Today at Hampden, the Ibrox club were not, of course, playing. They’re not playing this weekend. They won’t have another game until next weekend, because their season is over. They were not at Hampden. They’re not going to be at Hampden for a while. And yet, if you watched the match live on the BBC today, you’d have seen that they were well represented nonetheless.
The three show anchors: Steven Thompson, Derek McInnes and Steven Naismith. I know the BBC will try to justify that by saying McInnes is a former Aberdeen manager and Naismith is the former manager of Hearts.
But they all have one thing in common. They’ve all played at Ibrox. They’ve all been Ibrox footballers. They are all known Ibrox fans. We know Naismith’s record against the Ibrox club. We know McInnes doesn’t have a great record against them as a manager. Naismith’s record, in fact, was so bad that it made McInnes’ record look good.
The BBC is beyond a joke now. We’ve all talked about this for long enough. But it’s almost as if they do it deliberately now, just to make the point. “Yeah, you’re onto us. We know you’re onto us. So we may as well be open about it.” And it’s not just that they had so many ex-Ibrox people in the commentary team and on the sidelines — they also couldn’t stop talking about the Ibrox club all through the game.
A lot of them are hurting badly that their heroes are not still playing for something in the remainder of this season. On the other hand, Celtic have seven games to go, and we’re looking forward to at least one trophy day, if not two. And I understand that that’s frustrating for them. I understand that they’re pissed off. I understand that it’s not what they want to hear, or how they want the world to be. But it’s how the world is.
The game itself was pretty boring. But the upshot is that if we win, we now know we’ll be facing Aberdeen in the final should we do our own job and progress tomorrow.
They were always my preferred opponents. They’ve been the most impressive other side in the country for much of the season — other than Hibs — and since Hibs are not there and were not an option, Aberdeen is the team you would want to play, at least in terms of the spectacle.
Hearts? Well, they are the masters of the self-inflicted wound. First you have Shankland scoring his first goal in God knows how long — a guy who has barely tried a leg this year, a guy who has barely kicked his own backside — gets the goal, and the commentary team got so excited over it.
But Hearts are not a team to take seriously. They don’t even take themselves seriously. And so they’ve ended up, yet again, falling far short. Their entire season has been a disaster. And I found it especially amusing that BBC Sport Scotland had, in their studio commenting on the game, one of the architects of that disaster: Steven Naismith himself — probably the last person Hearts fans want to see on TV talking about their team and their game and criticising where they’ve ended up.
But this is what the BBC does. It’s jobs for the boys — and the Ibrox boys at that. They’re not really interested in catering to any other section of the viewership. That is who they see as the core viewer, and they’re not going to change that — not even when the so-called core viewers aren’t watching.
And that’s why, time after time, the rest of us get stuck with the raging mediocrities. Naismith and McInnes? One failed manager, the other a failing one, but both connected to one club in particular — the one that is not only over-represented at the BBC but one you could be forgiven for thinking ran their entire hiring policy.
Tomorrow, our semi-final is on Premier Sports. Not the best channel out there. Not even close. Awful, in fact — almost beyond belief.
But at least we’ll be spared the full studio of ex-Ibrox men and the phoney justification that inevitably gets trotted out for why we have to tolerate that.
Both teams today were poor and I have no doubt that we will beat Aberdeen in the Final. Yes, I am confident enough to assume we will deal with St Johnstone in the semi final, it’s not arrogance on my part, it’s based on logic and the knowledge we are better than them in every position. The Treble is well and truly on one again. COYBIG!
I’m glad you said they didn’t shut about the tribute act because I was thinking that watching it. At one he described the equaliser against Aberdeen last week as if he was commentating on that game again, who passed to who, and who scored, and the technique on the shot. It would’ve been sufficient to say that the Aberdeen player made the same mistake last week without all that.
It’s pretty brutal the amount of Sevco fans and ex players there and that’s exactly how they’ll justify it with McInnes and cosy ‘Wee Naisy’
But it’s free so you canny say anything about it I’m afraid !
James on a side note, I read Paulina’s nice piece on Fergus but I never noticed her at the start and thought it was your good self and when I got to her birthday and she’s telling us she’s younger than the upgraded stadium I fuck sake James must have had a hard life, I laughed outloud when I noticed ,no offence mate
Tuned in at 12.00 seen the three stooges tuned out at 12.10 shame on BBC ,all the mainstream broadcasters are as bad as each other especially sky with their red ,white and blue mic’s
Just to quantify what James and many others have been highlighting for years.
SPORTSCENE- Season 2022-2023 up until the winter break (38 programmes)
Across all 38 programmes (results and highlights), 114 individuals were deployed as presenters and summarisers.
Former Rangers players 42 (36.8%). Former Celtic players 4 (3.5%). BBC Staff and former players from other clubs 68 (59.7%) (Michael Stewart, Julie Fleeting, James McFadden etc).
Summarisers, 76 former players deployed across all 38 programmes (2 for each programme).
Former Rangers players 28 (36.8%) Former Celtic players 4 (5.2%). Former players from other clubs 44 (58%)
Chairperson across all 38 programmes:
Former Rangers player 12 (34%). BBC presenters 23 (66%). Former Celtic
player 0 (0%)
In March 2023 the Director General of the BBC Tim Davie stated in an interview, that the BBC is ‘passionate about impartiality’. It’s got worse since then.
I’m maybe being a bit naive now,so how come hearts Aberdeen were on BBC council telly,but I I can’t watch our game against st Johnstone because I don’t subscribe to TNT or premier sports etc,why didn’t the BBC that I still stupidly pay a licence for ,why are they not showing Celtic,st Johnstone game,was it to do with Saturday or Sunday games or premier sports stopped the BBC from showing it ,if so the SFA are a fuckin disgrace for the deals they made with TV companies, down here in England all sorts of games are shown in cups , leagues etc on itv or BBC but I suppose jockland under the SFA get treated how the English think we are ,ie Mickey mouse,thanks to the useless spineless SFA.no wonder I always want the national team to get thumped, Scotia the best wee backwater in Europe.
Is sportcene & sportsound just like the old days of the Belfast shipyards, What school did you go to son? Who did you play for son? BBC coverage on TV and radio seems to carry a majority of ex players linked to the two clubs that has played out of Ibrox. Possibly just an innocent coincidence. Other media outlets offer similar fare. Very good job security options in the media if a player wore the blue! Good to see Scott Arfield offering his valuable impartial insight now.
We were watching the TV,in a pub in ABERDEEN and we all noticed the ExRangers guff being broadcast, by the Neutrals ,it’s all so small minded, BBC SPORTSCENE, jobs for the boys.
Remember it’s not a criminal offence to be without a licence.
Needs to be prior to June 2012 for it to be ex ‘Rangers’ Joe !!!