Most of us will be familiar with the comedy film Groundhog Day, where funny man Bill Murray’s character relives the same day over and over again in some backwater town by the name of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. We recall poor Bill as he was losing the will to live each morning as the radio came on to Sonny and Cher droning on ad infinitum.
Unfortunately, Rangers fans have our own perpetual cycle of irritancy to endure - that each season various characters impersonating journalists at BBC Scotland repeatedly single out our club and fans for special treatment. The upshot being of course is the public perception that Rangers is the root of all evil. By foraging tenaciously for any nugget of negativity concerning the club, no matter how small, and consistently overlooking the sins of others, no matter how glaring, it is a self fulfilling prophesy these partisans seem desperate to engineer.
With the new season in its insipient stages, it is already more of the same. Rangers fans don’t need a rodent to forecast the journalistic weather.
Rangers first game last week saw an emphatic 6-2 drubbing of nearest rivals Hibs at Easter Road. Following an action packed game with good football and some very good goals, it was a gift for reporters to talk the game up, as they are extremely eager to do at every opportunity when anyone else is playing - but this was Rangers! As predictable as it was lamentable, the BBC’s Chris McLaughlin managed to inveigle out of the match delegate ‘news’ that a couple of fans had been arrested for alleged sectarian singing. (It’s worth pointing out this is the same media outlet who never mentioned a thing on its main news on the Monday – when it came to light - after a ten-year-old Rangers fan was struck in the face with a bottle in a sickening sectarian attack at the last old firm game in February. Compare and contrast.)
Getting back, readers should be assured; this is not the norm when reporters interview the match delegate. It is a precedent that will not be followed up any time soon at games featuring other clubs. It was mischieve-making pure and simple by a journalist who has undermined the club at every turn these last few years.
In tandem with this latest debacle, was BBC Scotland pundit Graham Speirs perpetuating his usual inverse sense of fair play when commenting on all matters Rangers. When boyhood Gers fan and signing target Scott Allan asked for a transfer to the club, the poor lad was subjected to all manner of despicable abuse – to the point sectarian death threats were made and which Police Scotland are currently investigating. Preposterously, Mr Speirs used this story to launch yet another attack on Rangers fans - as only his warped mind can. (It’s a wonder he never managed to drag Rangers into the Gulf Stream changing course when fumbling about on his laptop at a drookit St Andrews recently..)
Having made a career out of this nonsense, the Rangers board have finally had enough of his rancid warbling. Along with McLaughlin, their press passes have been withdrawn forthwith. Although not a course of action we like to see normally, previous regimes acted out of self interest rather than the club, it’s been a long time coming for these 2 purveyors of blatant and reprehensible anti Rangers hostility. Enough is enough! When IRA loving blogger Phil “tarred with the sectarian brush” MacGiolla Bhain is backing these muppets, you know the club is doing something right.
Hilariously, the reaction to the ban at Pacific Quay only serves to vindicate the board. BBC Scotland will now not send ANY reporters to Ibrox. There were no grandiose statements of intent when Jim Spence was barred at Dens Park. This publicly funded body do treat Rangers differently, and there are a plethora of examples to choose from. In fact, the club should dip into this mountain of evidence, a small portion of which I referred to in a previous article - http://www.vanguardbears.co.uk/article.php?i=49&a=rangers,-the-media-and-chris-graham to support their justified decision.
In true groundhog fashion, it’s only fitting we return to Pennsylvania. The US state is actually named after a William Penn, an entrepreneur who is credited with the development of the grid system in the state’s biggest city – Philadelphia. Ironically, it turns out grid systems are not the only similarities between Glasgow and Pennsylvania...
Our very own groundhog day will no doubt continue, but at long last we have a Rangers board who have demonstrated they have the minerals to act, and act at the appropriate time. That time is indeed – now.
Long may it continue!