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.
