over his head. He should not be blamed for it.

Nor should he kept in the dark over it though.

Share this article

0 comments

  • Stephen says:

    No wonder I gave watching Scottish football.
    There’s Tory corruption and there’s Scottish football corruption.

  • Roonsa says:

    Wait a wee minute here. Ange is employed by the club. The club have made a decision (right or wrong, obviously wrong in most fans’ eyes) and Ange is supposed to take the side of the fans? If I worked for a shower of arseholes (and it has been known to happen), I keep my mouth shut and toe the party line. That’s reality, you never bite the hand that feeds.

    I don’t expect Ange at any point to speak out against this. That is not his responsibility. If the fans don’t like it, it is up to them to make their feelings clear.

    Please stop making Ange out to be something he is not. He’s manager of Celtic, a good one and he’s a nice guy to boot (from all that we know about him). He is not a righter of wrongs or a champion of fan wants and needs. Just let him do his job and leave this stuff off his plate.

    • Droopy McCool says:

      He has been shat on from a great height though, whether he knows the fans feelings or not, and I suspect he probably understood a lot more than James is suggesting

    • Barney battles says:

      ??? Well says mate, James clearly doesn’t listen to ange when he says I’m a football manager the rest isn’t his department, I expect him to be proud to take his Celtic team back to Australia tho personally I hope we don’t drag that other lot along with us

  • Droopy McCool says:

    The huns don’t want this either, even if they stand to benefit more from it. We need some form of protest that will demonstrate to Ange and the feckless twats on the board that none of us want this. Feckin raging about this. Imagine the celebration it could be without them there.

    • Roonsa says:

      How do you know he has been shat on from a great height? For all you know, Ange was aware of this before it became a thing and was happy to play his part.

      Why are Celtic fans so determined to turn Ange against the people who employ him? If Celtic fans are not happy with a club decision then it is up to Celtic fans to communicate that with the decision makers.

      Ange just wants to manage the team. Let him do that FFS and keep him out this sorta shite. It’s an unnecessary distraction at a crucial time and Celtic fans are facilitating it.

      • Michael McCartney says:

        It has been like this from time immemorial. The Celtic board and for that matter the board of the original Rangers saw both their business’s intertwined. The Rangers chairman was one of the few who backed Robert Kelly on the right of Celtic to fly the Tricolour in the early fifties. Whether this New Rangers board feel the same way is open to doubt, they’re desperate for money and the Celtic board seem to be helping them along the way. Call me an old cynic but my priority is Celtic winning the league and maybe its an age thing but I’ve always supported the football team and whether I like it or not accept that it’s also a Limited Company. The supporters who feel this “Friendly” shouldn’t happen have every right to protest but they should make it clear it is not against Ange or the team.

  • Droopy McCool says:

    The Celtic Board, doing their best to make teams from ibrox relevant, now, then and forever

  • Clachnacddin and the Hoops says:

    Cynical bastard MacIntyre… Beautiful description indeed – I don’t know him from Adam but believe he’s from Mull And how anyone from a Scottish Island can support these butcher’s apron loving bastards is beyond me !

  • Droopy McCool says:

    It’s an opinion, I’m allowed to have them. I’m not trying to turn Ange against his employers or drag him into this sort of shite, but let’s face it this stupid idea wasn’t Ange’s. If the tits that agreed to this hadn’t we wouldn’t be having a conversation about this unnecessary distraction.

    • Roonsa says:

      Everyone is entitled to an opinion, even huns. And those opinions can be challenged if questionable

      And of course Ange didn’t make the decision, that’s not his job. The final decision will have been made by Michael Nicholson and another guy who’s name doesn’t get mentioned very much, Celtic’s Chief Operating Officer, Christopher McKay.

      If you look at rhe background of both men (Nicholson was a big ticket – in a small pond – in the legal sector and McKay the same in the finance sector) you should know these guys will not give one single fuck about us, the fans. That is the way big business people work. They are only interested in 2 things. The bottom line and their own career.

      You should also know that these people will also not give a fuck about Ange. When it comes down to it, Ange should be thankful to have the job they gave him. As such, why would he ever think he has been shat on from a great height? That’s the way these guys work. I have experience of enough of them to know this. They are, almost every single time, narcissistic cunts.

      This topic and the conversation surrounding it is clearly demonstrating a lot of naivety from fans who think Ange will feel angry on behalf of the fans because they don’t like what the business side of Celtic has decided to do to expand its commercial interests. My guess is that Ange would (as he always does) take a pragmatic approach to responding to any fan questions on the matter. “Listen mate, I’m here to manage a football team … etc”.

      This is a big part of the reason we love Ange. He can sense a loaded question from a mile off and calmly bats it away. He will also remember who hires and fires at Celtic. We want Ange to stay so I would urge Celtic fans not to try to drag him into the argument. It won’t work.

      The people to question are the board who, remember, only care about the bottom line. To impact them you have to impact that. It’s the only way.

  • Martin says:

    I’m not really for the zombie tour of Oz either. What Ange does or doesn’t know however really doesn’t concern me. He’s from another country and doesn’t have a handle on what’s happening here. Even if he does know to an extent, it’s out of his hands.

    What gets me though, most of all, is the timing of the “reveal” of this. With 10 (now 9) games to go in a close title race, we absolutely did not need this distraction which could derail things. Announce it after the league is won, not now!

    This was Celtic shooting themselves in the foot, maybe even more so than agreeing to the game in the first place.

  • Roonsa says:

    Edit. McKay is Chief Financial Officer, not Chief Operating Officer. Celtic does not have a COO by the look of things. Not sure why that would be.

  • Smokey says:

    The banner at last nights game said it all and Ange
    would have seen it.. so he is now aware of the fans feelings.
    A distraction we don’t need from the stupid board at a critical time in our season….another disaster in the making with more protests in the future
    HH

  • SSMPM says:

    Having requested Celtic’s view I was sent Celtic’s release on this and Ange is front and centre of the statement but he talks about his excitement at returning to Oz and showing of with pride his Celtic team. However there’s absolutely no mention of the rankers playing in this event and that in itself seems highly deceitful at this stage given the noises coming out of ebox.
    Celtic, the board, and Ange cannot have a grip of the strength of fans views when it comes to the rankers. We don’t want to be associated and or advertised as a pairing with the rankers. There is no Old Firm anymore so stop associating and selling us down. Celtic listen to the fans, request an alternative opponent, or withdraw. If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem Celtic. HH

  • Smokey says:

    Very true SSMPM…
    This game is not wanted by both sets of fans

Comments are closed.