The “Aberdeen Lie Down To Celtic” Myth Has Been Thoroughly Busted In Spite Of Ibrox Fan Wailing.

Two subjects are generating much chatter on the Ibrox fan forums today; as usual they are to do with Celtic. The first of them is the “penalty” decision and the proof, for them, that the Unseen Hand still holds sway in Scottish football. The other subject is Aberdeen and how they “lie down” to us.

This is plainly mad. We’re back in the realms of the crazies now.

I recently watched Sarah Longwell do a Ted Talk about tribalism; Longwell is one of the hosts of The Bulwark podcast; she’s a former Republican who is now an activist against the extreme wing of the party, and in particular against Trump. Her Ted Talk was fascinating; she has said that the reason some people disappear down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories is because they have embraced “the tribe” and a lot of people go along, at first, because they want to fit in.

The tribe, she says, is one of those things we embrace as human beings, one of the things that has actually made our species resilient. Our need to belong. Our desire to be part of something bigger than we are. And if the tribe as a whole embrace a crazy idea it is very difficult indeed for the average person to resist being carried along with that.

It explains a few things. I read the stuff on those Ibrox fan forums at times and wonder how anyone can possibly believe some of it. I wonder if perhaps some of them are just going along for the ride; they should beware, because it is easy to get sucked down into that swamp from there. Before they know it, they too will be howling at the moon.

The Aberdeen team they are accusing of this took points off in the last league game and pushed us to penalty kicks in the Scottish Cup semi-final just days ago. Days ago. This isn’t some piece of ancient history that contradicts their barmy claim, it’s literally just happened. Have they failed to notice that? How do they reconcile that with their theory?

The answer is that they don’t. They don’t need to. One of the things about the tribe is that the collective “wisdom” is stronger than any outside voice or point of view. If the tribe believes in something it is absolutely impervious to reason.

Aberdeen did not lie down to us the last time we played them in the league, nor in that cup match. That’s as far back as I intend to go; the last two games.

It’s ridiculous to take this any further than that, you can’t watch those two performances and believe such obvious rubbish. Anyone who watched that game at the weekend knows how well they played. Even when we took the lead in extra time their side did not quit. They fought to the final whistle. They pushed us as hard as they could. Anyone could have won the shoot-out. Whatever it was that happened to their keeper during it, it did not happen to benefit our team, in spite of some of the madder theories on the Ibrox fan forums.

Peter Leven, who ran the team on Sunday, is an ex-Ibrox youth player. So, are they really telling us that one of their own went out of his way to make sure we won? In spite of the clear evidence of their own eyes that he did nothing of the sort? Prior to this, Derek McInnes was there for eight whole years, until 2021; do they genuinely believe that he was going out of his way to lie down to us that whole time? For God’s sake.

As far as I’m concerned this weekend demolished this mad theory once and for all. Their next manager will be a guy who has no connection with this country whatsoever, and I will be astonished if even the tribe across town can maintain this loony belief another minute … Celtic fans have never understood this. We certainly don’t get it right now.