It’s not been a good couple of weeks for Celtic Football Club.
After the disgraceful scenes witnessed in Amsterdam in which Celtic supporters brought shame on their club and Scottish football, the last thing they needed while people were protesting their innocence, were further examples of their religious and political intolerance.
Last weekend the sporting wing of the IRA among the Celtic support unfurled banners carrying a political message regarding the H blocks at The Maze, and linked it to the Scottish song flower of Scotland which is used as an unofficial Scottish anthem on many sporting occasions. Flower of Scotland is a song which celebrates a victory over another race (in this case the army of King Edward II of England) and in its lyrics it tells of sending proud Edwards defeated army, ‘homewards to think again’. Oddly, the IRA supporters among the Celtic support chose not to sing the unofficial Scottish song, but instead sang the song, ‘Roll of Honour’ which is banned due to its reference to Irish Republican terrorists who committed the sectarian murders of innocent British men, women and children.
I would like to ask Mr Salmond why it is acceptable to sing songs glorifying the defeat of the English at Scottish sporting occasions, and yet it is illegal to sing songs which rejoice in the defeat of Irish warriors at sporting occasions?
There is no difference Mr Salmond. You know it, I know it, and everyone else knows it. The truth is; promoting one suits your political agenda, and criminalising the other suits your political agenda. It is shameless hypocrisy!
I saw the political display and I wondered what the media and the governing bodies of Scottish football were going to make of it. I know that that all of footballs governing bodies object strongly to the sport being used for political purposes and the display of political banners at Celtic Park breaches numerous rules as set out by FIFA and UEFA.
Monday came, and with it nothing in the media, and silence from the SPFL and SFA. This only confirmed what I already knew; we as a country are being let down by a media being led by people with their own political agendas, and our own football governing bodies who are controlled by Peter Lawwell and his Celtic connections.
The following day; the day of their Champions League match, the press reported that a Celtic player, James Forrest had been arrested by Police Scotland on two accounts: one of exposing himself in a public place, and another, more serious charge of sexual assault. Both of these would see the accused placed on the sex offenders register if found guilty, and if the charge of sexual assault is proven, then a custodial sentence is likely. Despite these serious developments regarding one of their high profile players, Celtic put money before principles and morals, and allowed the player to hold the hand of a child as they entered the field of play for the match versus AC Milan, and then played him during the heavy defeat to the struggling Italian club.
Rather surprisingly, this was covered by a small article on the front page of the Scottish Sun, however nothing has yet appeared in other major media outlets regarding this.
Of course, a bad news story about Celtic must be matched by a bigger story about our club, and unsurprisingly, the Sun followed this up the following day with a front page splash containing a non-story about our club, and allegations made by a former employee which remain at this time unsubstantiated.
The lack of a response from the SFA and SPFL after the weekends political display at Celtic Park, was obviously seen as condoning the actions of those who support terrorists, and during the match versus AC Milan, the IRA members and sympathisers within the Green Brigade decided to insult every man, woman and child who has been touched by the cowardly murders committed by the IRA, by conducting another political display; this time with a banner depicting IRA terrorist Bobby Sands, and another depicting William Wallace. The link between IRA terrorist Sands and Wallace was deliberate and provocative, particularly in light of the present political situation in Scotland in the run up to the vote on whether Scotland should become and independent country, or remain a part of the United Kingdom. Mark my words, this is not coincidental; this is part of an orchestrated campaign in the lead up to the referendum in 2014. In recent times, we have witnessed the rise of a sinister underclass within Scottish society. There are people who attack anyone who is seen to be anything other than pro-independence, and that includes sporting heroes such as Sir Chris Hoy.
The use of these displays is incitement. The Irish Republicans know that one of the major obstacles to achieving their aims is the support the British Citizens of Ulster have from the Unionists in Scotland. If the Irish Republicans can assist the Scottish Republicans in achieving their aim of an independent Scotland; it would then weaken the Union to the point where the English, in their ignorance would cut their ties with Ulster.
The political message which they displayed at their Champions League match was clear, and using an IRA terrorist to promote it was further proof that they will stop at nothing.
Are they implying that a vote against independence would see a Scottish Republican Army start a campaign of bullets and bombs against the people of Scotland and the UK? It would appear so.
After this illegal display, UEFA rightfully brought charges against Celtic FC, and once again the myth that Celtic supporters are welcome wherever they go, was exposed. With UEFA taking action, the SFA/SPFL had no other option but to also bring charges against Celtic FC. Quite why it took UEFA to get involved before the SFA/SPFL took action is disgraceful in itself, and the SFA/SPFL now finds itself in the situation where, Peter Lawwell, the man who can issue offensive and inflammatory statements against another member club with impunity, is now in the position where he sits on a board which will discuss his own clubs disgraceful behaviour again. Conflict of interests? You bet there is!
The facts are, Peter knows all about the Green Brigade and their political agenda. He has known this for years and done nothing but appease them. For that reason, he must go immediately. If the SFA/SPFL allow him to continue then they must also go, for they are complicit in this.
For years Celtic have built an empire. While we sat on our backsides, thinking that republicanism was a thing of the past, they worked away behind the scenes. They used politics and politicians to further their aims while we voted for those same politicians. For too many years the elections were a straight fight between the Scottish Nazi Party and Labour because the Scottish Conservatives were blighted by Margaret Thatcher's policies which were perceived by many to be anti-Scottish. For those against Independence, the only real choice was labour, and all the time we were voting for the enemy within our own country.
For all this has been a bad couple of weeks for Celtic FC, it does appear that things may just about to get worse. Finally someone has decided to look a little further into the amount of corruption and influence which has seen the labour party and Celtic FC benefit from what can only be described at this time as extremely dubious practices.
While the labour party members John Reid and Brian Wilson were consolidating their relationships with Celtic FC, the club were consolidating their debt by buying up land from the Labour led GCC, at what can only be described as heavily discounted rates: land which may then have been used as collateral when negotiating loans at a preferential rate from the Co-operative bank. The information is out there in the public domain, and yet not one of the Scottish mainstream media outlets chose to run with the story, what more would it take to convince you that the Scottish media is corrupt to its core?
Only in the last couple of days has this scandal been exposed, with the Times running an article on the links between the Labour party, John Reid, Brian Wilson, the Co-operative Bank, cheap loans, discounted land deals and Celtic Football Club.
Other media outlets are now running with the story:
And it can only be a matter of time before a full parliamentary review and investigation is carried out, or a full independent police investigation is launched into the events which have led to Celtic Football Club allegedly receiving an unfair sporting advantage over their rivals over recent years.
Should this be proven, then Celtic FC may just find themselves under pressure to be stripped of titles, and accused of defrauding tax payers while gaining an unfair advantage in the sporting arena.
For years it appears that Celtic FC have benefitted from political influence. It may just be their downfall.