Last week I wrote a piece entitled, “When The Blind Eye Stops Turning”. I had discussed the SMSM’s obvious attitude change towards social media after the fallout of 2012 (RIP/LOL), pointing out that many of the journalists and football pundits we endure here in the west of Scotland, the very same scribes who once called us ‘Internet Bampots’, now have Twitter accounts themselves and regularly engage with their audience. Bloggers, independent journalists and the man on the tweet often contact their pundit pals to let them know they’ve got it wrong, made a spelling/grammar/punctuation mistake or simply enlightening them of their current public perception with the classic, “your a fanny!”.It was during a Twinteraction (see what I did there) with one of my personal favourites of the Scottish punditry fraternity, Graham Spiers, that I received an answer to a question on a subject avoided by most in the Fraternitati Simio Panis.
Graham has been reporting on Scottish sport since I was old enough to know who the mason in the black was, he knows all too well of the treatment awaiting anyone who dare speak ill of the mighty Rangers.
I had been following the unfolding events at the court of session in Edinburgh, where a punter was challenging Coral bookmakers refusal to pay out £250,000 on a bet that Rangers would be relegated in 2012.
Now, anyone who knows anything about something that ever happened anywhere once, knows that Rangers died in 2012 after a CVA could not be agreed and administration and liquidation duly occurred. Hearts agreed a CVA and saved their club, history, badge, trophies and most of all, their dignity. They have a letter that proves it, Rangers don’t, a fact that can end many OldCo/NewCo debates (make a mental note, you’ll save a lot of time) sending the reanimated type straight to the default setting of denial and child abuse references. Just as classy as the old clubs fans, if not a little dimmer.
The court case boiled down to a choice for Coral, deny Rangers are a new club, state they were relegated and pay out £250,000 – or – state relegation never happened as Rangers were liquidated and the new entity was allowed into the bottom tier of Scottish football (aka, the truth) and risk losing thousands of Rangers-loving customers and awaiting the usual blue-nosed backlash. I say “usual”, because it is completely taken for granted that anyone who publicly paints an imperfect picture of the proud once Prod-preferring club/company/tribute act , is in line for treatment such as threats, intimidation, harassment, personal details made public, careers ruined, even bombs and bullets in the post, it’s not a wise choice to make known Rangers’ troubles.
I had remarked to Graham how the Coral case highlighted an air of fear around the SMSM when it came to reporting anything that might displease the Rangers fans. I added that he knew of it all too well, referring to his own abuse by upset ‘fans’ (fans don’t behave in a way that is detrimental to their clubs image) to which he replied,
“The media tends to offer 1 of 4 answers on Q: ‘Is it a new Rangers FC?’
A: Yes
B: No
C: Don’t know
D: Do know but not saying”
This left me with even more questions but I decided to leave Graham out of it from there onwards, he has suffered enough.
The Coral case threw up a number of revelations, to name a couple, the secrecy surrounding the five-way agreement and Rangers’ awarding of a European license from the SFA which should not have been issued. I’ll leave the experts to go into detail over these issues, as it is another issue which I have decided to tackle.
Not one mainstream media outlet in Glasgow was mentioning the Coral case in any detail greater than the case itself, not a word about the many obvious contradictions to the long-running media narrative forced upon those of us fortunate enough to live in this part of the world. The journalist, who had been live tweeting from inside the courtroom throughout the entire case, even tweeted his willingness to speak live on-air to Radio Clyde’s Super Scoreboard the evening the case finished. They did not reciprocate any willingness to talk about the case.
What is even more alarming than the very obvious selective journalism taking place, was the general acceptance of the public that this is just how it is in Glasgow. Football fans in the west of Scotland know and fully expect that they are going to be lied to when the local media report on Rangers, from finances to transfer ‘bids’, from pundits and commentators who praise the Ibrox atmosphere yet fail to mention sectarian singing and chants (any five year old listening would be able to give a decent rendition of The Billy Boys by half time), we were even told of Celtic chasing Walter Smith’s record of nine successive league championships, which was actually set by Jock Stein in the 60s.
I contacted no fewer than twenty-six journalists, pundits, ex-players from various teams and many other figures in the world of Glasgow football journalism, with the same questions. Questions about fans reactions, stories being edited, a sense of bias – you get the gist.
The responses were astounding, there are dozens of unhappy residents in our fish bowl, in my opinion it’s because the big hand that periodically chucked flakes of stinking fodder to them has disappeared, being replaced by the big hand’s dodgy pal who has been promising to feed them for ages but they’re still starving, or am I reading too much into things? A more cynical bhoy might remark on the many fish who have disappeared only to be replaced with new ones wearing wee blue fish goggles, but I certainly won’t, for now.
The fact that Level 5 PR have blocked me on Twitter only pushes me to keep digging, I’ve never had anything to do with them, in any way whatsoever. Discrimination against bloggers?
I have never before worked on a subject that has immediately produced so much material to work with, quotes from professionals and outside interest as I have experienced over the last ten days or so. I only hope that I can continue my blogging from home and not from an underground bunker with all the necessary provisions required to survive a zombie attack.
HH