STV subliminally implies Celtic to blame for Sunday’s shameful scenes

Celtic fan media is going from strength to strength with sites like The Celtic Star and others attracting huge audiences as supporters increasing turn away from the disingenuous and compliant mainstream media and instead get their football news directly for fellow supporters on sites like this one.

Our job is perhaps being made easier by the behaviour of the media who just can’t find it within themselves to just tell the truth when it comes to the club who on Sunday branded themselves as The Old Firm then looked on as their supporters proceeded to disgrace their club in front of the cameras and a watching worldwide audience.

For today at least let’s skip them all re-writing history after their own coverage of the death of Rangers FC in 2012, and instead focus on their post match coverage of the shameful events at Ibrox which involved ONLY theRangers supporters and had absolutely nothing to do with the 700 Celtic fans at the game.

Look, if Celtic fans misbehave then by all means come out and condemn us, just report accurately on what actually happened. Don’t re-write the story to suit your own agenda or that of another football club, whether you are paying a £25,000 PA fee to be a media partner or not.

So let’s have a look at how a tabloid newspaper, two television stations, a radio show and a prominent pundit reported or reflected on the disgraceful events on Sunday at Ibrox.

Have a read at this if you have the stomach for it…

“Old Firm louts?”..not Rangers louts, as Bill Leckie skilfully drags Celtic into this shameful behaviour from the home support in all four stands of Ibrox on Sunday.

What part did Celtic fans play in throwing broken glass onto the pitch?

Did Celtic fans have anything to do with the Celtic physio hit on the back of his head with a bottle as he made his way up the tunnel on Sunday?

Maybe the Celtic fans decided to join in as the home support sang their banned song about being Up to their knees in our blood, a song that has been deemed to be racist?

Did Celtic fans throw coins at and bottles at Jota as he was taking a cornet kick with only the home support over in that particular corner of the ground?

And when the Celtic players and manager went over to that little pocket of 700 Celtic supporters at the game, did they decide that beating the One Season Wonders by just the one goal was unsatisfactory so decided to throw bottles at our own players?

Did fellow Celtic fans get into theRangers seats in the corner of the Upper Broomlaon and Govan stands and spend the afternoon chucking various objects down into the small group of Celtic supporters at the game?

Did these Celtic fans leave the game and indulge in running street battles among themselves outside of the stadium?

Did these dastardly 700 then storm a Celtic pub in Rutherglen resulting in a young boy requiring urgent medical treatment for injuries sustained?

Now, if you think Leckie’s column is bad? Well bad news folks, it’s about to get even worse. The official, fee paying media partner of theRangers, STV  – they pay £25,000 annually to get to ask one or two on message questions – last night went even further than Bill Leckie!

But before we look at that back to Leckie, and this observation that is always well worth noting.

“As usual, they all seem to overlook the fact that the 1980 “riot” – as with countless problems over the years – always seem to happen when Rangers or The Rangers are losing.”

Last night STV (official media partner of theRangers) in covering the shameful incidents at the match at Ibrox on Sunday, managed to subliminally turn the blame onto CELTIC. Jimmy Bothwell picks up the story…

“This is @STVNews explaining the appalling behaviour of “some fans” with a picture (pic above) that implies falsely there was equivalence. Then they reported on fighting and other issues Rangers had done with a Celtic scarf in the background not saying who done it (pic below).

Some feedback to this coverage from STV.  “It’s not good enough. At least have the decency (and the honesty) to say exactly what has happened and who was responsible for it. Enough of this nonsense of trying to balance things out. Just report facts as they truly are.”

“Until the media report exactly what happens it won’t go away always trying to make out it’s both sets of fans is wrong. Why do you think Celtic fans don’t want to be labeled “The Old Firm”? Even what happened in George Square there was still references to Celtic.”

“That’s the problem here in a nutshell, the media won’t admit that Scotland’s shame have embarrassed the country for decades and until they do then they’re the problem by trying to bring us into it, listen it was broadcast worldwide so the cameras don’t lie, so admit it.”

What about Radio Clyde Superscoreboard?  “SSB tonight have refused to use the words “Rangers fans” when they discussed the bottle incidents. Which may I add lasted less than 2 minutes. Absolute cowards.”

Maybe BBC Scotland will have use the R word? “BBC Scotland went with a bottle thrown from the crowd.”

Then there’s David Tanner, former Sky Sports man and well-known to be  a huge blue-nose. He decides not to mention either club playing on Sunday in his assessment of the disgraceful scenes watched globally.

“The next time any club claims that all football fans have grown up and demands to sell bevvy, ask them what planet they are on. It’s not true and the behaviour is getting worse. It’s breaks my heart. A toxic mix of cocaine, ‘tonic wine’ and a sense of entitlement.”

Tanner uses hashtag behaviour audit as he spreads the blame across every football supporter in Scotland, and in doing so conveniently diluting the focus on the culprits, the club he himself supports.

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

6 Comments

  1. Why oh why do we listen to so called pundits bill leckie ( rangers fan) that tell so many lies its unreal
    He sounds like Putin. It definitely was not us, so celtic came to ibrox won 2-1 turned on our on footballers
    And leckie said it was not rangers fans . Then who turned on van bronkhurst and split one onr support team
    In the head mr bill leckie you are a fanny , their is no room for a idiot in reporting news…

  2. The problem is not these scumbags who have been reporting this nonsense for years and who always report their disgraceful behaviour by dragging Celtic into it. It is their agenda has been for decades. They are liars and are corrupt to their rotten core. The real problem is our gutless board. Where are they in all this? Why are the Celtic board not representing the club and the fans who have given everything to the club and call these bigots and apologists for violence and discrimination out. Send a video message asking whatever bigoted no-mark reported this to tells the world where Celtic supporters were in all of this. Let them explain that the existence of Celtic is justification for knuckle draggers from Lanarkshire and Ayrshie to behave like this and if Celtic would just go away everything would be OK. Is there an Old Firm brand? If so Celtic need to withdraw from this and legally sue therangers if they ever use it again. They are pathetically clinging onto this name not Celtic.

  3. To be fair to Leckie he clearly states it was R*ngers fans to blame, and that if the vast majority of them were decent human beings that they should have pointed it out. I guess that this doesn’t work as a headline / click bait and it becomes a non story but facts should prevail. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to support fan media when it’s full of knee jerk reactionary stories, rather than a focus on the actual game, which is akin to the MSM focus on the fans rather than the dire straits that R*ngers have got themselves in (again), chasing rainbows towards the pot of gold of the champions league, loaning players that they can ill afford to pay the wages of, retaining a massively aging squad with little or no resale value with key players due to leave for nothing at the end of this season, they have a clear lack of a plan/money to rejuvenate themselves and it feels like its the start of something special for Celtic, Ange has stated he has a 10 year plan for the club, I doubt his cravings for an expensive pitch, and a massive ego will see him move to the EPL for a dalliance with a mid-table corporate entity, and if or when he leaves I’m sure it will be with a farewell rather than a Fck off. If you’re short of stories… things to write, then look to big Ange, Calmac, the youth set up, why are so many players coming through that are being picked up either for the Celtic first team or to move into other ‘big’ teams youth set ups’s? it’s far more interesting and ultimately rewarding than the basic clickbait. Or will we see a banner from the GB that ever says you know what last season we the GB let ourselves down and the club, it won’t happen again, thank you for you getting it so right this season even if it took longer to happen than we maybe would have hoped….

  4. Sean McGinley on

    Scotland has a race hate problem from top to bottom and from its core. The Irish are on the receiving end more than most. It is an establishment problem, but that problem is directly linked to the British anti-Irish racist establishment and will only go when the empire finally crumbles. That is on its way and I feel privileged to be watching the empire implode in my lifetime. I may not see its full destruction but its happening. Huns died and Brexit is another part. Yanks told them to F.off from Afghanistan, English societies crumbling and derelict and the list goes on. So Scotland will have to wait a bit longer before the racist society and establishment are gone. Sadly it may even get worse before it gets better, as the dying animal kicks out.

  5. Will any of this be Resolved???They cling onto the Old Firm name for dear life.It somehow makes them feel relevant.Old Firm Died in 2012 along with Rangers 1872.And find well they know it.Only Kkklub that’s Ever been Liquidated and Claim They’re Same Kkklub.Scottish Football is laughing Stock of World Football.One Rule for All Clubs and another Rule for that Kkklub