The events of the year 2020 are well known to all of us. The eruption of anger at Celtic Park over the appalling downward spiral of what should have been the ten in a row season had many roots, not least of which was a simmering mistrust of the board of directors who many of us see as having allowed our club to be cheated, and most of whom have been there too long.
Lennon should never have been hired. I have never known such a profound downer on what should have been a day of celebration as we all experienced that day when it was announced that our board had given him the job on a permanent basis. It left deep scars. It cast real doubt over those people and their judgement. That’s what boiled over in 2020.
When temperatures are running high like that there is always a chance that something irrevocable could happen. You hope not. In our case, the car-park flare up was as bad as it got. Things are already much, much worse at Ibrox.
John Carver, the assistant manager of Scotland, was at Ibrox last weekend and he described horrendous scenes which the media has tried to play down. But what he described was sufficiently ugly to be of concern to more than just neutrals visiting that ground.
““I couldn’t wait to get out because they were coming over the top of the directors’ box,” said Carver on Tuesday. “Normally I leave before the end of games to get back down the road but because I was staying up here, I stayed. Walking out there were disgruntled fans trying to come through the front doors as well. It was a difficult situation. But it was interesting seeing the atmosphere.”
That is uglier, by far, than anything that happened at Celtic. There is a chance that something could happen here which is so bad that even their fans feel nothing but shame looking back on it.
Today there are rumours that The Mooch has quit or been sacked; this is because he’s removed the club from his social media settings. If I were him, I might be tempted to just ditch social media altogether, because he’s received torrents of abuse on it, and not just people telling him to leave but genuinely hateful stuff about his family.
For losing a couple of football matches.
That stuff is just wrong, plain and simple, and it doesn’t matter what they tell themselves.
Theirs is a support prone to grotesque over-reaction, even when they have something to celebrate. Theirs is a fan base which is mired in ugliness and wallowing in hate.
Earlier in the week I had a good laugh at the assertions on one of their fan media outlets that we were “in control of the rulebook.”
But even amidst my laughter at such claims there is always a thread of disquiet, because I know full well that this is not normal behaviour. In fact, there’s even a clinical name for that kind of thinking; it is called persecutory delusion and it’s not a small thing. In fact, it’s a serious condition which can have tremendously adverse effects.
Those who suffer from it are likely to be found in the bottom 2% – the bottom 2% folks – on the emotional well-being charts. Those who suffer from it are at the highest risk of acting on those thoughts of any other group suffering from delusional thinking. It is extremely difficult to treat, and it is resistant to nearly every form of non-drug intervention except for intensive cognitive behavioural therapy. It is incredibly hard to achieve a breakthrough.
That’s just one of the various types of insanity which you can see on the loose every day over on their forums.
Most of the time their aggression and anger is turned on us.
It manifests itself most clearly in their obsession with the child abuse case, and their contention – an almost universal one, which is incredible to consider – that the state has “protected Celtic” in the past and continues to. This is coupled with the belief that the media has “ignored this issue” or “swept it under the carpet” presumably because Celtic Park is still standing.
But there have been court cases beyond counting. The law has been changed to enable the victims to seek redress years after the events took place. Another change in the law has given them the ability to pursue damages, even as part of a “class action.” The newspapers have devoted acres of space to this subject, and it’s been mentioned in government reports. Still, they believe that this remains some dark secret that it is their duty to alert the world to.
These are the sort of people, and this is the sort of mentality, which holds the manager’s future in its grip. Completely divorced from reality. Permanently angry. Clinically paranoid. These are the Peepul their club panders to over and over again.
They have no idea how crazy it makes them look, or how intolerant. We always talk about those clubs south of the border which sack managers with grim regularity; since they crawled out of the grave of Rangers in 2012, the current Ibrox club has had the following managers; Ally McCoist, Kenny McDowell, Stuart McCall, Mark Warburton, Graeme Murty, Pedro Caixinha, Jimmy Nicoll, Steven Gerrard, Giovanni Van Bronckhorst and The Mooch himself.
Ten bosses. In just over a decade.
Even accounting for the fact that four of them – McDowell, McCall, Murty and Nicholl – were stand-ins that’s a new manager every two years. The average shelf-life of an Ibrox boss is around 18 months, if he’s lucky, and a few of them didn’t get near that.
This is in no small part because their fan-base is prone to losing its mind and their directors will never not give them exactly what they want, when they want it.
How do you attract a big name to a club which behaves like this, and where the fans behave like this? If The Mooch gets sacked, or simply has enough of the abuse and quits, what if he sits in front of the media and describes how poisonous the atmosphere around Ibrox is at the present time? What does that do to their search for a new boss?
It’s a toxic job, at a club which either can’t or won’t free itself from the lunatic fringe. The last week has been eye-opening even for those of us who’ve been watching that club and its travails for years. I have rarely seen them so unanimous … or bitter in their hatred for people inside the walls of their own club. And it’s disturbing, and its dangerous.
But mostly for them. They cannot see themselves the way the rest of the world can – or maybe they just don’t care what the rest of the world thinks. But they should.
It is part of the reason they continue to make the same mistakes over and over and over again.
Just like their ancestors in the latter part of the 20th century they have no shame they are the people and the rest of society should recogognise that
Many of us have absolutely no interest in what they do or don’t do .
We prefer to concentrate on our great club .
We have been through bad times and good and continue to flourish .
Mainly thanks, in relatively modern times , due to Mr Fergus McCann
Insanity!
On Ibrox Noise they are questioning if Potter (as their sources say he has been approached) x Chelsea manager with a multi million pound pay of over a number of years is good enough for them, they are absolutely mad, do they seriously think they can afford him. Lunatics, they are not happy Beale’s picture has been changed to his QPR days and this confirms to them he has left or been sacked.
When Beale does get pushed or goes of his own free will which is probably the more likely he will doubtless sit there in front of the cameras and give the world a spell about how Rangers (That’ll be his words, not mine) are a wonderful football club, the biggest and most successful in the universe (I’m sure Real Madrid fans will have their false teeth fall out at that one) and how they have such a magnificent and awesome support etc, etc, pish pot jerker…
We know that Beale doesn’t really mean it, and that Beale knows that we know that he doesn’t mean it…
Jeez look at the jargon Morelos put out after the way they spoke about him this last few years on their blogs –
There truly must be something in the water and air over there when people that they’ve treated in such a disgusting manner speak about them in such gushing and sick bucket induced tones…
That something is probably not wanting their house and car windows panned in for speaking even a modicum of the truth about them !
I thank the Lord that we best them James.
The mentality of these people is horrendous .imagine if they had a party in George square again.
I play golf and there is a gent of the orange persuasion who I gave a vitamin C drink in the hot weather. 4 holes later he advised those around that he was peeing orange . That is how staunch he is
???????
Nobody in their right mind will take over. Just look at your list. Apart from Van B the rest have all been idiots.
Beale will not walk without some money in his back pocket, as he knows he is finished.
The Bilious Boys…. the trailer trash loyal following of Pariah FC – the football equivalent of a rogue state.
They don’t care.
The entitlement is inbred in them under the cloak of ‘Supremacy’.
They espouse a mantle of Religious Supremacy to justify their expectations while ignoring the fact that most of them are non religious and impervious to the realities of Historical accuracy.
Their way of life is set in stone and not amenable to change.
If things go against them then it has to be a Fenian Conspiracy.
Every aspect of their lives is subjected to this Conspiracy model.
If they don’t get that job or promotion it’s a result of this Conspiracy.
They don’t do introspection or evaluate the pros and cons of a decision. Everything is by ‘My right’ and adverse outcomes are always the result of the ‘ Unseen Fenian Hand’ interference.
Changes in Social attitudes and Legislation to the many previously hidden and shunned ‘ way of life styles’ sections of our community are railed against as an attack on Their Culture’.
The strength of Celtic’s domination is an abomination in their eyes.
To their way of thinking it was never meant to be this way. To their minds Celtic means Kaffliks and Irish, and second class regardless of the actual multicultural and religious nature of our support.
The Ibrox Board is in a ‘ no win ‘ situation. They can’t or won’t be honest with the fans over the ‘ Same Club, fallacy.
They must maintain this illusion that defines a large section of their support. An illusion that has a political dimension to many of their Ulster followers. It’s possibly the last rallying point of that Culture.
Ulster is changing. A united Ireland is certain at some point in the immediate future and with it an end to their way of life, their projection of power and an ability to coerce a Westminster Govt.
It’s no surprise that some of Ibrox’s dubious accounting practices are reputed to be conduits for drugs money, money laundering and financing the radical elements in the ‘Province’. Ibrox and Rangers (sic) are the vestiges of a dying culture.
The Ibrox Board despite the idiosyncratic behaviour of some at times is composed of medium to well to do business men.
They know which side their ‘bread is buttered’.
To deny it would be financial suicide.
The adverse consequences of their survival to the ‘best wee country’ in the world is not a priority to them.
After all it’s ‘only Business after all’.
Kerchinggggggggg.
Absolutely nailed it mhate tremendous piece ! If only a real journalist well supposed real one here could write such truths! But as we know many are from said ” kulture” as are many in posions of power there a cop once told me ” too many Catholics” in Glasgow city council” now this guy was educated the type from old money that dropped out of medical school but joined the force so he still be welcomed at the golf club think you all know the type, anyway I went through him as obviously he being told this from superiors at the time, that’s their twisted mindset ! Hence I hate even playing that poison I doesn’t serves us at all but they live for it weirdos! They even try in pass it off as if ” only 90 minute bigots”! Aye right again could write a book on many episodes I seen like most of us have and I was well fit and up for it with any of them to. I can you imagine our quieter fans in works places ! Disgusting poison top to bottom as I said the place should be bulldozed in 2012 I would worked on that job for free even flying back from Australia to jumped on the JVC!
Kames – everything you say about their fans mentality and behaviour is spot on and makes our successes (particularly against them) and their failures even more enjoyable but using the number of managers they’ve had since 2012 as part your argument doesn’t stack up. We’ve also had 6 full time managers in that time – Lennon, Ronnie, Brendan, Lennon again, Ange & Brendan again. The reality is successful managers at either club move on to England and the non-successful get removed/mutually leave.
You’ve just pointed out they’ve went through twice as many managers as us…..
” At either club” Do not mention our great club in any comparison to that poison! Some out fans need stop being too liberal when talking of that poison! Leave us out of that please. They hate the ground you walk on they live of that hate so no more ,tho your maybe one these people that use the ” o f” term hopefully I am wrong but there is no need for your comparison on our managers in reference to that poison
It’s the herd mentality. When working cattle you only need a few ill-tempered ones to
lead the herd astray. If they beat you once they will try again until you get a cattle dog
biting the nose and one on their heels. They have beaten their Board too many times.
F**k me. That was intense. Brilliantly stated.
In April 1968, the Celtic players attended the Scottish Cup Final, to shout on Jock Stein’s old club, Dunfermline. Celtic had played all their league games. On the same day, at Ibrox, the Huns entertained Aberdeen in their last game of the season. The Dons promptly beat the Huns 3-2, meaning that Celtic had won the league for the third year running. Over at Ibrox, the home crowd were not amused. Players cars were vandalised, and every window in the home dressing room was panned in. The more things change etc etc etc. Good to see that supporters of the new Ibrox club, are staunchly upholding old traditions.
Hail Hail.
Hail Hail.
The catalyst for the mass persecutory delusion was the liquidation of Rangers FC, an event which theretofore could not possibly be true.
Scotland had a chance to cleanse itself of that vile breeding ground of hate in 2012 but too many enablers in Brigadoon Scotland need a ” raingerz’ the nutters walked away they were finished!! But by allowing this newco back it’s 100 times worse!! Shame on the bigots and enablers! In power in media , law lords and protectors they all knew what a hate filled anti social vile hoardes of orcs that went to the breeding ground of hate and many caused deaths of innocent kids on our steets for even wearing green! I could write a book on that alone! The hellhole of Ibrox should been demolished 2012! The Stewart reegan comment of ” their be social unrest” didn’t come from him that’s straight from high up people that are meant to protect our streets and was utter bs!! They had chucked it!! They stood back and let the oldo die even in an age of internet banking! Shame on them!! Our Great club should not even play any club from that place that has always been my wish and many others feel the same I wanted out the league mostly to be away from that! We can only hope one day it happens!
You’re bang on the money there, Stesano. David Murray and all the other EBT criminals, should have been prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Ibrox Park and Murray Park should have been sold off, in order to repay some of their debts. That’s what would have happened with a normal company. The Huns though, either old or new, are far from normal.
Hail Hail.
Exactly mhate but not in Brigadoon Scotland utter weirdos that need to belong to something I suppose therefore allowed this new poisonous vile club to pretend it was al a f##king dream!! Digusting!! I would world in that demolition job of the cespit for Free even flying in from Australia! To do so, ass would be a pleasure!
Would have worked on that for free I meant