The media ignored the Goldson story when it was news. Why do they care about it now?

Yesterday morning, one of the headlines was about Connor Goldson and his interview about why he left Ibrox. I find it astonishing that this interview is getting such widespread attention because Goldson’s reasons for leaving Ibrox are pretty well known.

He was on a lucrative contract there. He didn’t want to go anywhere. He certainly didn’t want to finish his career in the Cypriot league, but that’s where he’s ended up.

Sometimes I wonder about the media environment I inhabit. I don’t regard blogs as part of the mainstream media, but we’re part of the media ecosystem now, and I sometimes wonder how we can be in such a different place from the hacks who write for national titles. We see things they don’t, hear things they don’t, remember things they don’t, and comprehend things better than some of them do. And we write about things that they won’t.

This is a great case in point: the Conor Goldson story. Goldson has said he was forced out of the club and that the manager was not the one who did it.

The media is reacting as though this is some staggering piece of breaking news, something that was not previously known, something that has just come out of the blue. Suddenly, questions need to be asked, fingers pointed, and all the rest of it.

The problem with that is none of it is true.

This is not a new revelation. This is not new information.

Some of us have longer memories than the average hack. At the time of Goldson’s departure, some of us were very clear that this was against the wishes of both the manager and the player. And how did we know it was against the manager’s wishes? What secret, special information were we privy to that told us this?

Well, that’s easy: the manager’s own words.

He was on the record and said that Goldson was one of the players he wanted to stay and couldn’t afford to lose. And all of a sudden, Goldson was gone—and not even for the kind of fee the manager had indicated would be necessary to shift him.

On 15 July this year, the manager spoke to the media, accusing them of indulging in fake news with stories claiming that Goldson and Tavernier were not going to be at the club when the window shut. He was adamant that both were part of his plans and that neither would leave unless a substantial offer was made—an offer that would allow him to replace them properly.

When Goldson did leave, it was for what amounted to a nominal fee. It was not the sort of transfer deal the manager had in mind when he made those statements.

And it wasn’t the only time he said it—he repeated that mantra at every press conference during the summer and at the start of the season.

Sure, there had been some kind of personal fall out between the two of them, but he knew he could rely on Goldson, and, at the time, he was sure he could rely on Tavernier.

Sure, he knew that both were being offered around other clubs and that if Ibrox got good offers they’d be gone – he was so sure that Tavernier would be that he told Butland he could be captain – but he considered them mainstays of his side and short of those big offers he wanted to keep both of them and was adamant about that.

Goldson was sold for pennies, leaving a gaping hole in central defence which they certainly did not fill with the hilariously bad Robin Propper.

So, none of this is some blinding Damascene revelation. In fact, this is old news as opposed to fake news. The reason the media is acting as though this is a huge surprise is that they don’t want anyone focusing on a very simple question: why weren’t they asking questions at the time when Goldson was sold from under the manager?

That was the time to ask those questions.

That was the time to bang this drum loudly—to say that the manager is not in charge of the buying and selling at the club. The manager does not get a say in who he wants to keep.

I mean, we already know he doesn’t get a say in who he wants in his team because Hagi has been forced upon him against his wishes.

So, this is not a surprise in any way, shape, or form. It is embarrassing, however—not just for the manager, but for the hacks who ignored this story until now. And they would have kept ignoring it had Goldson himself not told the whole tale.

It’s not that we in the blogosphere are the recipients of some special set of skills. We just listen to what people say, take it in, remember it, and judge it against what actually happens. Wow. Revolutionary stuff, right? You’d think so, anyway.