I pasted the following article from The Celtic Underground, an excellent website for Celtic discussion and archive material.
It's really the height of irony that the Scottish media, who make their living by pontificating their half-baked opinions and dishing out the most scathing and personal criticism of players, managers and whoever else they deem deserving (invariably no-one connected with Scotland's Establishment Team), immediately descend into a dummy spitting frenzy of denunciation of anyone with the temerity to aim a modicum of criticism in the other direction.
It is a fascinating feature of Scottish football that many of those from outwith these shores who come to ply their trade here, as a player or manager, or even to scout the Establishment Team ahead of a European tie, should so consistently be afflicted with the same paranoid delusions that have possessed only supporters of Celtic up to this point.
Media Miss The Point - Again
Written by Harry Brady
Friday, 04 December 2009
There was a comment recently on Kerrydale Street by Hotlicks about this week's Paper Talk on Radio Scotland and the very dismissive comments by the panel towards Jim Gannon's criticism of the Scottish media. In his programme notes prior to the Motherwell game, echoing articles which have appeared on here, Gannon had commented on the negative reporting of the Scottish media. As Neil McCallum has stated here, these guys make a living from reporting on Scottish football and spend their whole time telling me and you we're nuts because the product we pay to watch is rubbish. By pointing out the stupidity of this position, Gannon became the focal point of their criticism.
Gannon has spent most of his career out with Scotland but immediately slates our media for trying to kill the goose that lays their golden egg and today we have Tony criticising the Scottish sports hacks. Their response again will be to shoot the messenger, but there is beginning to be a theme with one recurring common aspect. Mowbray and Gannon follow in the steps of WGS, MON, Dalglish, Advocaat and Souness among others who all made similar statements to Mowbray today.
Mogga today said - "I worked with the media in Edinburgh and the West Midlands and now I'm working with the media in Glasgow. I understand it but the bottom line is when you are speaking to the media in the west midlands, there doesn't seem to be an agenda there, or the need to twist things. So you can talk honestly and openly and have a bit of banter with the journalists who are not there to create stories that aren't there. You definitely can't do that here. But I'm not here to change it, I'm here to work within it and I will do that."
He went on "I'm a pretty open guy and I like to talk about football but if it keeps getting used against you every week, then why keep falling in the same trap?" he explained. "I love to talk about football, I'm an honest guy but it doesn't seem to be a positive, it seems to be a negative."
The Scottish press often complain about being shut out by the clubs and that they no longer have good dialogue with players and managers. They complain about Celtic and Rangers being especially bad, but when one of the managers speaks out as Mowbray has today, he's too sensitive or not coping with the pressure but the weight of evidence seems to be suggesting something else.
Mowbray's comments are only a continuation of the sentiment I can recall coming from other managers who have spent much of their career in another country. I can recall both MON & WGS telling the Scottish press that they were ruining things for themselves. I can specifically remember O'Neil stating that at Leicester he would often have a laugh and joke with members of the media but quickly realised that couldn't be done here because a tongue in cheek throw away line became a back page headline. He learned to just stick to basic stories and then get back to work. WGS and Advocaat made similar statements and I've since seen Souness comment on how much better the media were in England, Portugal and Turkey compared to the Scottish hacks.
We all know media is changing quickly, the BBC will often interview Bloggers or those broadcasting podcasts and all major media outlets will review twitter feeds and websites. Listen to Clyde or Radio Scotland however and you will hear journalists filled with their own self importance, criticising the "weirdos" who write on websites and message boards - they don't realise that these weirdos are the customers they never had.
One morning they'll wake up and the world will have moved on and they'll have missed the bus - and we won't miss them for one minute.
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Saturday, 19 December 2009
Wednesday, 2 December 2009
The BBC on poor attendances at Celtic Park
Top news story on BBC Reporting Scotland tonight, a forensic analysis of Celtic's poor attendances this season with a bold prediction that they could fall below 35,000 soon. Many interviews with fans featured - is it because of the recession? No its because the manager and team are pish is the conclusion. Thanks for that morale boost before a European tie BBC. Always support the Scottish team right enough.
Now, the reason there hasn't been a story like this on BBC or STV about Rangers is because Ibrox has been full to the rafters every week this season. Oh no wait...
Incompetence over bias again.
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Now, the reason there hasn't been a story like this on BBC or STV about Rangers is because Ibrox has been full to the rafters every week this season. Oh no wait...
Incompetence over bias again.
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Scottish football "expert" Craig Paterson
Why am I never invited to appear on TV or radio to offer the watching/listening public the benefit of my insightful opinions and observations on Scottish football? This is a question that I almost never ask myself.
Ostensibly the reason is, that I am not equipped with the necessary expertise, experience and encyclopedic knowledge of the Scottish game, that is possessed by such former journeymen footballers as Billy Dodds, Derek Ferguson or Craig Paterson (spot the common link). These are individuals who are a veritable fountain of wisdom on the Scottish game. The latter has a particularly high profile at the moment, making regular appearances as a summariser on BBC Scotland TV and radio.
The ex-Rangers centre half is held in such esteem that his expertise is now much sought after among our illustrious Scottish tabloids. Witness the following pearls of wisdom which appeared in an Evening Times piece penned by Thomas Jordan courtesy of a discussion with Mr Paterson. The article made reference to the Hibernian-Rangers SPL match scheduled for 27th Dec (Yes I know St. Andrew's day is barely out the way, but any excuse to talk about the Rangers) and Paterson is quoted :
"Hibs, of course, haven't been beaten all season at Easter Road and Celtic is, without doubt, the toughest away game of the season for Rangers.
"But if Rangers can emerge from these games with a healthy amount of points then it will give their title hopes a massive boost going into the second half of the season."
Here's hoping Craig.
Except of course, Hibs HAVE been beaten at Easter Road this season. TWICE in fact:
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Co-operative Insurance Cup
Hibernian 1-3 St Johnstone
Stokes (1) Swankie (7)
Millar (76)
Morris (82)
Sunday, 30 August 2009
Clydesdale Bank Premier League
Hibernian 0-1 Celtic
Samaras (41)
The match involving Celtic is of particular irony considering Paterson and his BBC Radio colleagues put CSI Miami to shame with their forensic dissection of the McGeady "diving" incident in that game. This was rather a contrast to diving incidents involving 'Boydie', offside goals by Novo and assorted others involving the Establishment Team that escaped the attention of the BBC and STV cameras but that is simply par for the course in Scotland.
Anyway, all I can do is dream of the day I will have acquired anywhere near the footballing expertise of Mr Paterson and his fellow hacks.
I wonder how much money he's on for this pish?
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Ostensibly the reason is, that I am not equipped with the necessary expertise, experience and encyclopedic knowledge of the Scottish game, that is possessed by such former journeymen footballers as Billy Dodds, Derek Ferguson or Craig Paterson (spot the common link). These are individuals who are a veritable fountain of wisdom on the Scottish game. The latter has a particularly high profile at the moment, making regular appearances as a summariser on BBC Scotland TV and radio.
The ex-Rangers centre half is held in such esteem that his expertise is now much sought after among our illustrious Scottish tabloids. Witness the following pearls of wisdom which appeared in an Evening Times piece penned by Thomas Jordan courtesy of a discussion with Mr Paterson. The article made reference to the Hibernian-Rangers SPL match scheduled for 27th Dec (Yes I know St. Andrew's day is barely out the way, but any excuse to talk about the Rangers) and Paterson is quoted :
"Hibs, of course, haven't been beaten all season at Easter Road and Celtic is, without doubt, the toughest away game of the season for Rangers.
"But if Rangers can emerge from these games with a healthy amount of points then it will give their title hopes a massive boost going into the second half of the season."
Here's hoping Craig.
Except of course, Hibs HAVE been beaten at Easter Road this season. TWICE in fact:
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Co-operative Insurance Cup
Hibernian 1-3 St Johnstone
Stokes (1) Swankie (7)
Millar (76)
Morris (82)
Sunday, 30 August 2009
Clydesdale Bank Premier League
Hibernian 0-1 Celtic
Samaras (41)
The match involving Celtic is of particular irony considering Paterson and his BBC Radio colleagues put CSI Miami to shame with their forensic dissection of the McGeady "diving" incident in that game. This was rather a contrast to diving incidents involving 'Boydie', offside goals by Novo and assorted others involving the Establishment Team that escaped the attention of the BBC and STV cameras but that is simply par for the course in Scotland.
Anyway, all I can do is dream of the day I will have acquired anywhere near the footballing expertise of Mr Paterson and his fellow hacks.
I wonder how much money he's on for this pish?
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Tuesday, 24 November 2009
Two Sides of the Same Coin?
From E-TIMS
Written by Gaudd - Tuesday, 17 November 2009
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You can put money on one cast iron certainty, when the phone calls of protest from Mr and Mrs Outraged of Larkhall flooded the switchboards 1 second after the completion of the minute's silence at Falkirk, those doing so would be guilty of a rather impressive selective morality. Regardless of the inane behaviour of those chanting outside the ground during the silence, for Rangers supporters to sputter and fume, venting their indignation in a manner reminiscent of Captain Mannering from Dad's Army, is a little hard to take. Fine, you expect that in football rivals will try and exploit every failing, actual or merely perceived, but when it comes to our Dark Brethren the realisation is unavoidable that this isn't just rivalry, these loonies mean it!
After all if Rangers and their supporters were pristine pure, a club stuffed full of fine, upstanding citizens who went to bed in starch-saturated pyjamas buttoned up to their necks and never contemplated an unclean thought, well I guess it would be tolerable. I need hardly mention that isn't the case, far from it. Yet when the mood is upon them Rangers supporters could put Hyacinth Bucket to shame for sheer gratuitous pomposity. Often, and this is the hilarious bit, unofficial Rangers sites will inevitably carry such stuffed-shirt outrage alongside other articles that would send Bernard Manning into a shocked swoon. On one site two Outraged of Larkhall examples nestled either side of a bizarre short story on the subject of Graham Spiers being buggered by Gerry Duffy. Often these missives from the Offended Bus are unintentionally hilarious, combining as they do high-ground pontificating with own goals that would put Tom Boyd's effort at Dens Park to shame.
Let's look at one example entitled "TRUE COLOURS - The Celtic Minded Show Theirs Yet Again" by the brilliantly monikered Pro Patria (a person doesn’t iron his boxer shorts before tucking in his shirt). In this simply fantastic tribute to accidental comedy, the author starts in rather standard fashion before the first punchline comes racing alone: "It is a fundamental principle that everyone is allowed a point of view and the right to protest. And as much as it pains me to say it that includes people of all denominations, creeds, cultures or religions no matter how much you disagree with them or their principles." Not exactly a ringing personal endorsement of the right to protest, not if it pains Mr Pro Patria for that right to be exercised, and indeed the author appears a little bit confused regarding the whole subject.
"The other issue I have with this protest was the particularly offensive chant of 'F*ck the Queen'", he waffled. "Now correct me if I am wrong but the Queen is not only our Head of State but also head of the Anglican Church thereby making her a religious leader as well as a Spiritual Leader. So therefore is it not reasonable to assume it is a Sectarian offence (not to mention treasonous) to shout 'F*ck the Queen'. Why no arrests from the Police if that were the case?" You'll notice the lack of a question mark at the end of the second last sentence. Obviously Mr Pro Patria fails to realise that it is indeed unreasonable, for the simple reason that if his definition were to be accepted then anyone arguing in favour of republicanism could be deemed to have committed a sectarian offence. As for the accusations of treason, even Captain Mannering would be rolling his eyes at this point and making twirling motions with one finger next to his ear. Pro Patria is obviously one of those Rangers supporters who have never quite come to terms with the fact that the 17th Century has ended.
Opposition to the monarchy is hardly down to some kind of dislike for the quaint and rather harmless Anglican church. My dislike of the monarchy for example is entirely due to its undemocratic position in the stifling hierarchy of this blighted nation, its role as a PR exercise by the British Establishment in order to detract attention when the going gets rough, and the fact the idle parasites suck up £millions of tax payers money and then have the gall to lecture the rest of us on how we should lay of noses on the grindstone. Yet according to the aforementioned genius, my position should be deemed sectarian simply because the Queen is the head of some minority religion, and not forgetting the object of adoration by a shower of forelock-tugging buffoons who are forever locked into a world view that was fashionable a couple of centuries ago.
As I said though, the eloquence of any justified ire caused by what was, in my opinion, a depressing act of mind-numbing stupidity is soon put into its proper perspective when the darkness that inevitably bubbles away just below the surface comes to the fore. You don't have to read far to saunter across an attempt to justify the cloying bigotry of the Famine Song. The author selectively quotes from a Jim Traynor article in the Daily Record where he claims Trayor wrote: "These people need to understand we are Scottish with no wish to be dragged back into the past. We don't want to be become Irish. Those who do should catch a ferry from Stranraer and leave the rest of us alone." Really? Gosh. This is when following up by Pro Patria snickering: "Now I could be slightly naughty and say that Mr Traynor could be inferring what many of us think and indeed what many fans were branded racists for saying….'Why don’t you go home'.”
The problem is of course for the author that to reach that conclusion a bit of cutting had to be undertaken in order to arrive at the necessary 'quote'. What Traynor in fact wrote was: "These people need to understand we are Scottish with no wish to be dragged back into the past. We don't want to be Little Englanders. And we don't have any desire to become Irish. Those who do should scramble over the Wall or catch a ferry from Stranraer and leave the rest of us alone." Not only that, the quote following a paragraph in which Traynor denounced both the Falkirk stupidity and the violence in the Ghencea Stadium. So why did Pro Patria feel the need to take Traynor's comments out of context and expunge the parts he didn't like? Well, its obvious, otherwise he wouldn't have managed to find even a feeble excuse to justify a deplorable song that's rightly attracted the racist label.
Did Traynor mention the events at the Ghencea Stadium? Why yes he did, and as it happens what did Pro Patria, this fine upstanding defender of decency have to say about the disgraceful scenes? "Only last week Rangers were involved in a situation in Bucharest that could have led to innocent Rangers fans being hurt or killed due to the actions of thugs masquerading as Stewards,” he squealed. "I cannot condone the actions of someone deliberately breaking seats to throw at stewards but the points being glossed over and indeed ignored by ALL the Scottish Media is why these fans felt so compelled to engage in such actions in the first place." Ok, so let's have a look at that shall we. According to the apologist, and it has to be said many of his ilk, there can be no possible justification for singing songs outside a football ground during a Remembrance Day Silence, but there can be justification for acts of violence inside a stadium that includes assaulting stewards and wrecking seats, so much so that the game came close to being abandoned. The Rangers supporters were “compelled” to commit acts of violence you’ll note.
Is it just me or is there something peculiar about this mindset; rather selective morality, a very curious concept of dignity? What was the source of the violence inside the Ghencea after all? Allegedly, and with this bunch you'll have to order a few tons of salt, someone threw an Irish Tricolour onto the Perspex shielding behind which the Rangers supporters were penned. One Rangers supporter claimed: "I then noticed a Tri-colour which was hanging off the top of the perspex wall at the front of the pen. I personally didn't see how it got there but others around me were adamant that it was a result of a steward on trackside trying to throw it into the Rangers fans. Things quickly escalated as fans suddenly rushed forward and started trading punches with stewards who were still in our section down the front." Yes I see, and at this point we have the obligatory Old Gent getting waylaid by wuffians. "I was later told from someone who witnessed it that it was the result of a elderly Rangers fan walking up to an steward to complain about them goading the Rangers fans with the Tri-colour, I was told that the guy was punched full in the face and then set upon by about 6 stewards as he hit the ground." Like I said, a few tons of salt.
Other articles by Rangers supporters are a bit less constrained, screaming indignantly about the fact the poor bears were taunted by a " highly offensive article". My God they're a sensitive bunch. Now a day later during Celtic's game in Hamburg, the lumpen morons that make up the home support indulged in an ironic tifosi display where one upper stand was devoted to a rather off-colour Union Flag and a banner which ran the full length stating "No Surrender". Imagine if the same had occurred in the Ghencea, with the Union Flag replaced by an Irish Tricolour and a banner reading "tiocfaidh ár lá", I guess Pro Patria and his fellow apologists would now be finding ways to justify genocide and the end of civilisation as we know it. You would have thought at this point that someone, somewhere amongst the Brethren would have pondered over why they would react in such a hysterical manner when presented with the flag of a neighbouring state. Ha!
Now before I progress further on this subject, let me just state that I have been in several grounds where Celtic supporters have been goaded, or should I say an attempts have been made to goad, with a Union Flag. On every single occasion the perpetrator has been met with derisive laughter. Be it a midweek game in Dens Park (God that one was funny), Hamburg itself or Ewood Park, every time the reaction has been far different from that witnessed whenever the Forces of Darkness have found themselves having to cope with terrible, soul-destroying goading. Perhaps that's the reason Celtic supporters can venture all over the world and receive plaudits for their behaviour, and God knows I know we're not all angels, while Rangers supporters totter from one scandal to the next.
Yet where is the condemnation of this behaviour from the same people who will snotter on at length about the disrespect to Remembrance Sunday? As Graham Spiers stated: "Villarreal, Pamplona, Manchester, now Bucharest. Why is it that, when Rangers FC and their spineless supporters' spokesmen start groping around for excuses, the common themes of 'heavy-handed policing' or 'these are not real Rangers fans' are forever trotted out?" You'll remember that after Rangers supporters crapped, pissed and trashed Manchester city centre into a third world disaster zone, the bold defenders of dignity at the RST launched an investigation into... the police. We're still waiting publication of their devastating dossier on the culpability of the Manchester plod - guess we're be waiting a while.
One of our favourite contributors to Follow Follow, the definitely certifiable Little Boy Blue, displays the mindset of your average Rangers supporter quite succinctly when he seeks to justify the violence in Bucharest: "Some Bears hadn’t taken too kindly to being locked out of the ground because not enough turnstiles were open". He explained, well that's ok then, except no one was locked out they just had a queue a bit longer than expected - still, justified reason for twating a steward eh? Next we have the reaction to the carnage that occurred in Manchester, the devastation of a city centre described thus: "the post-Manchester (08) demonisation of our fantastic support." You'll note he has to put year dates after the event so we know exactly what particular disgrace he's referring to. Now read on: "Inevitably, Manchester has reared its ugly head again. Yes, the ‘riot’ and ‘rampage’ of 18 months ago, when something like 200,000 Rangers fans poured into the city, leading to just FORTY-TWO arrests, none of which resulted in a conviction for anything other than a minor misdemeanour, is again being thrown in our faces." Poor little diddums.
Ok, again we have a rather selective attitude to facts in the that statement. For one thing the most serious charges have not gone to trial yet, as the Manchester Evening News reported: "Thousands of drunken Rangers fans fought running battles with police as they rampaged through Manchester city centre in more than five hours of trouble. In separate incidents, two police officers became separated from their units, surrounded by hooligans, knocked to the ground and kicked and stamped on. Along with McSeveney and Stoddart, the other defendants are Greg McKenna, 22, of East Kilbride, Lanarkshire; Brian McVicar, 19, of East Kilbride; Gordon Forrest, 35, of Bearsden, Glasgow; James Bell, 42, of Cumbernauld, Glasgow; Thomas Murphy, 27, of Greenock; David McCullough, 20, of Burnage, Manchester; David Annette, 34, of Chorley, Lancashire; John Saunders, 31, of Cumbernauld, Glasgow, and Michael Hindle, 21, of Leyland, Lancashire. All are on unconditional bail. They are due to enter pleas at Manchester Crown Court on November 20."
So the claim that the FORTY-TWO arrests have resulted in no serious convictions is just a little bit disingenuous since, as we have seen, the main trials are yet to take place. Should we be surprised? Well not really, the Rangers mindset is a marvellous device for altering reality to what they prefer. Sticking with LBB again we're told that "If our club had spoken out against the Hack Pack’s speculation, innuendo and blatant lies, not to mention the Keystone Cops masquerading as a legitimate police force, Rangers would be in front of UEFA next Thursday with a well-nigh impeccable record." Yes you read that right. I would venture further into constructive criticism of this opinion, however I'm simply too gobsmacked by the sheer incredulity it generated. So, Rangers problems in all these European away games are simply down to what? A shoddy PR effort by the club and a pan-European conspiracy by the continents’ police forces? Nothing to do with the support at all? The answer is seems from the dignity crowd is, "no, it isn't". Has there ever been a group of people so unfairly maligned? Don’t laugh.
The impressive ability to deny the obvious and their inability to admit their failings, leaves Rangers supporters absolutely excluded from the ranks of those entitled to criticise others. Yet, as we can see with their hysteria over the Remembrance Sunday “protest”, they appear to be indifferent to the charges of hypocrisy, instead howling and bawling at everyone and anything voicing criticism of their behaviour; even their own club. Martin Bain will have earned the seething contempt of the Brethren by his comment following UEFA’s latest punishment: “The moronic conduct of these individuals was wholly unacceptable and flies in the face of what we stand for as a football club.” Well Martin, maybe what you stand for now, but what Rangers stood for in the past encouraged these types to flock to your club. According to The Herald though, Rangers are so desperate to rid themselves of this oppressed ‘minority’ that they even had their fingers crossed for a devastating punishment rather than the mild slap on the wrist they received from the Zurich Gnomes. “The Herald understands there are some senior figures within Ibrox who sank into their seats when the UEFA decision was presented to them,” wrote Darryl Broadfoot. “Bluntly, having exhausted every avenue of re-education and spent hundreds of thousands of pounds in a promotional campaign to weed out the remnants of sectarianism that scar the club’s image at home and abroad, UEFA coming down hard was the last hope.” Doesn’t your heart bleed?
You’ll note though that it isn’t just looney-tune sites that are bouncing around full of rage and/or denial, the Hyacinths at the Rangers Supporters Trust broke off from penning letters demanding apologies for imagined sleights, to begin another dodgy dossier: “The RST has been contacted by a number of our members with detailed stories of what really happened in the Steaua Stadium in Bucharest. At the same time, several RST Board members have also given accounts of their experiences. This information will form a report which the RST will produce and send to the Club and the relevant football authorities.” Not dissimilar to the RST reaction following the Manchester riot where condemnation of violence was slight and indignation over the injustices suffered by the poor Bears so great that I had to check to see if the Manc plod had instigated a vicious pogrom. A culture of denial is firmly rooted amongst the Brethren, a reaction of course propagated by the realisation that bad news is here to stay unless, by some miracle, the 21st Century is belatedly embraced.
It would be nice at this point to break off and bask in the warm glow of yet another Rangers PR debacle, however that would be to ignore the other part of this article, Falkirk and the previously mentioned “protest”. Let’s be clear about one thing first though, Remembrance Sunday has been hijacked by a deeply loathed government desperate to stem the unpopularity of its military adventures. The gutter rags, especially the Daily Mail, have enthusiastically responded to the call to arms, turning what was, and should be, voluntary participation into an obligatory summons where public figures and organisations are hounded and vilified if they fail to take part. The government for its part quickly grasped at the annual remembrance event when it all started to go pear-shaped in Iraq, attempting to parasitically leech the emotions generated by the sacrifice of two world wars onto their own shabby imperialist escapades. Consequently the line between remembrance and support for “our boys” in Afghanistan and Iraq has been blurred, and the event has gained unwelcome connotations. Let me be blunt, since 1945 the British state has not involved itself in a single conflict that could be termed “just”, quite the opposite. Only the determination of Harold Wilson kept Britain out of Vietnam, which otherwise would have given us the full set of disgraceful adventures.
Participation therefore in Remembrance Sunday has quickly gained a political perspective that did not exist before. Many will be oblivious to that perspective, for others though the event has become somewhat sullied due to the machinations of opportunist politicians and the hysteria of the tabloid press. When the government insists on politicalising Remembrance Sunday, I’ll admit to a deep feeling of unease. Oh sure I feel for the victims of another British imperialist folly, but that goes for the Afghans and the Iraqis as well as our own. Moreover those participating in the current conflicts are there through choice, fighting not for freedom and the nation but for the interests of big business represented by a ruling elite. Participation in such conflicts may be excused by sentiments such as “It was not their choice which battles they fought as they simply obeyed orders”, however the Nuremberg Principles were quite clear on using such a justification: “The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him.”
So I can understand why individuals would wish not to participate in Remembrance Sunday, however there are ways to protest, some dignified and some plain moronic. Those who decided to vocally protest should have understood that despite other events, whether in Kenya, Ireland or Afghanistan, the dead of two world wars are commemorated during Remembrance Sunday; a total of approximately 1,382,000 individuals. Aren’t these deaths deserving of some kind of respect? Yet there was no respect on show at Falkirk from those outside the ground who elected to bawl throughout the minute’s silence, as a pathetic form of protest it’s difficult to top. Of course the “protest” was seized gleefully by those ever desperate to remove the latest Rangers embarrassment from the back pages, and others who for some reason insist on trying to balance the charge sheet. Of course I'm maybe overestimating those who took part in the "protest", attributing a political aspect which in all reality probably didn't extend any further than the bottom of a Buckfast bottle.
So we have our own embarrassing element, however despite frantic efforts by some in the media to drag the Celtic support down to the level of our fallen cousins there really is no valid comparison. An undignified and embarrassing protest is hardly on the same level as events in the Ghencea Stadium after all. Sure there are occasions when football supporters will be confronted with overzealous or thuggish policing, and tempers will boil over, however when that happens on a serial basis in country after country then questions have to be asked. One of the questions might be, 'why is this only happening to Rangers supporters so frequently’? Dismissing the statistics as the work of a poor PR department or a European-wide plod conspiracy is a soft shoe shuffle into the Twilight Zone. Not that you'll find questions asked on Rangers websites, a litany of excuses and conspiracy theory teat suckling is preferred, which makes the pompous hysterics over the Falkirk "protest" rather ludicrous; it's like Rose West writing to the Bristol Evening Post to complain about littering.
I'll leave the final word, nearly, to the unusually perceptive Darryl Broadfoot, no doubt the real one has been the subject of a faerie raid and a changeling left in his place: "The dreaded question now is: what will it take for UEFA to recognise a club in a state of utter helplessness when it comes to controlling an uncontrollable and vile appendage to their audience? Of course, apologists will cite an element of provocation: the time-honoured heavy-handed policing, an insufficient number of turnstiles and supporters being herded in like cattle. That does not excuse the ripping up of seats or the grotesque sight of salivating, bare-chested fans preparing for battle with the authorities. Rangers can only hope it does not require bloodshed or, heaven forbid, a fatality until it dawns on European football’s governing body that the club has a problem which, for all their hard work, they alone simply cannot cure."
So let’s hear no more of this “two sides of the same coin” nonsense, it is simply not justified by the evidence.
Written by Gaudd - Tuesday, 17 November 2009
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You can put money on one cast iron certainty, when the phone calls of protest from Mr and Mrs Outraged of Larkhall flooded the switchboards 1 second after the completion of the minute's silence at Falkirk, those doing so would be guilty of a rather impressive selective morality. Regardless of the inane behaviour of those chanting outside the ground during the silence, for Rangers supporters to sputter and fume, venting their indignation in a manner reminiscent of Captain Mannering from Dad's Army, is a little hard to take. Fine, you expect that in football rivals will try and exploit every failing, actual or merely perceived, but when it comes to our Dark Brethren the realisation is unavoidable that this isn't just rivalry, these loonies mean it!
After all if Rangers and their supporters were pristine pure, a club stuffed full of fine, upstanding citizens who went to bed in starch-saturated pyjamas buttoned up to their necks and never contemplated an unclean thought, well I guess it would be tolerable. I need hardly mention that isn't the case, far from it. Yet when the mood is upon them Rangers supporters could put Hyacinth Bucket to shame for sheer gratuitous pomposity. Often, and this is the hilarious bit, unofficial Rangers sites will inevitably carry such stuffed-shirt outrage alongside other articles that would send Bernard Manning into a shocked swoon. On one site two Outraged of Larkhall examples nestled either side of a bizarre short story on the subject of Graham Spiers being buggered by Gerry Duffy. Often these missives from the Offended Bus are unintentionally hilarious, combining as they do high-ground pontificating with own goals that would put Tom Boyd's effort at Dens Park to shame.
Let's look at one example entitled "TRUE COLOURS - The Celtic Minded Show Theirs Yet Again" by the brilliantly monikered Pro Patria (a person doesn’t iron his boxer shorts before tucking in his shirt). In this simply fantastic tribute to accidental comedy, the author starts in rather standard fashion before the first punchline comes racing alone: "It is a fundamental principle that everyone is allowed a point of view and the right to protest. And as much as it pains me to say it that includes people of all denominations, creeds, cultures or religions no matter how much you disagree with them or their principles." Not exactly a ringing personal endorsement of the right to protest, not if it pains Mr Pro Patria for that right to be exercised, and indeed the author appears a little bit confused regarding the whole subject.
"The other issue I have with this protest was the particularly offensive chant of 'F*ck the Queen'", he waffled. "Now correct me if I am wrong but the Queen is not only our Head of State but also head of the Anglican Church thereby making her a religious leader as well as a Spiritual Leader. So therefore is it not reasonable to assume it is a Sectarian offence (not to mention treasonous) to shout 'F*ck the Queen'. Why no arrests from the Police if that were the case?" You'll notice the lack of a question mark at the end of the second last sentence. Obviously Mr Pro Patria fails to realise that it is indeed unreasonable, for the simple reason that if his definition were to be accepted then anyone arguing in favour of republicanism could be deemed to have committed a sectarian offence. As for the accusations of treason, even Captain Mannering would be rolling his eyes at this point and making twirling motions with one finger next to his ear. Pro Patria is obviously one of those Rangers supporters who have never quite come to terms with the fact that the 17th Century has ended.
Opposition to the monarchy is hardly down to some kind of dislike for the quaint and rather harmless Anglican church. My dislike of the monarchy for example is entirely due to its undemocratic position in the stifling hierarchy of this blighted nation, its role as a PR exercise by the British Establishment in order to detract attention when the going gets rough, and the fact the idle parasites suck up £millions of tax payers money and then have the gall to lecture the rest of us on how we should lay of noses on the grindstone. Yet according to the aforementioned genius, my position should be deemed sectarian simply because the Queen is the head of some minority religion, and not forgetting the object of adoration by a shower of forelock-tugging buffoons who are forever locked into a world view that was fashionable a couple of centuries ago.
As I said though, the eloquence of any justified ire caused by what was, in my opinion, a depressing act of mind-numbing stupidity is soon put into its proper perspective when the darkness that inevitably bubbles away just below the surface comes to the fore. You don't have to read far to saunter across an attempt to justify the cloying bigotry of the Famine Song. The author selectively quotes from a Jim Traynor article in the Daily Record where he claims Trayor wrote: "These people need to understand we are Scottish with no wish to be dragged back into the past. We don't want to be become Irish. Those who do should catch a ferry from Stranraer and leave the rest of us alone." Really? Gosh. This is when following up by Pro Patria snickering: "Now I could be slightly naughty and say that Mr Traynor could be inferring what many of us think and indeed what many fans were branded racists for saying….'Why don’t you go home'.”
The problem is of course for the author that to reach that conclusion a bit of cutting had to be undertaken in order to arrive at the necessary 'quote'. What Traynor in fact wrote was: "These people need to understand we are Scottish with no wish to be dragged back into the past. We don't want to be Little Englanders. And we don't have any desire to become Irish. Those who do should scramble over the Wall or catch a ferry from Stranraer and leave the rest of us alone." Not only that, the quote following a paragraph in which Traynor denounced both the Falkirk stupidity and the violence in the Ghencea Stadium. So why did Pro Patria feel the need to take Traynor's comments out of context and expunge the parts he didn't like? Well, its obvious, otherwise he wouldn't have managed to find even a feeble excuse to justify a deplorable song that's rightly attracted the racist label.
Did Traynor mention the events at the Ghencea Stadium? Why yes he did, and as it happens what did Pro Patria, this fine upstanding defender of decency have to say about the disgraceful scenes? "Only last week Rangers were involved in a situation in Bucharest that could have led to innocent Rangers fans being hurt or killed due to the actions of thugs masquerading as Stewards,” he squealed. "I cannot condone the actions of someone deliberately breaking seats to throw at stewards but the points being glossed over and indeed ignored by ALL the Scottish Media is why these fans felt so compelled to engage in such actions in the first place." Ok, so let's have a look at that shall we. According to the apologist, and it has to be said many of his ilk, there can be no possible justification for singing songs outside a football ground during a Remembrance Day Silence, but there can be justification for acts of violence inside a stadium that includes assaulting stewards and wrecking seats, so much so that the game came close to being abandoned. The Rangers supporters were “compelled” to commit acts of violence you’ll note.
Is it just me or is there something peculiar about this mindset; rather selective morality, a very curious concept of dignity? What was the source of the violence inside the Ghencea after all? Allegedly, and with this bunch you'll have to order a few tons of salt, someone threw an Irish Tricolour onto the Perspex shielding behind which the Rangers supporters were penned. One Rangers supporter claimed: "I then noticed a Tri-colour which was hanging off the top of the perspex wall at the front of the pen. I personally didn't see how it got there but others around me were adamant that it was a result of a steward on trackside trying to throw it into the Rangers fans. Things quickly escalated as fans suddenly rushed forward and started trading punches with stewards who were still in our section down the front." Yes I see, and at this point we have the obligatory Old Gent getting waylaid by wuffians. "I was later told from someone who witnessed it that it was the result of a elderly Rangers fan walking up to an steward to complain about them goading the Rangers fans with the Tri-colour, I was told that the guy was punched full in the face and then set upon by about 6 stewards as he hit the ground." Like I said, a few tons of salt.
Other articles by Rangers supporters are a bit less constrained, screaming indignantly about the fact the poor bears were taunted by a " highly offensive article". My God they're a sensitive bunch. Now a day later during Celtic's game in Hamburg, the lumpen morons that make up the home support indulged in an ironic tifosi display where one upper stand was devoted to a rather off-colour Union Flag and a banner which ran the full length stating "No Surrender". Imagine if the same had occurred in the Ghencea, with the Union Flag replaced by an Irish Tricolour and a banner reading "tiocfaidh ár lá", I guess Pro Patria and his fellow apologists would now be finding ways to justify genocide and the end of civilisation as we know it. You would have thought at this point that someone, somewhere amongst the Brethren would have pondered over why they would react in such a hysterical manner when presented with the flag of a neighbouring state. Ha!
Now before I progress further on this subject, let me just state that I have been in several grounds where Celtic supporters have been goaded, or should I say an attempts have been made to goad, with a Union Flag. On every single occasion the perpetrator has been met with derisive laughter. Be it a midweek game in Dens Park (God that one was funny), Hamburg itself or Ewood Park, every time the reaction has been far different from that witnessed whenever the Forces of Darkness have found themselves having to cope with terrible, soul-destroying goading. Perhaps that's the reason Celtic supporters can venture all over the world and receive plaudits for their behaviour, and God knows I know we're not all angels, while Rangers supporters totter from one scandal to the next.
Yet where is the condemnation of this behaviour from the same people who will snotter on at length about the disrespect to Remembrance Sunday? As Graham Spiers stated: "Villarreal, Pamplona, Manchester, now Bucharest. Why is it that, when Rangers FC and their spineless supporters' spokesmen start groping around for excuses, the common themes of 'heavy-handed policing' or 'these are not real Rangers fans' are forever trotted out?" You'll remember that after Rangers supporters crapped, pissed and trashed Manchester city centre into a third world disaster zone, the bold defenders of dignity at the RST launched an investigation into... the police. We're still waiting publication of their devastating dossier on the culpability of the Manchester plod - guess we're be waiting a while.
One of our favourite contributors to Follow Follow, the definitely certifiable Little Boy Blue, displays the mindset of your average Rangers supporter quite succinctly when he seeks to justify the violence in Bucharest: "Some Bears hadn’t taken too kindly to being locked out of the ground because not enough turnstiles were open". He explained, well that's ok then, except no one was locked out they just had a queue a bit longer than expected - still, justified reason for twating a steward eh? Next we have the reaction to the carnage that occurred in Manchester, the devastation of a city centre described thus: "the post-Manchester (08) demonisation of our fantastic support." You'll note he has to put year dates after the event so we know exactly what particular disgrace he's referring to. Now read on: "Inevitably, Manchester has reared its ugly head again. Yes, the ‘riot’ and ‘rampage’ of 18 months ago, when something like 200,000 Rangers fans poured into the city, leading to just FORTY-TWO arrests, none of which resulted in a conviction for anything other than a minor misdemeanour, is again being thrown in our faces." Poor little diddums.
Ok, again we have a rather selective attitude to facts in the that statement. For one thing the most serious charges have not gone to trial yet, as the Manchester Evening News reported: "Thousands of drunken Rangers fans fought running battles with police as they rampaged through Manchester city centre in more than five hours of trouble. In separate incidents, two police officers became separated from their units, surrounded by hooligans, knocked to the ground and kicked and stamped on. Along with McSeveney and Stoddart, the other defendants are Greg McKenna, 22, of East Kilbride, Lanarkshire; Brian McVicar, 19, of East Kilbride; Gordon Forrest, 35, of Bearsden, Glasgow; James Bell, 42, of Cumbernauld, Glasgow; Thomas Murphy, 27, of Greenock; David McCullough, 20, of Burnage, Manchester; David Annette, 34, of Chorley, Lancashire; John Saunders, 31, of Cumbernauld, Glasgow, and Michael Hindle, 21, of Leyland, Lancashire. All are on unconditional bail. They are due to enter pleas at Manchester Crown Court on November 20."
So the claim that the FORTY-TWO arrests have resulted in no serious convictions is just a little bit disingenuous since, as we have seen, the main trials are yet to take place. Should we be surprised? Well not really, the Rangers mindset is a marvellous device for altering reality to what they prefer. Sticking with LBB again we're told that "If our club had spoken out against the Hack Pack’s speculation, innuendo and blatant lies, not to mention the Keystone Cops masquerading as a legitimate police force, Rangers would be in front of UEFA next Thursday with a well-nigh impeccable record." Yes you read that right. I would venture further into constructive criticism of this opinion, however I'm simply too gobsmacked by the sheer incredulity it generated. So, Rangers problems in all these European away games are simply down to what? A shoddy PR effort by the club and a pan-European conspiracy by the continents’ police forces? Nothing to do with the support at all? The answer is seems from the dignity crowd is, "no, it isn't". Has there ever been a group of people so unfairly maligned? Don’t laugh.
The impressive ability to deny the obvious and their inability to admit their failings, leaves Rangers supporters absolutely excluded from the ranks of those entitled to criticise others. Yet, as we can see with their hysteria over the Remembrance Sunday “protest”, they appear to be indifferent to the charges of hypocrisy, instead howling and bawling at everyone and anything voicing criticism of their behaviour; even their own club. Martin Bain will have earned the seething contempt of the Brethren by his comment following UEFA’s latest punishment: “The moronic conduct of these individuals was wholly unacceptable and flies in the face of what we stand for as a football club.” Well Martin, maybe what you stand for now, but what Rangers stood for in the past encouraged these types to flock to your club. According to The Herald though, Rangers are so desperate to rid themselves of this oppressed ‘minority’ that they even had their fingers crossed for a devastating punishment rather than the mild slap on the wrist they received from the Zurich Gnomes. “The Herald understands there are some senior figures within Ibrox who sank into their seats when the UEFA decision was presented to them,” wrote Darryl Broadfoot. “Bluntly, having exhausted every avenue of re-education and spent hundreds of thousands of pounds in a promotional campaign to weed out the remnants of sectarianism that scar the club’s image at home and abroad, UEFA coming down hard was the last hope.” Doesn’t your heart bleed?
You’ll note though that it isn’t just looney-tune sites that are bouncing around full of rage and/or denial, the Hyacinths at the Rangers Supporters Trust broke off from penning letters demanding apologies for imagined sleights, to begin another dodgy dossier: “The RST has been contacted by a number of our members with detailed stories of what really happened in the Steaua Stadium in Bucharest. At the same time, several RST Board members have also given accounts of their experiences. This information will form a report which the RST will produce and send to the Club and the relevant football authorities.” Not dissimilar to the RST reaction following the Manchester riot where condemnation of violence was slight and indignation over the injustices suffered by the poor Bears so great that I had to check to see if the Manc plod had instigated a vicious pogrom. A culture of denial is firmly rooted amongst the Brethren, a reaction of course propagated by the realisation that bad news is here to stay unless, by some miracle, the 21st Century is belatedly embraced.
It would be nice at this point to break off and bask in the warm glow of yet another Rangers PR debacle, however that would be to ignore the other part of this article, Falkirk and the previously mentioned “protest”. Let’s be clear about one thing first though, Remembrance Sunday has been hijacked by a deeply loathed government desperate to stem the unpopularity of its military adventures. The gutter rags, especially the Daily Mail, have enthusiastically responded to the call to arms, turning what was, and should be, voluntary participation into an obligatory summons where public figures and organisations are hounded and vilified if they fail to take part. The government for its part quickly grasped at the annual remembrance event when it all started to go pear-shaped in Iraq, attempting to parasitically leech the emotions generated by the sacrifice of two world wars onto their own shabby imperialist escapades. Consequently the line between remembrance and support for “our boys” in Afghanistan and Iraq has been blurred, and the event has gained unwelcome connotations. Let me be blunt, since 1945 the British state has not involved itself in a single conflict that could be termed “just”, quite the opposite. Only the determination of Harold Wilson kept Britain out of Vietnam, which otherwise would have given us the full set of disgraceful adventures.
Participation therefore in Remembrance Sunday has quickly gained a political perspective that did not exist before. Many will be oblivious to that perspective, for others though the event has become somewhat sullied due to the machinations of opportunist politicians and the hysteria of the tabloid press. When the government insists on politicalising Remembrance Sunday, I’ll admit to a deep feeling of unease. Oh sure I feel for the victims of another British imperialist folly, but that goes for the Afghans and the Iraqis as well as our own. Moreover those participating in the current conflicts are there through choice, fighting not for freedom and the nation but for the interests of big business represented by a ruling elite. Participation in such conflicts may be excused by sentiments such as “It was not their choice which battles they fought as they simply obeyed orders”, however the Nuremberg Principles were quite clear on using such a justification: “The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him.”
So I can understand why individuals would wish not to participate in Remembrance Sunday, however there are ways to protest, some dignified and some plain moronic. Those who decided to vocally protest should have understood that despite other events, whether in Kenya, Ireland or Afghanistan, the dead of two world wars are commemorated during Remembrance Sunday; a total of approximately 1,382,000 individuals. Aren’t these deaths deserving of some kind of respect? Yet there was no respect on show at Falkirk from those outside the ground who elected to bawl throughout the minute’s silence, as a pathetic form of protest it’s difficult to top. Of course the “protest” was seized gleefully by those ever desperate to remove the latest Rangers embarrassment from the back pages, and others who for some reason insist on trying to balance the charge sheet. Of course I'm maybe overestimating those who took part in the "protest", attributing a political aspect which in all reality probably didn't extend any further than the bottom of a Buckfast bottle.
So we have our own embarrassing element, however despite frantic efforts by some in the media to drag the Celtic support down to the level of our fallen cousins there really is no valid comparison. An undignified and embarrassing protest is hardly on the same level as events in the Ghencea Stadium after all. Sure there are occasions when football supporters will be confronted with overzealous or thuggish policing, and tempers will boil over, however when that happens on a serial basis in country after country then questions have to be asked. One of the questions might be, 'why is this only happening to Rangers supporters so frequently’? Dismissing the statistics as the work of a poor PR department or a European-wide plod conspiracy is a soft shoe shuffle into the Twilight Zone. Not that you'll find questions asked on Rangers websites, a litany of excuses and conspiracy theory teat suckling is preferred, which makes the pompous hysterics over the Falkirk "protest" rather ludicrous; it's like Rose West writing to the Bristol Evening Post to complain about littering.
I'll leave the final word, nearly, to the unusually perceptive Darryl Broadfoot, no doubt the real one has been the subject of a faerie raid and a changeling left in his place: "The dreaded question now is: what will it take for UEFA to recognise a club in a state of utter helplessness when it comes to controlling an uncontrollable and vile appendage to their audience? Of course, apologists will cite an element of provocation: the time-honoured heavy-handed policing, an insufficient number of turnstiles and supporters being herded in like cattle. That does not excuse the ripping up of seats or the grotesque sight of salivating, bare-chested fans preparing for battle with the authorities. Rangers can only hope it does not require bloodshed or, heaven forbid, a fatality until it dawns on European football’s governing body that the club has a problem which, for all their hard work, they alone simply cannot cure."
So let’s hear no more of this “two sides of the same coin” nonsense, it is simply not justified by the evidence.
Friday, 20 November 2009
Sir Wattie is the only show in town
Nearly every Scottish News sports bulletin these days is degenerating into a "the wisdom of Wattie" update. Tonight STV was at its pro-Rangers crawly bum lick "best". Raman announced breathlessly that the one with no surname will explain why he doesn't want the Scotland manager's job. This is actually the top STV sports item. It is the be-all and end-all of the story. Nothing about Levein or who else might be interested. The BBC were also in raptures at the proclamation of their master but at least couched it in terms of "the ongoing search for the new Scotland manager", whereas STV were only interested in sifting through the cardigan's shite to pick out the sweetcorn.
Nosurname doesn't want the job. That's all we need to know. Fantastic, let's get on with talking about people who DO want it.
STV bulletin begins "It was widely expected that Walter would not be interested in the Scotland job and the Rangers manager made statements to that effect, so it was no great surprise when he confirmed today that he wouldn't take the job". Cue several minutes of wisdom from the great wise one.
Brilliant. So STV's top news story is about something that was never going to happen... not happening. Is there a brain cell anywhere at STV?
Next up, Steven Whittaker telling everyone who will listen about what great players Mythgregor, Boydie and Captain Unbookable (except in England and Europe) are, and pleading with the new manager to bring them back into the Scotland squad. You couldn't get a more neutral view then one of their team-mates.
The propaganda offensive continues unabated. Craig Gordon should be worried about his international position.
.
Nosurname doesn't want the job. That's all we need to know. Fantastic, let's get on with talking about people who DO want it.
STV bulletin begins "It was widely expected that Walter would not be interested in the Scotland job and the Rangers manager made statements to that effect, so it was no great surprise when he confirmed today that he wouldn't take the job". Cue several minutes of wisdom from the great wise one.
Brilliant. So STV's top news story is about something that was never going to happen... not happening. Is there a brain cell anywhere at STV?
Next up, Steven Whittaker telling everyone who will listen about what great players Mythgregor, Boydie and Captain Unbookable (except in England and Europe) are, and pleading with the new manager to bring them back into the Scotland squad. You couldn't get a more neutral view then one of their team-mates.
The propaganda offensive continues unabated. Craig Gordon should be worried about his international position.
.
Thursday, 12 November 2009
Sunday, 8 November 2009
The Poppy Charade
By James Forrest on Celtic Quick News -
I posted a couple of times on the poppies and said I thought everyone should keep silent, and observe that silence for their own reasons. Some chose not to do that. I want to be clear on this; I am not conflicted in any way about how I feel about it. I think that what they did, was decided their views and their feelings were more important than the club, than their fellow fans and they simply swapped one version of extremism for another. It was disrespectful to Celtic, to people everywhere and I don't think any of them should be proud of it. They acted like daft wee boys, and that's how they'll be viewed.
I see one online "writer" has already chosen to label them scum, and has been very careful in his headline to label ALL Celtic fans scum, although he claims to BE one of us.
What is pathetic about this joker, and what is pathetic about all the assorted trash who come after him, is that they COULD NOT WAIT to gloat, to puff out their chests and point their fat keyboard punching fingers. They could NOT CARE LESS about the dead, about the memory of those who fought and died - they have narrow agendas and that is ALL they gave a toss about, and they are no different to the fools outside who "protested" and about whom they are going to rant and rave for days, maybe weeks, to come, and who will pull this out of the hat every chance they get.
Let me tell you right now that the poppy thing, the whole of it, everything it's been allowed to become, makes me want to throw up. Far from being a memorial to those who died, it has become an excuse for jingoism, for drum banging, for rallying round the Butchers Apron. And they call it "the best of British."
It's the WORST of British, but it sums this nation up very well.
The Germans commemorate World War II, as do the French, the Japanese and others. The French didn't emerge from WWII with any glory; they were invaded and liberated. The Germans kicked it off, along with their Italian and Japanese allies ....
These four "major powers" emerged from that conflict, and ALONE of EVERYONE IN IT, the British never looked back, but jumped into one theatre of combat after another. The French, you have to DRAG into combat, the Italians can't be made fight anywhere. The Germans became the leaders of the European Union movement and are determined - as a point of NATIONAL POLICY - never to fight on any side in another war again unless attacked. Japan is the most pacifist nation on EARTH.
I make no apology for saying this, but in Britain the hoopla around all this more and more reminds me that in this country we LOVE war. We do. It's undisputed. At Ibrox, for the last couple of years, they've blared out the Damn Busters. In England, the whole country salivates at the prospect of "beating the Germans", and if it's not them it's the "hated" Argentines. It APPALLS me at times how much we REVEL in the glory, in triumphalism, in continued HATE.
Rememberence Days has become about remembering WHO WON. World War I was called "the War to End all Wars", and let me tell you, if there was EVER a cause worth dying for then that was it. World War II was about ending fascism, but the venom being poured on guys who sang songs today proves that isn't ended yet, whether you think they were stupid or scum as some have said.
The best way I know to honour the dead is to make sure it never happens again, and on the day in which grown men are wetting themselves with fury at other grown men who's egos are bigger than their brains and who's personal agenda takes precedence over all common sense, let alone decency, another young guy was killed in a country we shouldn't be in, fighting in a war we can't win whilst politicians talk crap about duty, honour and sacrifice. It makes me absolutely sick.
This country has learned nothing. Let the drums bang. Let the hate rise. To Hell with it. There are days when I feel that if the Guy Upstairs isn't sitting down with a good book that he must be wondering if maybe the time hasn't come to push a chunk of intergalactic rock in our direction. Rip it all up and start again. We just never get over ourselves.
To those on either side of the "debate". Stop kidding yourselves that this is about those who've died. This is now about greviances between those of us who're still living, and if one thing is true above all else it's this; far from being horrified by the experiences of those who fought, far from looking at the world and the times in which they lived and saying NEVER AGAIN ...... some people genuinely CAN'T WAIT for the next excuse to polish off the guns and get down to business.
Today's not about the "best of British", but the worst traits this nation has. Little Englander drum banging and triumphalism. That's what it's become. We're a nation of little George Patton's, who could not believe World War II was going to pass him by. "History will NOT ALLOW IT ....." he is reputed to have said. Certainly, it's taught this island nothing.
I posted a couple of times on the poppies and said I thought everyone should keep silent, and observe that silence for their own reasons. Some chose not to do that. I want to be clear on this; I am not conflicted in any way about how I feel about it. I think that what they did, was decided their views and their feelings were more important than the club, than their fellow fans and they simply swapped one version of extremism for another. It was disrespectful to Celtic, to people everywhere and I don't think any of them should be proud of it. They acted like daft wee boys, and that's how they'll be viewed.
I see one online "writer" has already chosen to label them scum, and has been very careful in his headline to label ALL Celtic fans scum, although he claims to BE one of us.
What is pathetic about this joker, and what is pathetic about all the assorted trash who come after him, is that they COULD NOT WAIT to gloat, to puff out their chests and point their fat keyboard punching fingers. They could NOT CARE LESS about the dead, about the memory of those who fought and died - they have narrow agendas and that is ALL they gave a toss about, and they are no different to the fools outside who "protested" and about whom they are going to rant and rave for days, maybe weeks, to come, and who will pull this out of the hat every chance they get.
Let me tell you right now that the poppy thing, the whole of it, everything it's been allowed to become, makes me want to throw up. Far from being a memorial to those who died, it has become an excuse for jingoism, for drum banging, for rallying round the Butchers Apron. And they call it "the best of British."
It's the WORST of British, but it sums this nation up very well.
The Germans commemorate World War II, as do the French, the Japanese and others. The French didn't emerge from WWII with any glory; they were invaded and liberated. The Germans kicked it off, along with their Italian and Japanese allies ....
These four "major powers" emerged from that conflict, and ALONE of EVERYONE IN IT, the British never looked back, but jumped into one theatre of combat after another. The French, you have to DRAG into combat, the Italians can't be made fight anywhere. The Germans became the leaders of the European Union movement and are determined - as a point of NATIONAL POLICY - never to fight on any side in another war again unless attacked. Japan is the most pacifist nation on EARTH.
I make no apology for saying this, but in Britain the hoopla around all this more and more reminds me that in this country we LOVE war. We do. It's undisputed. At Ibrox, for the last couple of years, they've blared out the Damn Busters. In England, the whole country salivates at the prospect of "beating the Germans", and if it's not them it's the "hated" Argentines. It APPALLS me at times how much we REVEL in the glory, in triumphalism, in continued HATE.
Rememberence Days has become about remembering WHO WON. World War I was called "the War to End all Wars", and let me tell you, if there was EVER a cause worth dying for then that was it. World War II was about ending fascism, but the venom being poured on guys who sang songs today proves that isn't ended yet, whether you think they were stupid or scum as some have said.
The best way I know to honour the dead is to make sure it never happens again, and on the day in which grown men are wetting themselves with fury at other grown men who's egos are bigger than their brains and who's personal agenda takes precedence over all common sense, let alone decency, another young guy was killed in a country we shouldn't be in, fighting in a war we can't win whilst politicians talk crap about duty, honour and sacrifice. It makes me absolutely sick.
This country has learned nothing. Let the drums bang. Let the hate rise. To Hell with it. There are days when I feel that if the Guy Upstairs isn't sitting down with a good book that he must be wondering if maybe the time hasn't come to push a chunk of intergalactic rock in our direction. Rip it all up and start again. We just never get over ourselves.
To those on either side of the "debate". Stop kidding yourselves that this is about those who've died. This is now about greviances between those of us who're still living, and if one thing is true above all else it's this; far from being horrified by the experiences of those who fought, far from looking at the world and the times in which they lived and saying NEVER AGAIN ...... some people genuinely CAN'T WAIT for the next excuse to polish off the guns and get down to business.
Today's not about the "best of British", but the worst traits this nation has. Little Englander drum banging and triumphalism. That's what it's become. We're a nation of little George Patton's, who could not believe World War II was going to pass him by. "History will NOT ALLOW IT ....." he is reputed to have said. Certainly, it's taught this island nothing.
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