I’m going to do a longer piece on the behaviour of the Ibrox fans later today. But for now, I want to highlight the fact that the club has released statements not just about the object thrown at the Celtic goalkeeper, but about the wholly unacceptable banner that went up.
And that, I think, is very telling.
See, for many years now, a lot of us have said it wouldn’t actually take that much pressure to force Ibrox to join the rest of the civilised world. Or to get its fans to act like they’re part of the human race. It simply requires someone with the guts to publicly shame the club, or to threaten action against it. We could have solved a lot of the problems with that lot years ago.
It’s simply a matter of will. And if the will is there, things can change. The simple fact is that for far too long in Scottish football, the will has been absent.
Our governing bodies don’t want to govern, and that means avoiding anything which might upset the Ibrox support—even when they behave like absolute animals. Now we’re seeing the worst elements of that support in all their gory glory.
Scottish football has, for too long, been content to do nothing and turn a blind eye. But getting Ibrox to conform is about as easy as it gets. If it’s not UEFA breathing down their necks, it’s the idea that the Americans are. Whatever the cause, it’s got them hopping. It’s got the directors taking action—for once.
I’ll dig into this more later, but for now I want to highlight this point, as I did on the podcast last night: the Americans are already having an outsized impact on the Ibrox club’s relationship with its supporters, and on the culture in the stands.
This is before they’re even officially in the building. If they take a similarly proactive stance once they’ve got full control, then the days when the worst of the bigoted trash were the loudest voices over there are over.
And whatever else this takeover might mean—whatever else it changes about that club—I can only applaud this. I can only hope for it. I can only cross my fingers that the new people coming in, if they do, are the kind who want to leave the 17th century behind once and for all.
I’ve talked about this at length, and it’s not my fault that some of the Ibrox fans didn’t listen. The writing is on the wall.
There’s a section of that support that has to be drummed out. If the new owners want to grow the customer base, it’s that simple. If these people keep ruling the roost, there will be no growth in their wider market appeal.
So, to those Ibrox fans desperate to cling to their so-called culture, I say this: get ready to fight. Because the Americans don’t care about your “traditions”. In fact, they probably loathe everything your culture supposedly stands for.
The woke foreign ideologues may be coming.
And if they get their claws into your club, you’re done. To get their money back out the other side and turn a profit, they need to appeal to a much broader demographic than you and your knuckle-dragging pals.
So here’s your choice.
Are you going to fight for your cultural norms? Or are you going to be good little boys, sit down and shut up?
Because here’s the part you’re not going to like—you won’t have any friends. Nobody is going to stand alongside you. If the club’s traditions and culture are to be preserved, that’ll be down to you. Because everyone else in your support will throw that stuff overboard for the mere chance of success.
Think of your fellow fans like the membership of a political party that has suffered a series of major defeats. A party that used to stand for something, but now stands only for winning. And new leadership comes in—but on the proviso that they’ll throw away all the policies and ideas you joined for in the first place.
Don’t think it couldn’t happen. It happened to me growing up. New Labour changed the heart of what the party I joined was all about. Single parent benefit cuts came within months. Within a handful of years they were following an American neocon into an illegal war. All the old ideologies were cast aside. The belief structures the whole thing was built on—eroded or erased.
So the question is: are you going to fight for the soul of the club, the heart of what you think it means—even if it means alienating your fellow fans? Even if it means scaring off potential investment? Because if that’s the choice you make, then although I think your ideology is poisonous and shameful, I’ll at least respect the commitment to a cause that you clearly believe in and are willing to make sacrifices for.
But if you toe the line… if you sit there in silence, if you let the culture and ethos and all those things you used to say “made your club great” get cast aside just to win the odd Scottish Cup or mount a token title challenge… then I’ll have to ask if you ever really believed in anything at all.
And although it’ll be good to see the back of your poisonous chants and hateful banners—and although it’ll lower the temperature across Scottish football to a point where some of us will be able to breathe again—I have to admit… I’ll find myself respecting you a little bit less, for having proved to be soulless drones after all.
Do you really believe in anything? Or is winning the only thing that matters? If your club one day sits atop Scottish football but it embraces woke ideology and aims to genuinely be “open to all”, how will that sit with you?
To paraphrase a Celtic player from last week, “We’ll probably never know.” But you should be afraid, because that’s the decision that’s coming your way. That’s what you’re going to have to face up to. And I’m not the only person who’s going to be very interested in what you decide.
After your Union Brats article last night I read their Tifo post on their forum. If that is representative of the majority of their fans then you have your answer James.
They slaughtered the Board for failing to nail the SFA / SPFL for the league cup final penalty. They ask what the gutless Board are going to do about the media and referees who they allege are in our pockets.
They slaughtered Paddy Stewart for the statement about the Tifio. They said they wonder why he was appointed as he is an Aberdeen fan allegedly.
They are raging that in their view he has effectively grassed them to the polis about the Tifo that 99.9% of them cant see a problem with. They had no issues about a statement being issued about the bottle throwing.
The fact that the Tifo was handed over to the polis just seems to have added gallons of fuel to the fire esp as nothing was done about the effigies we hung up at Parkhead. More evidence of a weak Board.
The biggest gripe however is that,in their view,he doesn’t understand “ the situation in Scotland”. They called for him to be educated. One post also said that the Americans should be similarly educated or they will just be pissing their money up against the wall.
If that is the case then clearly there is no will to move to the current centrury
Truth telling time.
These lads are narne arn solid belfast lads. Pick a hill? They didnt in 45 preferring shipyards they didnt in the dark days of 2012 hell! Even the interim manager himself who “gets it” did walking away with his money intact not preparing to did on that hill for his club.
Pick a hill? Any other hill it wont be this one . Cowards all.
The brats are too stupid to see anyone else’s point of view or have respect for anyone other than themselves. It’s not just them it goes far deeper in their support as a whole. They will only get worse as their world crumbles. The rest of Scottish football are going to suffer before they are finished. The authorities will be forced to act as the football authorities in this country won’t, and that will affect us all.
I have said for 13 year sevco are not a football sporting Glasgow Scottish entity and the dead entity they are a poisonous racist stain in the planet and all the vermin that associate with it .what do you do with vermin you exterminate it totally.
They will never change. Their hatred of everything Irish and Catholic is ingrained into every fibre of their very being, there will be ‘no surrender’ on their part for as long as they exist. I don’t believe either that their board members are that much different from their hateful fan base, they are just trying to appease the takeover panel and so desperate to be financed with others people money that they are going through the motions, but not really with any conviction.
Fk them all, the long and the short and the tall.
It’s not just their culture that’s under attack from the foreign American invaders; it’s Scotland’s.
Scotland’s society and institutions have supported their stance; their staunch anti Catholic, anti Fenian, anti Celtic (and I don’t mean Celtic as in the football club) power base. He’ll it’s not their staunchness, it’s Scotland’s.
Scotland’s society, it’s institutions, it’s government, it’s police, it’s press and media and it’s football authorities have all been part of the problem. It’s not just a few thousand deranged football fans. They are all collectively the problem. Many will fight against this imposed American Catholic agenda, it’s their Seven Points Bill the Butcher stand-off.
I hope it’s their final fight; for the sake of a better civilised society but most of all for Scotland
This is what I don’t understand about Sevco and the Yanks.
This 13 year old club is passing itself off as an entity founded in 1872 and selling shares on the basis of that. I understand why the fans have grabbed this “lifeline” and convinced themselves it is the same club with the same traditions etc. but hardnose businessmen are spending legitimate money to buy a business which isn’t what it claims to be.
I think there is a word for that.
Am I right in saying they are not on the Stock Exchange as they would have to declare it started in 2012?
I am genuinely confused and begs the question do the Yanks actually care but see it a way to make money from what is to all intents and purposes a…(fill in the blank yourself)
Watching the hun board criticise their own fans is as astonishing as it is funny, they’ve never cared before but now they’re trying to show the Americans that they are normal by feigning outrage and surprise at the fans behaviour. It’s pathetic. As for the tifo, thats just so they can blame the brats but it’s not as bad as their songbook which was in full voice again, not a word about that though since that’s clearly not a minority. Wtf are police Scotland going to do with the tifo? They’re all reporting that it’s been handed to the police as if a forensics team is going to work. It’s in the bin. Case closed. The new progressive attitude they’re trying to force on their fans might make a few ‘90 minute bigots’ think twice but it’ll further embitter the embittered. I’ve no sympathy for the Union Brats but I definitely think they’ll be scapegoats to signal a new (false) dawn.
I’m just shocked that it’s being reported on here that The Scummy’s of The Scummy Scottish Football Media are actually criticising them !
As we have all said, do we really expect any hard measures taken against the Ibrokes club after Sunday?
Not a chance …we’ve heard, we’ve seen and we’ve never had anyone from Scottish football governance,media or authority call out their anti Catholic and Irish behaviour.
It’s a disgrace now, it’s been a disgrace for decades and it will continue to be a disgrace for as long as it is ignored!
Scotland’s shame ! HH