The Celtic Star yesterday provided an update on the away ticket controversy that surrounds the Glasgow Derby match and as usual Celtic supporters can rely on this site and others within the Celtic Fan Media to report accurately and explain the situation truthfully.
READ THIS…Celtic hold talks with Rangers on away tickets, but Ibrox safety guaranteed needed
Fan media is supposed to be biased, sites like The Celtic Star will admit to wearing green tinted glasses when it comes to supporting our team but that doesn’t mean we’ll tell lies or knowingly seek to mislead supporters to satisfy our own particular agenda. And if we tried we’d be found out very quickly indeed by the Celtic support so what would be the point?
Yesterday Chris McLaughlin, Sports News Correspondent at BBC Scotland stated as ‘fact’ that the away allocation was reduced due to the increase in demand for season tickets at Ibrox caused by the appointment of Steven Gerrard as manager. Not only is this complete nonsense, McLaughlin knows it’s untrue but to suit an agenda goes along with the lie.
Suppose he reckons it’s just a little lie in comparison to the big one, that somehow Rangers survived liquidation and are in fact the same club as before, but without having to pay back the up to £100m that they owed to creditors.
Yes, journalistic lies are on the rise yet again, with the BBC reporting that: “Rangers cut Celtic’s allocation in 2018 because of greater demand for season tickets after Steven Gerrard’s arrival.”
You don’t need to be a Celtic fan to know that this is an excuse – you just need to have not lived under a rock for the past decade.
The truth is that theRangers have constantly been second-best since entering the top flight in Scottish football for the first time in 2016. They have won a singular title in their entire history. After losing numerous games to the Hoops in their own backyard, including one where Celtic had fought back from a 2-1 deficit and with ten men to win 3-2, the fans and their board had finally had enough.
Free Broomloan Celebrations were halted as theRangers announced that they would give Celtic a mere 700 tickets for the Glasgow Derby, essentially destroying the spectacle of one of the best derbies in the world with a single petty decision. That’s what happened, that’s what Chris knows happened and that’s what only The Celtic Star and our colleagues across the Celtic Fan Media can be relied on to report truthfully, accurately and honestly.
Here we are, in 2024, where for the past two derby games, no away fans have been allowed inside of Celtic Park or Ibrox. The reason? Celtic rejected the offer of 700 tickets that was given to them by theRangers due to safety concerns. A very valid reason, especially considering we’ve had far too many injuries to our fans and backroom staff in the last two years.
The Celtic Star also broke the news on this story earlier in the season (the next day Daily Record used the story as their exclusive) revealing that theRangers had accepted Celtic’s concerns over safety of Celtic supporters in that away corner at Ibrox and were planning on installing nets. We also confirmed Celtic’s number of seven supporters who had been seriously injured while at Ibrox by being hit by objects thrown by theRangers support.
Not that Chris would be brave enough to write about that.
If you’re putting something on the website belonging to the national publicly funded broadcaster, the least you could do is state the facts. And the truth is that theRangers threw their toys out of the pram and that’s all there is to it. It seems that Chris McLaughlin isn’t interested in the facts but would rather do his best to avoid being banned from Ibrox for a second time.
The moral of the story? Don’t believe you everything you read in the mainstream media, folks and when it comes to your football coverage, do all you can to support sites like The Celtic Star and the other Celtic Fan Media sites that tell it like it is…
Jessica Elliott