One of the things our media is very good at, when it comes to writing positive stories about Ibrox, is creating false equivalence. I marvel at their ability to do this time and time again—and to have the Ibrox fans swallow it whole.
Yesterday, the story broke that they’ve appointed their new director of football. It’s Kevin Thelwell, currently at Everton, a club that has been mired in catastrophe for almost the entire time he’s been there. The record is very good at glossing over all the negatives to focus on a handful of positives, and one of the things they’re currently banging on about is his record in the transfer market.
They’re talking about how a net spend of £140 million is much lower than most other clubs in the league. It’s still an astonishing sum when you look at it, but—as with other things—this is not going to be a measure of what life at Ibrox will be like when this guy rolls into town. It’s just a big number they think sounds impressive, and they think it makes him sound impressive.
This is not the only case of false equivalence we’re seeing. It’s happened again and again when they’ve analysed people elsewhere who may or may not be involved at the club in the coming years—touting what they’ve done at their previous employers without offering any proper context.
They did it with Patrick Stewart when he came in as CEO. They made a big deal about how he had held a high-profile position at Manchester United. But it was an interim post. And no sooner was he in the door at Ibrox and giving his first interview, than the media was crucifying him for not offering any detail as to what his plans for the future were going to be—which now seems incredibly ironic, considering how little detail they’re asking for in terms of the takeover.
That takeover is another area where we see this sort of nonsense on repeat. They keep talking about the guy at Leeds and the £140 million worth of talent he sold in the summer—without any kind of context whatsoever.
He’s being touted as some kind of genius because he got the club into the Premier League with a transfer surplus. Well, we won the league here in Scotland with a transfer surplus. We don’t get credit for that. We just get told we’ve bought success.
But they bang on about the £140 million as if this fella is some kind of transfer guru, and that those are the kind of fees he’ll command if and when he rolls into Ibrox.
There’s no acknowledgement whatsoever that he was selling players to the English market, where clubs—even in the Championship—can command huge sums from Premier League sides. One doesn’t automatically translate into the other.
He won’t be able to sell players for anything like that kind of money in Scotland, if he even ends up at Ibrox in the first place.
They do this too with the money the 49ers have and the money that Cavanagh’s healthcare company is supposed to have. We’ve spoken about this a bunch of times. They keep talking about the billions in revenue those companies make, as if that money is automatically going to appear in the Ibrox bank account.
The false equivalence in this is extraordinary—and the number of Ibrox fans who swallow it and genuinely expect 10,000 new seats in the stadium and £50 million made available in the first transfer window is… well, it’s amazing to me.
And now we’ve got this guy being bigged up for spending £140 million more than the club brought in from transfer fees. He won’t spend a tenth of that at Ibrox. They won’t be able to spend a tenth of it unless there are serious outgoings first—and there won’t be. There never are.
If you really wanted to scrutinise what Thelwell has presided over at Everton, you’d be looking at very different things than the amount he’s spent in the transfer market. That club has been mired in scandal and crisis for the whole of the three years he’s been there. Points deductions. Investigations into their financing. Two failed takeover bids by people who looked under the bonnet and ran a mile.
I’m not saying the guy is responsible for all of it—but to pretend it hasn’t happened while he’s been in the building is ridiculous, even by the low standards of this media, which never wants to draw attention to a single negative associated with anybody that lot brings in.
Almost all of the talk surrounding this saga is mental. That includes the endless list of managers now being linked with the job. Most of the names are too preposterous to be taken seriously—although the media, in the case of Mourinho and a couple of others, seem to be doing exactly that.
That gormless clown at The Sun, Leckie, even suggested Jurgen Klopp on the back of some possible Red Bull link-up. Red Bullshit more like; these people are wired to the moon coming up with names like that.
But it all springs from the same place: false equivalence. False attributions of people’s success. Nonsense about how much money some of these guys have spent or brought in. Or how much they have in the bank.
None of it applies to a club playing in the Scottish Premiership that’s already testing the limits of financial sustainability.
And they get away with it. Time and time again, they get away with it—because the only people who ever call them on it are folk like us. And their target audience doesn’t care what we think or what we write at all.
James
Were TRFC heading for their 6th treble in 9 years and their manager’s 3rd there would be only one story . Full section pullouts of trebles past and present from former players ,the manager being deified with a statue getting prepared , players pool valued at £300m, on and on, with moves to Premier league Bundesliga etc daily , CFC being laughed at and scorned on boys club abuse etcetc you name it .
Instead the continuination of the evil Celtic empire is now ‘boring’ . They all hate it and don’t want to, and certainly won’t write about it with the proper, or even a balanced, perspective.
The minute TRFC exited Europe only one story was going to dominate the late spring and early summer and we have it in glorious technicolour .
False equivalence as you say is the technique which exaggerates and conflates and provides the essential ‘opium’ which makes the massed ranks feel good and hungry for more and more of the same .
Celtics treble ,if and when it comes, will get a few hours nodding acceptance then back to moonbeams and images of future greatness on the Southside and imminent disasters befalling the East end .
For me I so hope the 49ers are actually significant players and it all goes ahead . When the TRFC Fans find out the true and full personal background of their 90% plus owner Marie Denise deBartolo York the fall out will be epic..Now that would be a real story.
@ charlie. Good comment mate. All this super hype, is just synonymous with the pro- ibrox media garbage we get, year in year out and right now theyre outdoin theirselves and thats sayin somethin. We never have, or ever will, get anywhere near the same media credit, or focus regardin our club. Unless it’s the wrong kind of focus of course.
No losin, they’ve lost the plot. Can actually recall quite well, when Fergus had ousted that old board. Far as I can remember, we were all just happy and grateful, just celebratin that things looked like they were about tae change for the better. Ah don’t remember much, if any, grossly premature presumptions, regardin immediate or imminent domination, or wild claims of hundreds of millions bein suddenly made available, or even claims that ibrox were ‘shittin’ theirselves. This is the ridiculous, over excited nonsense we’re gettin all over social media and before this takeover has been finalised, or ANY details released. Ye’d be hard pushed tae find a mob like them who get ahead of theirselves so much. Previous harsh lessons have clearly left them none the wiser. Aye, WE’RE ‘terrified’ !! My suspicion is, it’s very conceivable, this is gonnae turn out ( for us ) as entertainin as it is interestin. Let’s see where we are in the comin months and the ‘impatience’ starts tae kick in.
I genuinely burst out laughing at r redbull shit comment. The names getting banded about here are absolutely nuts. They tell more lies than politicians.
Well d’ya know what now…
As I don’t go near not one Scummy of aid and abet the said Scummy’s in any way, shape or fashion then this fawning Sevco gazillions bullshit won’t bother me in the slightest…
I don’t have much up top (3 o’ grades – Woodwork etc) but I’ve enough brains not to financially keep The Scummy’s in business…
To those Celtic supporters who do fund them then… enjoy enjoy – Youse are in for one long long long summer…
And I predict that it’ll all start this Saturday and start big time for youse…
Anyhow – Please do keep exposing their pathological lies and utter lunacy James…
It’s great to laugh at them and mock them when you provide such quality mocking for us for free !
What they are doing is nothing new, it has always been like that. No matter what the huns do, the media will come to their aid with comforting feelgood lies, they will exaggerate everything in their favour and ignore all the negatives. It has always been that way and that repeated process helped lead to their eventual liquidation and death. Let them keep on doing it if it keeps them happyish, they will be forever a distant spot in our rear view mirror.
If the fakeover becomes reality is that a good thing for competition which could potentially cause the board to strengthen the squad?
DG
Good point …Yes ! The naturally risk averse board have to act to strengthen anyway this summer if to do no more than retain Brendan beyond his contract .
A genuine takeover across the river should force a stronger reaction to signal that CFC ain’t going anywhere and more trebles and progress in Europe will be the order of the day.
That said the board have to do that in a balanced way to ensure they never put the club at risk
If there is competition from Sevco it will as sure as night follows day be dishonest competition…
And these bastards at The SFA and The SPFL will do sweet fuck all about it either !