Malcolm Rodger’s Campaign to Bring Justice and Peace to Scottish Football’s Victims

It’s a difficult subject to write about and one we could easily avoid. The recent Channel 4 hatchet-job by the once respected Alex Thomson, the Chief Correspondent at Channel 4 News – which was full of inaccuracies and blatantly attacked only Celtic when the problem that should have been addressed and discussed was how this evil was allowed to gain a footing in Scottish football and fester affecting the lives of so many young boys as a result.

One man who spoke to Alex Thomson also spoke to The Celtic Star. That man is Malcolm Rodger and although Thomson didn’t want to listen we did and we gave Malcolm a platform to express his thoughts on these awful assaults that these evil people inflicted under the disguise of being football coaches.

Malcolm is a former soldier and is a Rangers supporter yet he seems to be entirely without bitterness towards Celtic or Celtic fans and hates the way that the Rangers support have weaponised the issue of child abuse in football for their own gains. To them child abuse is only relevant when it points back to Celtic’s door.

There is zero shame in their club turning away victims of child abuse at Ibrox telling them to contact the old club’s liquidator instead, something that Thomson completely ignored in his recent biased reporting. Had they not attempted to con Scottish football into believing that they were the same club and accepted that the old club had died, then there still would have been an argument for saying that they should deal with this issue, one of many that tarnished the name of the deceased Rangers Football Club.

Thomson wasn’t interested because Malcolm had a valid point to make that did not sit with the Channel 4 Celtic bashing agenda. Malcolm’s point was that all the abuse took place in Scotland BEFORE any player turned professional and that they were all under the control and seemingly the protection of the organisers of the game, the Scottish FA. That’s principally where the blame lies according to Malcolm.

And after waiving his anonymity to speak to Channel 4 News and The Celtic Star Malcolm decided to do something about it. That’s where we come in, the Celtic Support.

This is an issue that has deeply troubled Celtic Supporters for many years. We have not been able to do anything and have been subjected to vile, sickening chanting from opposition fans, principally Rangers, for many years.

Malcolm speaking to The Celtic Star said this: “I am aware I am in the minority of football fans; that love the work day banter between both sides of Glasgow but draw the line when idiots from both sides take to social media and try to redirect the issue of sex abuse into something else and hatred for the other side. These people are clowns and should be banned from any sport.

“What happens on the terraces today and what happened in changing rooms 35 years ago are not connected.

“I have hated for the last 2 years being labelled a victim; I only started to have recollections of what happened to me as a youngster in early 2018 after seeing a newspaper article about Barry Bennell.

“What ever is said this week in the press and on TV please don’t forget that the SFA are the true problem here. For the last 2 years they have sat back and let the red top media attack Celtic, Celtic boys club (affiliated or not) and Rangers as well as other clubs. It has been easy press for the hack journalists with a quote here and there and a huge headline with a photo of the abuser.

“There has never been a situation at Celtic or Rangers where the abuse took place after the player signed a pro-contract.

“The abuse all took place when we were kids – this falls straight at the heart of the SFA responsibilities and always has done.

“Finally I ask that you remember that every day myself and others suffer in silence whilst the people who could have and should have stopped it sadly didn’t and it is them who are responsible,” Malcolm said.

Malcolm was clear where the blame lies in his opinion it is with the Scottish FA and he has decided to try to do something about it.

Fast forward to Friday 6 March and he provided us with an interesting update, which I can share with you tonight. Note in particular just how poorly the victims of Celtic Boys Club abuse appear to being represented.

“Every case is getting settled out of court because the insurance company of the team or association cannot afford for a president to be set in court or the flood gates will open. The only organisation that has done the right thing is Manchester City who despite being contracted to be represented by Keoghs (same defenders for SFA) have launched their own trust fund and instructed a company called Pinsent Mason to settle claims without the victims having to endure the hell of litigation.

“The SFA, Rangers, Celtic and every other organisation are all insured – the insurance companies know the that it is highly likely the victims won’t have a spare £20 -30k lying around the house to bring about private litigation all the way to court. The eyes of justice is blind but she has big pockets and its simply a case that all the insures from Celtic or SFA or Rangers as well as other clubs down south have to wait it out until less well off victims run out of money.

“There is a second irony – you can apply for a policy called After the event insurance. There are companies which will insure you against the cost of your case being heard in court but losing. The policy then pays for the other sides costs.

“The irony being that once the other side know you have after event insurance they always settle because they know they can’t win. You get granted after event insurance if you have an 80% chance or better chance of success however these odds are always worked out on previous cases heard in court (a previous precedent); of course there has not been one set in court yet against any club or the SFA hence you can’t get after event insurance.

“I got an email yesterday from my solicitor confirming that Thompsons Patrick McGuire despite boasting about how he is doing this and that against Celtic hasn’t actually done anything and is now wanting his victims to wait until a new law comes out hopefully in Autumn which reduces the cost of litigation against the big organisations with large budgets,” Malcolm stated and you will note that the position of the lawyers who have been agitating against Celtic in the press has been outlined here. This also explains the final part of Alex Thonmson’s report which claimed that a change in the law would allow cases to be brought against Celtic.

As things stand that is not the case – for the reasons that Malcolm has outlined – and it has to be said that this Peter McGuire guy seems to be badly representing the interests of his clients.

Indeed if he was not involved and agitating against Celtic in a PR war trying to embarrass and humiliate Celtic FC then a more satisfactory conclusion could possibly be reached with the club. Something that the clients of Patrick McGuire should perhaps reflect on.

That approach certainly doesn’t impress Malcolm. He decided to launch a crowd funding initiative with a view to funding a case against the Scottish FA and that is where we come in. We should support him.

“I decided that I have waited long enough and simply want to start putting my life back together.

“This crowd funding thing is simply so that the countless victims from both sides of Glasgow and around Scotland can have their day in Court and finally be able to rest with justice having been served.

“I would appreciate your help on this regards spreading the message on other forums or other websites and if you know of any guys from Celtic personally then by all means I don’t have a problem talking to them or meeting with them.

“This is a time to put our support for our clubs to one side and recognise that this horrible part of our game needs to be reconciled and put to rest.”

So far 197 people have made a donation and the total raised since over the weekend since it was launched on Friday is £3586 towards the overall target fo £20,000 – the sum that is required to fund the case against The Scottish FA to represent ALL victims of child abuse in the Scottish game, wherever it happened.

You can contribute to Malcolm Rodger’s legal fund appeal HERE.

“Weʼre raising £20,000 to bring justice and peace to victims of sex abuse in Scottish Football. We ask football fans to donate less than the cost of a half pint of beer.

“Football in Scotland is massive. Governed by the Scottish Football Association it has been denying the victims of sex abuse within the game justice and peace despite publicly admitting their duty of care for young players previously.

“Since the scandal broke nearly 3 years ago the countless victims were initially encouraged to come forward and breach the silence within which they have suffered for over 30 years.

“Having had the courage to come forward and tell the horrific testimonies of the abuse to the lawyers, politicians and the official investigators, they now are being ignored and the agony prolonged needlessly by the faceless solicitors and insurance company of the SFA.”

Have a look at this article in Scottish Sun. Look at the way they link Celtic to this and it is true that because the sick paedophile mentioned was NOT stopped and allowed to continue he was able to eventually find his way to Celtic.

Malcolm believes that this is wrong and that the reason it happened was because the Scottish FA failed all of the victims, all of whom were abused before they signed professionally for any club and many who never had anything to do with any professional club whatsoever.

Supporters of other clubs have been donating to Malcolm’s crowd funding initiative. This is something that The Celtic Star thought long and hard about before publishing this article.

But ultimately it’s the correct thing for us to do and if any of you feel that you are able to support Malcolm and all the other victims of child abuse in Scottish football get justice then this is the way to do it.

The Scottish FA, as Malcolm has pointed out, has insurance and it’s time that the Celtic Support did our part in helping end this sordid business and bring a satisfactory closure for the victims, ALL of the victims whether at schoolboy level, juniors, amateurs or associated with professional clubs like Celtic and the Rangers.

This could be a means to achieve a satisfactory closure for the victims and also for Scottish football.

Once again you can contribute to Malcolm’s Just Giving crowd funding initiative HERE.

About Author

The Celtic Star founder and editor, who has edited numerous Celtic books over the past decade or so including several from Lisbon Lions, Willie Wallace, Tommy Gemmell and Jim Craig. Earliest Celtic memories include a win over East Fife at Celtic Park and the 4-1 League Cup loss to Partick Thistle as a 6 year old. Best game? Easy 4-2, 1979 when Ten Men Won the League. Email editor@thecelticstar.co.uk

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