My publisher sent me this last night and it is definitely worth a read.
This time six years ago the small team that got “Downfall” to market were working at a breakneck pace.
One of the main reasons for our urgency was that my publisher was convinced that there would be a deluge of books on the death of Rangers.
However, our haste was rather in vain.
Downfall remains the only book on the subject written by a journalist.
Consequently, it has become the locus classicus on the death of that football club.
It became a bestseller in Scotland in 2012, despite only being on the shelves from early September.
Folk in the publishing world know that getting book reviews is vital to any sales success.
However, there was only ONE mainstream review of Downfall in Scotland.
You can read it here.
As ever Kevin McKenna didn’t miss:
Three years ago Mac Giolla Bhain began to post blogs about the approaching perfect financial storm that was about to hit Rangers and which would eventually engulf it within two years. If Mac Giolla Bhain had been employed as a staffer on any of Scotland’s dozen or so national newspaper titles he would be a certainty to be crowned sportswriter of the year, news reporter of the year and journalist of the year for his work on the Rangers story. Yet not even the merest hint of his name will be breathed at the annual industry awards bash early next year.
Of course, it should not have been a journalist in another country who was the main chronicler of the death of Rangers.
Scottish based journalists who should have put their stamp on that story instead decided that it was safer to pretend that it didn’t happen at all!
Consequently, their coverage of the Sevco shitshow since then has been even more shameful and cowardly than their many failures over the Rangers story.
Perhaps they looked at what happens to anyone who would dare tell the truth about what happened at Ibrox.
Everyone probably knows about the Salman Rushdie Satanic Verses controversy.
However, only a few within the publishing world would know the identity of the book editor.
Yet the person who fulfilled that vital role in getting Downfall to market was deemed a legitimate target for the klan.
Thankfully, Angela Haggerty had her day in court and Mr David Limond of the “Rangers Chat” podcast received six months in prison for his hate crimes.
People tend to reveal their true character under pressure and Ms Haggerty quietly demonstrated that she is made of the right stuff.
Much to the chagrin of the klan she hasn’t gone away you know.
Angela is now a national newspaper columnist and a regular media commentator in various TV studios in the UK.
Of course, she should never have been a target for The People, but she was.
The entire saga around Downfall convinced me of the ugly amorality of the Ibrox klanbase and the cowardice of those on the sports desks.
Consequently, I couldn’t Do Walking Away from reporting on what was happening at Ibrox after 2012.
The Sevco freak show has produced a dazzling array of bizarre characters, from Charles of Normandy to the Convict Chairman.
However, the chaps on the sports desks have been craven throughout and have observed the stenography protocols.
Not all journalists failed to step up about the Rangers saga.
Those out with Fair Caledonia saw the significance of the Ibrox story.
I was honoured that a journalist of the standing of Alex Thomson of Channel 4 News would agree to write the foreword.
“A tale of our times, brilliantly told”.
Many thanks Alex!
Despite an all-out effort by the klan, the bookshops in Glasgow never did refuse to take a bestselling book that had local interest.
It is still on sale, still in print.
It was good that the klan failed in their censorious quest.
Books being banned is a canary down the mine in any free society and is something worth remembering.
Someone way ‘out there’ on the far Left concerned about censorship of opposing ideas, and the banning of books. The Left constantly lies both outright and by omission in the mass media, denies free-speech in university campuses to any speaker not on the Left, and openly tries to ban any books on university campuses that offer an non-Marxist narrative of reality – ie reality. We all know who are the real fascists. It’s not to do with what colour football shirt they wear but where their political allegiances lie. That canary you talk of croaked in the 1960s once the Left took over the universities and created the new narrative to support their political agenda.
Phil,
Your blog took me a welcomed walk down memory lane as I recalled back to that time. Well, it did initially…. However, as I read on and your blog reminded me of the various stories surrounding the derailed careers of Graham Spiers, Jim Spence, Angela Haggerty and even of the Waterstones intimidation/under the counter selling, I wound up reflecting on just how shameful the SMSM is in my hometown of Glasgow, particularly that of its sporting hack element.
I moved away from Glasgow in 2009 and now reside overseas in Oceania and do look back on our little nation with a mixture of sadness, bewilderment and utter fury at times. I am a passionate Scot, with strong Donegal routes like yourself, and proud to pronounce where my family and I hail from but there are some elements of my hometown origin that horrify me and the Rangers saga and aftermath is just one of them.
My job takes me all over the world and, unfortunately, no matter where one goes it would appear there is always some muppet ready to play the Klansmen. During a recent stint in the Middle East a colleague of mine (from Glasgow), who I barely know outside our sporadic interactions at work, took it upon himself, knowing my creed and Club, to patronizingly wish me a ‘Happy Twelfth of July’ and ask if I was I ‘looking forward to my bonfire tonight’. I initially attempted to play down his rouse and instead took the discussion back to football, knowing he was of course a big Sevco fan. The delusion that followed his initial championing of Steven Gerrard was nauseating. Commentary of ‘what was done to our club’ to ‘the rest of Scottish football ganged up on us’, rounded off with an assurance from him that they were in fact the ‘same Club’ (none of which had any evidence to support it I might add) left me utterly baffled at how the message as allowed to be spun from the Scottish Press was so easily absorbed by these eejits, including their contingent of well educated professionals.
This discussion also took place during the week of the shameful attack on Canon Tom White and he seemed at pains to point out that it was their ‘right to march’ and that ‘freedom of speech was everything’. Freedom of speech, hmmm… I’m not so sure the same applies when reporting accurately on all matters Rangers (or now Sevco), with a line inclusive of Mr Spiers, Mr Spence and Ms Haggerty acting as hard evidence of what happens to one exercising their rights when concerning a certain football Club and/or its following. Really is shameful stuff and I consider myself blessed some days to be away from it all, albeit I’ll never forget where I came from.
In closing, I detest everything about the carcass of the now defunct Rangers Football Club and that of the tribute act that now follows it. I look forward to the day when you get to write a sequel to Downfall, only this time I hope honest facts over fiction will prevail everywhere, including the SMSM, but that next time around they never come back.
Long into the future Angela will, like yourself Phil be an enduring icon for the profession of faithful journalism.
I’ve written often saying I want their anguish and the way they constantly make fools of themselves to go on for ever – toads, SMSM, plod, all of them, but why hasn’t the story been picked up by the media further afield?
First look shows that what happens in Scotland is of zero interest to people outside of the UK,
I’ve tested the Sevco story with contacts from at least seven European countries, most recently with a Belgian football supporter who didn’t even know the full facts behind the Boyata debacle. They are just not interested in Scotland, don’t know about the institutional bigotry and couldn’t care less.
What about English media? Pound to a piece of shivco the BBC and STV have warned off their southern counterparts, likewise the tabloids, leaving the unionist establishment oratory and the Guardian who have their own Scottish readership tp worry about in these times of peril.
The accountancy press are niche and no more then a whisper.
Have Aberdeen asked the P&J to lay off for fear of being bombed out?
Controversially, and I think many will disagree with me, but the Scotsman may be the only one who could break ranks and spill their guts on it.
Phil, I remember well going into Waterstones in Sauchiehall St to purchase two copies of your book. I looked around the book stands and shelves, but saw no sign. I then approached the girl behind the counter and enquired if they stocked Downfall. She smiled at me, knowingly, and reached beneath the counter. She said they’d been told their shop would be “smashed up” if the book was on display, and that their displays would be checked every day, just to make sure.
This is Glasgow, in the 21st century.
Yes.
Several shop staff-always women as I recall-were abused by heroic members of the klan.
great read Phil I couldn’t put it down. Many thanks.
If you were to write a sequel, perhaps at a time when the new club either experiences the ecstasy of winning its first trophy, or the ignominy of an administration event, I think ‘Shameless’ would be an appropriate title because it extends beyonds the actions of the club to the media and the Scottish legal authorities.
Sevco fans have told me that it is only the 6 year old company that operates the 146 year old club that can experience ‘the ignominy of an administration event’.
Phil – the “holocaust deniers” in the SMSM are comfortable in their own wee world, afraid to rock the boat, lest they have a major shareholding in the glazing industry, and with stabproof vest manufacturers.
Tell me this – is Downfall only available in the UK? If so, perhaps may be a good time to despatch a few complimentary copies in the direction of the sports media desks in places such as Boston, New York, etc. I’m quite certain our Irish American friends would express an interest. I’m sure that if these guys questioned the credibility of the contents of your book, they would be in touch with you, and perhaps might even get them doing their own digging.
Always remember that the iceberg that sank the Titanic started out as a mere snowflake. It took time to build itself up from that small flake, but eventually it created devastation. Maybe a fellow journalist Stateside would read your “snowflake”, harvest pertinent information from it, then slowly but surely, turn the contents of your book (and other sources of information) into the “iceberg” that sinks Sevco, and all that are associated with them. I, for one, would cheer massively when the Good Ship Sevco sails full steam ahead into that iceberg!
Steven, I assume you believe the SMSM are re-writing history by denying that Rangers FC were liquidated in 2012. Ironically you use 2 examples of re-writing of history to make your point! Just as Phil did a sterling job regarding his research into the truth of the downfall of Rangers FC, may I suggest you research the truth of what happened to the Titanic, that the sinking was an insurance job and the Titanic’s identity was swapped with her crippled sister ship the Olympic. So in fact it was the Olympic masquerading as the Titanic that actually sunk despite what history tells us. Regarding the Holocaust story, I could tell you that the official story is as fake as the Rangers continuation fable or the Titanic / Olympic switcheroo, but to do so would risk imprisonment. Re-writing of history to suit an agenda is nothing new, it happens all the time, some are more gullible than others and believe the official narrative they are told without question. No doubt, in about 10 years time, anyone who states Rangers FC died in 2012 will be considered a tin foil hat conspiracy theorist.
Before I research the truth re the Titanic, maybe I should drink a couple of pints of bendy water? As for the holocaust, I’ve been to visit Bergen-Belsen and can assure you that, at no time, has it been a holiday camp run by either Pontins or Butlins.
The Best Titanic Conspiracy Documentary (2012) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOeIdDXN8SM
It is a story that has left many questions unanswered, and the documentary provides an intriguing hypothesis that the ship that plummeted two miles to the bottom of the sea was not the Titanic but its sister ship the Olympic. This film is based upon the research of Andrew Newton and includes the evidence of the British and American inquiries, the eye witness reports of survivors, newspapers of the day, photographs, video, film and radio broadcasts. The views and opinions presented in this film are based on actual evidence and legitimate inference. The people depicted are all deceased and can shed no light on the mystery of the Titanic’s sinking. This hypothesis is presented for viewers to reach their own conclusions.
Steven Rowan – You have been getting LIED to about everything ever since the day you were born. As for the “Holocaust” the REAL “Holocaust” was the at LEAST 12 and a half MILLION Germans that were carpet bombed, raped and murdered by the Allies – MILLIONS of German POWs were put into open fields AFTER the war and left to starve to death and all because Hitler/Germany did the RIGHT thing – if you Google Paisley Expressions and the Jesus, Hitler and Wizard of Oz post on there just now you will find out what that right thing was and maybe then you can question why our Governments and Political Parties did not do the same as Hitler/Germany did back then and why they are still not doing the same today – You are just like the Rangers fans who believe everything they are told by the mainstream media – over 88% of what they put out has always been FAKE news and PROPAGANDA. Funny how they have NEVER exposed the FACT that the Jews claimed that the Romans Holocausted 6 MILLION of them in 70 AD in the Roman/Jewish War back then or that at LEAST HUNDREDS of other countries since then have or were about to Holocaust 6 MILLION of them right up to before Hitler even came to power – wonder why they do NOT teach any of that in schools either? Funny how they also do not tell or teach that the British have in their archives all of the records of the German radio traffic after they broke the Enigma Codes of the Germans trying desperately to keep the inmates of these LABOUR Camps alive after the TYPHUS that was the real killer of the just less than 300,000 people in TOTAL who died in ALL LABOUR Camps during the war – they couldn’t get enough Zyclon B to the camps to kill off the LICE that was causing the TYPHUS because of the Allied Bombing. Before WW2 these camps were TRANSIT Camps to move these people OUT of Germany. You should start educating yourself instead of believing everything that you are told and just because you visited a camp they are trying to pass off as being a deliberatel death camp just as they are trying to pass of this FAKE Rangers as being the LIQUIDATED one does not make it true – You could start with this guy who lost his job because he was exposing the MYTH of the Holocaust with plenty more EVIDENCE out there in video and book form as well for those who want to actually use their brains instead of just believing everything that they are told : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VWyevfJTlw
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!!…
On the plus side, anybody with shares in pharmaceuticals will be grateful for your contribution toward their enhanced share dividend this financial year!! 😉
The sales of tin foil helmets and blinkers must be through the roof as well Steven when you read some of the twaddle on here lately (not you Phil). Just as well speech is free. Hmmmm. HH
Well said Billy Carlin, its good to know there are still some people out there who think for themselves rather than accept the drip feed mainstream propaganda day after day.
How’s the weather on your planet ?
Well said, John.
So the sunken Titanic wasn’t the Titanic after all? Some folk buy into every conspiracy out there and conspiracies are even more manufactured drivel than the real truth. Ha ha ha ha. HH
Condemnation without investigation is both ignorant and stupid. Perhaps if I told you the switching of the Titanic and its almost identical sister ship the Olympic was an insurance scam planned and covered up by Freemasons you might not be so dismissive. There again, anyone coming out with the term “the real truth” might not have the capacity to research and think for oneself. No doubt you will carry on listening to your telly and the authoritative propaganda voices of the BBC for your “real truth”.
Very narrow minded of you to suggest that I only glean my information from t.v. and that I haven’t looked at other views regarding this subject. A theory is only a theory until the hypothesis has been proven and for me it hasn’t so therefore remains another of those inane conspiracy theories. HH
Please tell me what other views have you looked at regarding this subject? The reason I ask is because anyone seriously looking into it will find the evidence overwhelming that the Olympic and Titanic were switched for insurance purposes. Perhaps you think Rangers liquidation in 2012 is just another of these inane conspiracy theories too?
If both ships were under insured then what would be the benefit of switching them? Anyway that’s a rhetorical question and there are so many different conspiracy theories regarding the Titanic that it has become the norm to believe one or other of them. I know that Rangers were liquidated in 2012 because of primary sources. It is possible to differentiate you know but I don’t want to fall out with you or turn this into a boring saga for the readers so we will agree to disagree. HH
Who investigated the Titanic “switcheroo”?.. You, or another “investigator”? If it was the “investigator”, how do you know that his “facts” are indeed facts? In your quest for the “real truth”, how do you know you’re not being “mind-fucked” by a charlatan, aka a conspiracy theorist? And you accuse others of being “ignorant and stupid”?!!
If you watched the video you wouldn’t need to ask these ignorant and stupid questions.
They really aren’t decent human beings are they.
Never stop Phil.
Sevco fans keep telling me that you are continually referencing the company that died in 2012 and not the club
Thank God you did write the book Phil. It will never go away. Scotlands shame that this rewriting of this saga as it was happening. Reporters constantly refer to Rangers financial troubles, demotion down the leagues and fines as punishment . EBT’s, New club and fines which were never paid by liquidated club. 5
Way agreement. Reagan, Doncaster and Ogilvie. Simplifying and cleverly concealing the facts to the masses.