Would you look at this garbage?
Every single one of us has met someone like Ewan Murray.
Somebody who thinks life dealt him a bum hand and who thus takes pleasure in denigrating what others have, and sniggering over their every misfortune.
You see a lot of them on social media, and when you do this job you see more of them than you’d like.
They are a desperate lot.
Murray probably does have a nice standard of living. He writes for The Guardian and they don’t pay peanuts. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t get the occasional monkey for their money. The worst of it is that Murray can actually write well when he wants to, when he’s not injecting his own personality into the work.
But oh so often he does.
Oh so often he allows his resentment to become painfully obvious.
When did this happen to him? I could actually hazard a guess. And my guess would be this; Murray got like this sometime around 3 May 1986, AKA Albert Kidd Day, or at least that date is as seared into his brain as Black Sunday is seared into ours, no matter where we were.
That’s the closest a Hearts fan has ever, or in this lifetime will ever, come to a title. And I can understand why that might set you down the road towards a monstrous inferiority complex. I can also understand why, even outside of the sectarian nexus in which a lot of the Hearts support exists, you might develop a lifelong loathing of Celtic.
But at least part of it is being an afterthought in his own news organisation. The Guardian is EPL centric to a fare-thee-well. It employs brilliant, brilliant writers to cover that league. Murray isn’t even close to being as good as the Ronay’s and the Wilson’s and the Liew’s. He says that doesn’t bother him, that his first love is golf.
If I had been brought up a Hearts fan I might feel the same way.
He at least writes about that sport coherently, and without bias. He should stick to it, because when he writes about Scottish football his resentments towards Celtic are naked and on show and his disdain for the whole game up here – a product of The Cringe for sure, surrounded as he is by people covering the show down south – is clear.
Following a team that will never be good enough to challenge. Infused with the anti-Celtic feeling which is common amongst his club’s fans, and with special reasons having to do with that last day title win. A few cup final losses over the years and a throw in they should have had which went the other way and led to a Celtic goal once. Covering what your colleagues view as a one-club backwater when they are trusted to write about the main event.
These are some of his reasons for being an arsehole, and whilst I dearly wish that the sports section didn’t employ those sort of people so I could read all of it with pleasure, I’ve learned that Polly Toynbee would lick Satan’s arse if he was a Labour leader but would have fought to undermine him if he went too far to the left and that Simon Jenkins is a Tory apologist and that Simon Tisdall apparently thirsts for nuclear war and I’ve learned to live with it.
I would learn to live with Murray as well, or at least ignore him.
But that Twitter feed of his is just a screed of anti-Celtic bitchery and whining and it doesn’t even come close to being objective.
He is a curtain-twitcher, forever looking out at the neighbours with gnawing envy at their fancy car and their home improvements and looking up the number for the council in case they’re not on the level.
And because this is our club and we care about it, and this cretin who attacks it constantly apparently doesn’t care about anything, that means we have to give him the occasional slap.
Hearts fans are the worst bigots in Scotland. I’ve met great ibrox fans-lifelong friends-and I’ve met arsehole ibrox fans. I’ve met several hearts fans too and I’ll say this: from ibrox fans I’ve heard anti Catholic slurs, but not experienced anti Catholic sentiment (ie they’ll use the words but actually that’s not their personality). The only times I as a 37 year old Irish Catholic have experienced real anti catholic/anti Irish feeling is from hearts fans. And it’s been from 100% of the ones I’ve met. And I’ve met enough of them to discount cluster bias.
Hearts fans can all go and jump in the sea in my view. This sort of bitterness from Murray is no surprise at all to me.
Martin, I assume that, by your post you mean all Hearts fans attend Ibrox home games, and “The Rangers” – correct name – fans stay away and don’t indulge in vile chanting. Perhaps you’ll find each are as bad as each other.
No, I mean that of the fans of each club I’ve met, only Hearts fans have subjected me to anti Catholic abuse on a 1 to 1 level, and that of the Hearts fans I’ve met 100% if them have done this.
What the sevconians sing is horrendous but I’m willing to accept their fanbase has OK folk and arseholes, just as ours does (it seems most of our away supporters are in that camp from some of the songs they sing). I’m not sure if I could be convinced there are any Hearts fans out there who aren’t deeply ingrained with bigotry.
Ooft say what ye mean Jim…???
BBC described Sevco yesterday as clinical,powerful and ruthless.
Two stramash #Arthurmontford style goals and the usual dodgy penalty.
Today it was “without the sending off who knows”
Oh, thought that was Collum they meant.
There is a realisation in the Land of SPL that Celtic are the Primary Club in Glasgow, and by extension Scotland. It scares them and all they can do is find fault where none exists. Looking in on their angst is priceless, watching and listening to every moment of pain is a joy to behold.
Long may it last.
Murray like many a Jambo of his age deeply damaged by Albert Kidd. What a day it was.
‘Sir’ Albert Kidd. Tae be more precise.
James, you call this guy out every time for what he is. He has an inferiority complex because he failed at his number 1 sport, golf. He won a couple of minor tournaments in Africa, and not much else. He tries to commentate on golf, and tries to keep a profile in football with negative Celtic comments. Wee guy mentality.
We need to stop bitching about everything and everybody around Celtic. JAMES I’m Celtic through and through. I’m older than you but I’m older than everyone. Let Celtic do the talking on the park and stop complaining about everyone else. I know you won’t print this but it will get read so stop it
Is he actually saying that having the biggest budget confers a sporting advantage? Who would have thought it?
Hatred mainly hurts the haters but “my wings are a shield of steel”. Bhoy Oh Bhoy their hurting
James what are you at? I know you have to file copy just like every other hack but really? This column is so full of bile it does you no credit. Murray doesn’t influence anyone. Focus on writing how Celtic tackle the tough double header against Hearts- as a reader I would prefer that
Is that the same Murray that does commentary on Sky Sports Golf? If his editorials are as dull as his commentary, then l,d be inclined to give The Guardian a miss, and read the Daily Ranger instead, woeful as it is. Yes, you can hear the bitterness in his voice, even during golf coverage. It’s the bitterness of a man who wasn’t quite good enough to excell at golf. Hence the reporting of it instead. You,re right, he is a bitter man, l can hear it in his voice. Better being happy. I play off 18.2, but l love my golf, and I love my football club, Celtic, even more! Great read, by the way. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Didn’t realise the little git was a Hearts fan. Is that actually worse than being a sevco fan? There’s an argument for it.
Needs the sack