After a thoroughly shameful week for the Ibrox club it was no surprise to see some in the media try, desperately, to turn their shame into ours this week. No fewer than three of the hacks- Keevins, Patullio and McGowan – penned articles on how bad this period has been for “the Old Firm”, a phrase every bit as lazy and infantile and insulting as it is wrong, wrong, wrong.
For this is precisely why Celtic renounced the phrase in the first place; this cynical, cowardly means by which the media can try to transfer whatever disgraceful acts Ibrox indulges in to our club, because, in the views of those who don’t know any better, the sins of one are mirrored exactly in the other. It hasn’t been true for decades. Only complete morons, utter charlatans or brazen liars would attempt to push that narrative in the present day.
Which of these those three represent you can decide for yourselves. Broadly speaking I think we’ve got at least one of each although someone can be both stone stupid and thoroughly dishonest at the same time and so there will always be some obvious overlap.
But the cynicism part – which is born out of a basic cowardice at not wanting to apply criticism to Ibrox without being seen to be “even handed” even when, like McGowan, you have to go back five whole years to find some premise, however flimsy, to support your claim, definitely applies to every single one of them to one degree or another, as it does to much of the press.
Patullio is moaning about the ticketing restrictions and is perfectly happy, as Keevins is in his piece, to repeat the utter lie that Celtic is as responsible for it as Ibrox. Both push the line that Ibrox fans were thought to be in danger travelling to Parkhead. McGowan accuses both clubs of “dog whistling” to their extremist elements, but cannot come up with a single example of us doing so – aside from a club statement in 2018 questioning the refereeing of John Beaton.
That would be shortly before he decided to celebrate one of his performances – between their club and ours no less- in an Ibrox supporter’s club and got photographed there. So obviously we had nothing to be concerned about there, eah? The media has certainly never expressed all that much concern over him although this is not exactly a closely guarded secret.
McGowan is right to call Ibrox out for dog whistling, but of course he never asks – far less tries to answer – the question as to why it’s Collum and Clancy who, alone out of our refs, who have been the subject of very public Ibrox demands. All three of these hacks talk about the leaking of Clancy’s personal information online, but every detail of his background, and that of Collum, has been circulating on their darker fan forums for many, many years now … and everyone with the slightest awareness of these matters knows what the common denominator is here.
Their club knows it too, which is exactly why these are the guys it has singled out. This is a nod and a wink to their own lunatics.
“We know, and we’re on top of it.” But what exactly is it that Ibrox’s board thinks it knows? And why when I think about it do I also think about Britishness days, brown brogues, orange strips and the words We Are The People emblazoned all over their club? Why do I hear directors utter the words No Surrender and think of the monarch’s picture on the wall?
Everyone knows what that club is and what ideology it cleaves to. Rather than say it, these gutless wonders would try to claim that we are just as bad. But show me where the evidence of that exists? Show me where the real equivalence lies? Even on an issue as clear cut as the ticket dispute these people still won’t come right out and talk straight about where the problem started and in whose hands it is to end it … and why they won’t..
They would rather write the kind of bullshit we saw in the papers today. This “Old Firm” shame garbage. But it was not our fans subjecting a referee to death threats this past week in such numbers that the SFA released a statement on it and Police Scotland opened an investigation.
It was not our club issuing statements. It was not our club who were responsible for the fan lockout. It was not our manager who went in front of the press and trotted out inflammatory nonsense, only backtracking on it a week later after the damage had been done.
If they dipped a toe into the Ibrox fan forums they’d have seen a curious, and troubling, thing; I wrote about this yesterday. Far from believing that the treatment Clancy got was disgusting and shaming to their club most of the posters said he deserved what he’d got and thought Ibrox’s statements didn’t go nearly far enough in calling out “the enemy.”
Look at the stuff that their “official club partners” come out with or allow to proliferate on their outlets. Tell me the club itself could not get a grip on them. It chooses not to. It choose, instead, to elevate these lunatics above the more moderate elements … with the results we see.
If any of these three “journalists” wanted to write the real story here then they could. Instead, they continue to push this dire “plague on both your houses” stuff, and as long as they do there is no incentive for that club over there to change … and as long as it doesn’t their fans certainly won’t.
Maybe police Scotland should have a word with the sevco manager and their captain about their comments after the match which could have caused a riot
They may be trying to cause a riot, but Celtic fans do NOT riot.
When is this board gonna make a statement about this narrative that we are jointly to blame for the death threats to Kevin Clancy . They should sticking up for the fans
Only one club is permanently disgruntled, embittered and failing, moreover determined to pull all and sundry into the gutter with it.
Some say the ‘OF’ term no longer applies. I honestly don’t remember a time that it was used by Celtic supporters. I am 68 years old and I remember my father telling me it was just a journalistic shorthand and I nor any Celtic fan I knew used the term. With regard to patullo’s article it is possibly the most outrageous example of deflection with its attempt to apply the ‘equivalency’ argument.
am the same age 68 and i can also being told by my father and older brothers about the klan how a then manager scot symon told the press writers anything bad about the klan -team the mob or anything to do with these people then the press cards and freebies would be ripped up and you will never be in ibrox park and he had lots of contacts and you would be looking for a new job , plus you only need to look at a few years ago the ban to the b.b.c. was put in place by fat sally and remained for years till the b.b.c. said sorry to the klan .
Yeah let’s see what police Scotland come up with! My guess is like every other investigation it will disappear once the heat dies down.
Not forgetting ” we don’t do walking away” McCoist wanting the world to know the names of the folk on the committee (which he knew) who decided on the oldco fate, which were published and subsequently they were hounded .
W*nkers who spend half their time whipping up hatred then refuse to call out a certain support in case they lose their jobs
Sh*tebags , playing the game , silent and tame
Watch the reporting should there be any flashpoint at the Hampden semi. Then look at the Green Brigade’s request for Celtic fans to turn up in the hoops with flags and banners to turn the Celtic end into a sea of green and white, in the absence of a tifo. Then compare that with the Union Bear’s deranged call to arms to stand against an unseen enemy, in support of the King etc, etc.
The worst sports media in the world a gutless spineless shower of imposters a disgrace to journalism.
James you are farting against thunder, nothing you say will have any effect on, well anything. No matter how we bump our gums the same old bigotry goes on unhindered, uncontested and unchallenged. It’s just the way it is. As long as their malevolent club continues to exist. Al we can do is to beat them on the park and make their lives a misery and we are doing that really rather well.
The bigot club” are as bad as there bigot fans” they must keep on the bigot fans side plus season tickets due soon.
There will be a riot at Hampden if the People lose see 1980 and 2016 SCFs. This is an ugly cultural dark institution thrived by the succulent local media who feed these factors. I’m an Irishman who needs to leave this country because of the blatant racism and sectarianism that makes us fair game by the institutions of this country. I say that very sadly.
Time to launch a fight back. Phone into SSB tomorrow, Tuesday, Wednesday and forever onward in numbers, mob handed, and repeat all the comments above and those of James. Phone in James. Ask why they’re scared to call out the rankers, beale and their fans for their behaviour. Why they’re always including our club in with them, rarely mentioning their bigoted songs and calling it a great atmosphere, why they’re never calling out their hooliganism and finally what is the purpose of keevins on that show and in the papers at all. He’s never been a Celtic man, he’s all pretence, the blue pound and brinkmanship. I once remember an article from some years ago when he stated something along the lines of don’t look too deep as you won’t like what you find. So he’s either talking balls or he’s hiding stuff and too scared to comment on it. Phone in it’s time to start pissing them off for their discrimination. Champions HH
The Scottish media are fast becoming, if not already, putting themselves on par with all the rank rotten organisations that have lived on nothing more than hate throughout there vile existence.
And yet such a shower of shit have given life to a scum club hiding behind football.
This has never been and no signs of it ever becoming just a football rivalry issue, as it should be actually called what it is, and that’s a cultural issue.
So classing celtic into the same bracket as such scum remains nothing more than an insult upon ourselves and a stain on everyone giving life to such shit within today’s society.
Makes no mistake, I detest and hate everything about what the scum hun culture stand for and all the DOBs that gives it support in any form.
To use sevco scum (SS) as a form of superiority remains as nothing but bollocks and so soon to put that myth to sleep once and for all.
Still believe that cutting off the snakes head within sevco scum (SS) will be the best result for society and all the organisations that want to still support such a backwards way.
In the meantime will have to settle for inflicting as much pain as possible upon such scum through our football club who has stood against the bully and intimidation that such a shower of shit still thrive upon, yet getting all of them DOBs what they deserve, fuck all
VAR = Andrew Dallas.
I get sick listening to Celtic fans complaining about the term “Old Firm”, I hate even writing it, and then do absolutely f@ck all about it. During the fiasco that was the Melbourne Cup saga, THEY had “We are the Old Firm” (WE, remember) on a plastic archway at a derby game. Rumour had it that the arch was in a skip at the final whistle. Obviously one of the brighter brains among them must have noticed that it could backfire on them.
On a BBC phone in on the Monday a Celtic fan phoned in and referred to them as Old Firm FC and all you heard in the studio background was an angry sarcastic snigger. You knew he had hit a nerve. I thought the Celtic fans would have taken that opportunity to let them have the title they crave free of charge but no, they would rather just give their coach the embarrassing title of The Mooch.
If you state something long enough it becomes “fact”, even though it would be a lie.
Either get into the habit of calling THEM Old Firm Sevco or forever keep silent about it.
We even have Celtic blogs lamenting that they are not R4ngers but still refer to them as R4ngers and don’t even notice the contradiction
There’s no way I would refer to them now by any other title than Old Firm Sevco even if I am the only one on Planet Earth never mind Planet Fitba.