Fast forward two and a half years, and it seems that Hateley was only against certain types of racism and discrimination, and perhaps forgot to qualify this when he was previously happy to be portrayed as "completely behind" the FARE initiative of 2008:
Photo opps and flowery words are all very well, but when UEFA started threatening to take tangible action to punish sustained anti-Irish, anti-Catholic discriminatory chanting, Hateley's view of FARE suddenly altered. From being "completely behind" their work against racism and discrimination in September 2008, Hateley now views FARE as "deeply sinister... Stealthy, unidentified individuals lurking around in the shadows deliberately seeking to do as much harm as possible to a club they themselves can't tolerate because of their own deep-rooted prejudices".
Strong comment from the ex-Rangers striker turned Rangers PR man. Celtic fans have nothing to teach the Rangers-minded when it comes to paranoia it seems.
Anyone familiar with the editorial style of the Daily Record would not be surprised one iota at this staunch defence of their preferred constituents, Rangers FC, complete with sectarian, racist baggage et al.
Jim Traynor kept the Whattaboutery ball rolling with an opinion piece on 18th April entitled "Prove it's a Fer Cop", misleadingly giving the impression that there is somehow some doubt over Rangers' guilt in the matter. In fact Traynor's angle of attack was to cast doubt on the integrity of FARE's personnel and selection process.
Jabba is a far more astute propagandist than Hateley and although he peppers the article with the usual feeble "condemnation" of the bigots and claims that he only wants to see "transparency" so that "twisted fans" won't make "connections" that aren't there, it is clear that his greatest concern is with the potential harm that may befall Rangers if FARE's observations are upheld by UEFA.
Perhaps if Jabba & co derided such "twisted fans" as paranoid nuts in the way they do with most Celtic fans who call their kangaroo court phone-ins, and left out the Whattaboutery, then none of these "connections" would actually matter.
As it happens, one of the "connections" Jabba was able to make all on his own was that Piara Power (executive director of FARE) "has to understand he is already being viewed with deep suspicion by many Rangers fans because he has become an ambassador for a company called OnSide along with former Celtic player Paul Elliott. OnSide will operate in sports coaching and are a wholly owned subsidiary of Milestone Group in which Celtic director Dermot Desmond's son, Brett, has a stake."
There you have it - the media are quite prepared to assassinate the character of Celtic fans, not to mention players and officials, for their "paranoia", but then come over all concerned and pragmatic when Rangers fans view something "with deep suspicion". Why not just tell them to "Shut up and get on with it" Jim?
Jabba's powers of deduction in being able to track down this suspicious link to Timmy are all the more impressive when you consider that the entire Scottish media have proven unable to glean even the most cursory information on Craig Whyte's background or finances - he of Fakeover fame.
In marked contrast, after about 15 minutes of Google searches, "paranoid" Celtic fans have been able to ascertain that Whyte owns a couple of companies with broom cupboards for head offices, one set to be liquidated and one set to be struck off from Companies House after failing to return accounts, not to mention Whyte's links with about half a dozen liquidated companies over the past 4 or 5 years.
More honest mistakes we're expected to believe, or honest 'too busy-ness' as Moira Gordon of the Scotsman would have us believe.
Traynor's technique is to superficially condemn the bigots before indulging them throughout the rest of the article with reams of Whattaboutery. He can then claim to have condemned their unacceptable conduct having written a piece specifically designed to defend them. In this instance the piece is headlined to put FARE on the defensive and it's main thrust is to question the integrity of the organisation, not to condemn the bigots.
And we wonder why bigotry is still a problem in this country?
Hateley himself unintentionally provides the answer in his "Empty Threats" article where he goes on to speak of the awful racist abuse meted out to England team-mates John Barnes, Viv Anderson and Mark Chamberlain in the 1980s. He goes on to proudly quote this as proof that such attitudes can be changed.
What Hateley's tiny mind probably can't fathom is, that such attitudes were changed in the case of black players in British football because such behaviour was UNIVERSALLY and UNEQUIVOCALLY CONDEMNED.
There was no "Chelsea/Millwall/Spurs/Arsenal/Man U fans do it too" Whattaboutery.
There was no "French/Spanish/German fans do it too" Whattaboutery.
There was no "Let's scrutinise the background of the complainant" Whattaboutery.
And as a consequence things have improved greatly. They're not perfect, and never will be, but racist chanting against black players is reasonably rare in England and Scotland.
Sectarianism and anti-Irish racism is a strong as ever in Scotland due to the media's unwillingness to UNEQUIVOCALY condemn it. The Scottish media is held in an impotent thrall by the bigots.
Things are now so desperately bleak in Scotland that the Scottish media would rather attack an anti-racism group than unequivocally condemn racist and discriminatory behaviour.
Now that really is Scotland's Shame.
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