My ex was a WWE fan, and for a time whilst dating her I got quite interested in it as a spectacle. But that’s really all is, a spectacle. Early on, it was obvious that what you were watching was as phony as a Rolex sold out of a suitcase on a street corner in Partick, and that’s why my reaction to reading the words of “Drew McIntyre” is amusement.
He wants to win the “world title” on the same weekend as Celtic go to Ibrox, and as a “Rangers” fan he is confident that we’ll be “smashed.”
I wonder if he’s watched the first two games between the club he thinks he follows and the one we do. It’s a confident prediction. It’s also a pretty stupid one. If it wasn’t for the possibility of an Honest Mistake, I’d be certain that we’ll go there and win.
Now, before I start, let me tell you something about “McIntyre” that I remember from that spell following WWE. When you strip away the artifice and the fakery, what you find is an incredibly accomplished individual.
His real name is Andrew Galloway, and he’s remarkably well educated, holding a masters in criminology which he got right here in Glasgow.
To rise in the wrestling world, he’s had to work hard, train like crazy, serve out his apprenticeships on the undercards and claw his way up. It is always good to see a Scot making it big, and especially in America, and especially in a field like entertainment.
But that’s sort of the point; this is entertainment, not sport.
The folks in that business, and around it, are very, very protective of their status as sportspersons … watch the quite brilliant documentary on the wrestling business with Louis Theroux in season 2 of his Weird Weekends series; they send him to the Power Plant, where the wrestlers train, and because he’d asked the wrong question to the wrong person about that they make it hard, very hard, on him as a consequence of it. It’s really something to see.
Nevertheless, we all know what we’re watching, and whilst I have tremendous respect for these people as world class athletes and performers, there’s no point in dancing around the fact that theirs is not a competitive sport, but essentially a scripted show.
So, I love the fact that “McIntyre” is trash-talking us, as if this is still part of his act. I’m also not in the least surprised to see that The Record and other outlets up here appear to be taking it entirely seriously. I just find it hilarious. A fake character, talking about “winning” a fake title in a “fake” sport and following a fake club. The irony of it is beautiful.
The only thing “real” here is this title race.
And even that has some of us wondering if we’re watching a genuine contest or something where the fix is in. That’s why we’ve spent so much time pondering officiating this season, and Alan Morrison’s claim of a “pattern of assistance” does suggest that at least some of what we’re watching is not on the level. That would make this a fake contest too.
I think the measure of what I really thought of the whole WWE thing was that I stopped watching it when me and my ex ceased seeing each other.
And though it wasn’t like a gradual drop off it, it wasn’t like “Well, I have no interest in that anymore …”. It’s just that one day it was something I’d amuse myself with out of an odd fascination with some of the “storylines” and the next I didn’t really care about it at all. It’s how some people drop out of TV series they’ve been watching.
I think there’s a warning in that for those in charge of the game here; people watch football because it’s a sport, because it’s a meritocracy.
Fans won’t tolerate something that they believe is fixed.
That might be a subject worth exploring in greater detail, but for the moment I find the whole fake thing funny. It’s the kind of story you do expect to read on 1 April.
Only a Masters? Lightweight.
Why isn’t Alan Morrison findings ,sent to UEFA ,from Celtic fc.for analysis. The Cheating is so obvious.
Daddy Dallas would likely find The e-mail and ‘lose’ it Joseph…
That is if Lord Lucan-Nicholson bothered to send it –
And if Pistol Pete allowed him permission to consider being bothered to send it !
Fcuk – Sevco have at least one ‘celebrity’ fan then ! – And even then it’s a bloody fake one !!!
Usual media stirred, Pro ibrox, pre-derby hype. Strange how these same factions always set theirselves up tae make a potential fall even worse. They never learn dae they ?!
Even The Rangers manager is involved in fake news, he said at the weekend we could have scored more but we scored 4, so why not bolster your goal difference, even though the score was 3 – 1 … if you tell lies often enough ….
An interesting read James,makes you think of what is going on on Scottish football.Celtic are being systematically cheated here.The SFA, referees.fourth officials. The underhand use of VAR as yet another layer to cheat us.No one who watches Football in Scotland can be in any doubt.Yet our wonderful custodians will sit and say nothing that would rock the boat.Meanwhile paying for the shambles that is VAR.I was offered a free ticket for the recent Dundee game at Celtic park.I couldn’t take it as I am seriously wondering if I will ever pay into Celtic park again.Paying to watch a rigged game while our board sit and count 70 million pounds,a sum of money that should have been used to rap this title in green and white ribbons weeks ago.I have been going to watch Celtic since the mid seventies.I love the place it’s probably my favourite place to go.
I’m hoping for a result for Dundee on Wednesday even a draw will do particularly as that leaves us ahead on goal difference. Symbolic I know.
Given that Dundee are desperately trying to keep their place in the top six ahead of Hibs then they should be trying to go all out for a result of one kind or other.
If that should happen then I won’t be subscribing to the fakery conspiracy as aspired by The Joker
That’s not however the same as believing that the corruption in decision making by some MIB isn’t a real living thing.
That’s real though not fake.
If our board can’t stand up to this and now then therein lies the evidence of their conspiracy with the authorities ie SFA.
“IT is what IT is and we’ll never stop IT and neither can our board” I heard one of our fans say the other day.
It’s fans like that, a board like ours that keep “IT” what IT is. Feck them all off, the board and fan supporting board lovers. They’re a disgrace to our club. HH
Fake celebs .. luv it .. fuck, they huns have an even lesser celeb..
That Cnut Grado.. another tadger in tights.
Why else would our board do nothing, even when cheated of titles, and more importantly for them , millions of pounds?. I could site half a dozen things that don’t add up in the Scottish game, and we are seemingly happy with this state of affairs. For me it’s looking more and more like a rigged game, with Celtic complicit, at the very least, acquiescent in their inaction.
Unfortunately for us supporters, and I include fans of all Scottish league teams except Sevco, the Scottish professional game is not only biased but institutionally corrupt. It’s been bad for years, but in the last couple of seasons it’s been taken down to a new low. We’re watching and paying for a corrupt game folks.
This blatant cheating is going to cause the Celtic Board a serious financial problem in medium to longer term.
I think it’s fair to assume that the majority of our support follow Celtic because it is a family generational thing.
We can all, I would think, remember the first time we went Parkhead or Celtic Park as it’s now named, escorted by father or grandfather or even older brother or even all together.
Is this now a thing of the past and will it become even less attractive to the youth of today as they navigate their way through the competing alternative options for their time and money in the digital age. Even playing the game is now not as attractive to the young as it used to be from our schooldays. You just have to look at the paucity of talent coming through the ranks to the Professional Game.
Will it be the case that the undeniable cheating that has existed in Scottish Football, for most of the fifty odd years that I have watched the game, cheating that is now so common from the bad actors on the officiating side that it will turn them away from the sport? That they won’t spend their money on a fixed game and they will be lost to the game for good.
There are plenty of posters on here who have said that they have handed back or not renewed their Season Books. What if they are only 1 in 10 of likeminded fans out there who have done the same? There does always appear to be gaps every second week. What if they stop taking their Spouses/Partners or children to the game? How long will the long boasted 10,000 waiting list
( I doubt that it’s anything like that sum.), how long will it survive after proper scrutiny. If you remove all the,‘ I signed up to register interest years ago, now Moved away, Deceased, Can’t afford it now days’. Are the Board confident that they will have the same footfall within the stadium in years to come and is the answer a factor in not adding to capacity now?
Whatever the answer is there is no moral or even commercial justification for the Board to delay any further from adopting a more radical, aggressive and Legal challenge to the SFA.
Yeah you did Scud, I saw it repeatedly.
If Celtic don`t win the league this year then the supporters, if any, of the future will be reading a history of lost leagues and cups stories of players like Barkas, Ajeti and Carl Muggleton. The
old stadium will be showing its age and Dermot will look even more like a starving walrus.
The halo on Lawwell`s statue will be in smithereens and it`ll be back to macaroon bars and chewing gum in place of food stalls. In other words, it THEY happen to get their noses in front
this season, then there will be no catching up, possibly for ever. It shows how pig-headed
Lawwell is when he had the power (by buying Shankland or Miovski) to walk the tile and keep
his own son in a job but just couldn`t part with a small percentage of the bank savings.