Once again, the Scottish Cup draw kept apart the two biggest clubs in the country. While I would not consider our club to be among the two best football teams in the country at this time, we are without any doubt the biggest club.
In the run up to the draw being made, we were subjected to players and former players from both clubs taking to the newspaper columns and churning out their reasons for wanting to see the two clubs paired in the competition. With every mention of ‘the Old Firm’ I cringed. There is no Old Firm, and if you asked most Rangers supporters, they have hated the use of the term for a long, long time. I personally hate the term because it is used as a method of associating us with them, and I have no wish whatsoever to have my club associated with them in any way, and why would I?
They love to sing about knowing their history and yet for the world of me, I cannot figure out quite why they would want to celebrate a history riddled with episodes such as the open support of terrorist organisations and murderers through songs, flags and banners and using their club as a platform for displaying political campaigns against our government. A history which includes using their club as a vessel for displaying their hatred of the British Armed forces who sacrificed their lives, and continue to do so in the many armed conflicts over the years in order for us to live in a democratic society, and a history of bringing violence and bigotry to towns and Cities across the UK and Europe, as witnessed most recently in Amsterdam, violence which resulted in Dutch police issuing this statement:
"There were 15 arrests, mostly Celtic supporters."
"At the end of the afternoon, a large group of Celtic supporters attacked police officers in plain clothes. Eight were injured and one left unconscious."
"Bottles and sticks were used in the attack, which came out of nowhere," they said of the fighting in Dam Square.
Police said a few officers "had broken noses and needed stitches above their eyebrows and on their lips".
Add to this, events last season in Dundee, where their behaviour was described by Dundee F.C. Operations Manager Jim Thomson as follows:
"I have never seen anything like the behaviour of the Celtic fans in the 20 years I have been running games at Dens Park. The situation was almost unmanageable and I have never seen so many people drunk. Our fans were abused, our stewards were abused and no doubt the police were abused. The turnstile operators were visibly shaken."
"The away fans had no respect for their surroundings — they were doing the toilet where they stood. I had Celtic fans come up to me to tell me they were 'embarrassed' by their fans' behaviour."
And who can forget the horrible images of Celtic fans attacking Hearts' stewards whilst screaming out Provisional I.R.A chants a couple of years ago? Luckily, we have YouTube to thank for preserving this footage, as the Scottish media failed to cover it.
Last week, a supporter was arrested as a result of an incident which could have blinded the AC Milan goalkeeper Christian Abbiati during a Champions League clash, when he shone a laser into the goalkeepers’ eyes during the match. This behaviour is common, and in the past match officials and players have been assaulted by Celtic supporters, and match officials were forced into taking the unprecedented step of taking industrial action as a result of accusations made by Celtic FC and its officials.
Despite match officials being forced into taking this action, the behaviour of Celtic FC was not deemed worthy of mention by the Scottish media, and no action was taken against the club by the Scottish footballing authorities. If it had been our club, you can bet swift action would have been taken, and it would have been reported via every media outlet available.
Not content with bringing shame on our country with their behaviour from the terraces, they have players who openly support IRA terrorists and another shameful example occurred only last week when a first team player was arrested after claims were made that he exposed himself in a nightclub. The same player, James Forrest finds himself facing further charges of sexual assault.
All of the above are examples of why I do not want any association with that club, however it is the most disgraceful and shameful episode in their history which repulses me most; the sexual abuse of young footballers at their club during the reign of John “Jock” Stein, and the subsequent cover-up carried out by the club. Sexual abuse which Stein not only knew about, but helped the club conceal.
“Away from first-team and club matters, which were bad enough, another issue was beginning to raise its ugly head at the club. Within a month of my arrival one of the young players asked to see me in my office. 'Here we go,' I thought. 'That didn't take long. Here's a youngster in to complain about not being in the team. Straight away he's going to be into me to give him his chance.' He sat down and told me that he had had problems on a trip to North America with the youth team. One of the fellas in charge had made advances towards him.”
“As a manager you expect to have to sort out all sorts of problems. But this wasn't one I ever saw coming. I was staggered. To be frank, I didn't know how to respond for the best. Clearly the kid was distressed about what had happened, but I felt I couldn't just approach the accused and ask him to explain himself without proof. My hands were tied, in a way. I felt completely stuck and out of my depth. I spoke to my staff. They were shocked. My gut feeling was that the kid was speaking the truth, but there was no mechanism within the club or within my experience to deal with it. It was a police matter if anything. Any investigation had to start with them. And that's exactly what happened.”
“A couple of years later it all came out. Celtic Boys' Club founder Jim Torbett was convicted of sexual abuse of three players, including Alan Brazil.”
“Frank Cairney, the manager of the Boys' Club, was charged but not convicted. It emerged that years earlier Jock Stein knew all about Torbett and kicked him out of the club. The wish to maintain the good name of Celtic, if that were ever a good enough reason, was the only thing that kept the issue from coming to light at that point. There was a string of allegations by young lads whose dreams of playing for Celtic were exploited, but it was the testimony of Alan Brazil, David Gordon and James McGrory that brought the matter to court, and Torbett to justice.”
Taken from “Football, My Life” by former Celtic player and manager Lou Macari.
When the Penn State scandal broke in the United States the striking similarities between Penn State and the cover-up of sexual abuse at Celtic FC, offered the Scottish media an ideal opportunity to revisit the scandal at Celtic Park, and yet once again; not one Scottish media outlet was willing to run with the story.
http://www.npr.org/2011/11/08/142111804/penn-state-abuse-scandal-a-guide-and-timeline
So, while players and former players were hoping to see the draw pair our club with Celtic, I had no desire at all to see us paired with them. I care not about events on the pitch, I suspect we would be shown to be inferior in that department, but I fear that a meeting of our club versus them would see the streets of Glasgow run with blood.
Even before the end of David Murray’s tenure at our club, we were being been pilloried, battered, and treated disgracefully by almost everyone in the Scottish media and since administration it has been much worse. Joined by Scottish footballs’ governing bodies and by many of its member clubs and supporters the media have wasted no opportunities to put the boot into our club. While we were being humiliated by the media and our private business was being criminally leaked to the outside world, the media were in raptures as each new article was published, and yet not one journalist was willing to carry out any investigative work into establishing the source of the leaks, and uncovering the crime which was being committed.
We were labelled cheats, tax dodgers and zombies. The BBC carried out a campaign of misinformation which it was later forced to admit was the case, its presenters attacked our club with impunity. A book was published based on the information obtained, at least partially illegally. Our club was accused of denying people hospital treatment and education as we were labelled tax cheats, and every aspect of our club and its dealing was forensically examined and investigated by the media, yet not one single journalist tried to do a bit of investigative work into the story behind the story. The set of circumstances which saw David Murray held to ransom by the bank and forced to sell the club to the charlatan Craig Whyte.
They tried to steal our identity and our history, they tried to steal our honours and our dignity, they tried to destroy us, and they failed.
Not once during the whole episode did I witness impartiality among the media. All I witnessed was a feeding frenzy which saw us being attacked every day.
We have seen the meaning of the word ‘fenian’ changed in dictionaries to accommodate those who wanted the song The Billy Boys banned. They had to have the meaning changed so that they could deem it offensive and be offended by it. Believe me; the only reason that they changed the meaning of the word was because it suited their own bigoted agenda. Some officials within our club along with the RST’s Mark Dingwall claimed to have seen a letter which stated that UEFA had banned the song, and yet it has only recently come to light that Paul Murray has never seen the letter, and he stated that he didn’t actually know anyone who had, so I don’t believe that it actually exists. If that is the case, then why did club officials and supporters representatives claim to have seen it? Have they lied?
There is nothing within the lyrics of the Billy Boys which could be described as any worse than the lyrics of the unofficial Scottish anthem Flower of Scotland, and yet we are led to believe that one is offensive while the other is acceptable. I would like to see what the European Court of Human rights has to say on this, as I believe it is a case of discrimination by the Scottish government.
While we were accused of robbing children of education and the sick of hospital treatment, I have yet to see a single Scottish journalist carry out an investigation into the land deals between Glasgow City Council and Celtic Football Club. Deals which saw large areas of land sold to Celtic, by Labour councillors at ridiculously low prices: land which Celtic then used as collateral when negotiating low interest loans for their club with the Co-op bank which was headed by Labour supporter Paul Flowers. At a time when the Labour party were benefitting from the generosity of the Co-op bank and Labour Party members of Parliament were also figuring prominently on the board at Celtic Park, it cannot be a coincidence that the land deals between the Labour led Council, the Labour party members in the Celtic boardroom and the Labour links within the Co-op bank, saw Celtic gain such a financial advantage over the rest of Scottish football.
I wonder how the Co-op shareholders and small investors feel about seeing their money used to help a football club gain an unfair sporting advantage while they struggle to make ends meet during the current financial climate. I also wonder how the people of Glasgow feel about their elected representatives giving away prime real estate at bargain basement prices to a football club while they see their rents and council tax rise. Perhaps if there was any impartiality left in Scottish journalism and the media, someone would have taken up this story and run with it.
Alas impartiality died a long time ago when it came to the Scottish media.
The way our club has been treated, while Celtic FC and its behaviour has gone widely unreported has been disgraceful and it is understandable why journalists rubbed their hands with glee at the prospect of a Rangers v Celtic Cup match. It’s not about the football, they want to see fighting on the streets and terraces because that gives them the big story. The actions of the Scottish media have created an animosity between the clubs, the likes I have never seen in forty years, and should the two clubs meet, the blood will be on their hands!