Sevco played St Josephs at Ibrox on Thursday, July 18th this year.
That is a match that has led to the UEFA sanction.
Now, I have been following how the European outfit works for several years.
I know that the match delegate’s report would be in Nyon within 24hours.
If the Ibrox club was to be cited for any disciplinary breach then the club would know very shortly afterwards.
That’s how UEFA works.
Then, in an entirely coincidental development, the Sevco High Command decided to launch their “Everyone Anyone” campaign the following Monday (22nd July).
Now a cynic might conclude that the timing of this PR splash was rushed out to get ahead of what they knew was coming down the pipe after the klan karaoke the previous Thursday.
I, of course, couldn’t possibly comment.
My information is that news of the guilty verdict was delivered to the basket of assets on Thursday 22nd August.
However, they only learned of the sanction yesterday morning just before the publication on the UEFA website.
Since then it has been Operation Deflection.
Essentially the Sevco High Command have to get ahead of this story.
Firs on the To-Do List has been to excise the “R” word from the mainstream coverage in Scotland.
It was vitally necessary to replace “racism” with “sectarianism”.
Thankfully not everyone was buying that spin.
I doubt that Dr McFadyen (PhD) would find much intellectual stimulation among the sports desk chaps in his native city.
As ever with this malaise, it takes outsiders to see it clearly.
One thing that anyone in charge of Ibrox can always count on is the obedience of the local media almost all of the time.
Yesterday was no different.
If the “R” word remains in the narrative then anti-Irish racism needs to be brought into the equation.
Of course, that traditional hatred in Fair Caledonia is the Unique Selling Proposition of the Ibrox match day experience.
Take that off the menu then very few would be motivated to be in Glebe Park to see the ball getting stuck in the fence for Sevco’s first competitive match in 2012.
When Super Salary asked the klan to go “on the journey” it was a long wade through Fenian blood.
Places like Annan and Elgin had to endure the fascist performance art that is nurtured in the stands at Ibrox.
That is only possible of the owners of said blood can be dismissed and disregarded as being worthy of respect.
If the term “anti-Irish racism” becomes generally associated with the Ibrox subculture then the Irish community in Scotland cannot be ignored any longer.
For the avoidance of doubt, that would not just be a problem for the klan.
It is still possible to sneer and deride the Irish community in Scotland and escape any serious public censure.
In any debate words and their generally understood meaning matters.
The sectarian paradigm excises the ethnic from the analysis and makes the allure of “The Billy Boys” and the “Famine Song” inexplicable.
Of course, this is the task of the Fourth Estate to nail down the facts and frame a narrative that is faithful to what is actually happening on the ground.
Scotland has a far-right problem which has cohered around anti-Irish racism for generations.
Ibrox is racism central for that subculture, although it does also emerge at Tynecastle.
The difference is that Ann Budge really does want rid of the John Wilson fraternity.
Another key component of Operation Deflection will be an “evening up” process by the usual suspects in the local media. Any reference to Irish Republicanism at Celtic matches will be classed as “sectarianism”.
These displays often make me cringe, but that is just my visceral aversion to anything that is historically illiterate.
Anyone who can confuse Éirí Amach na Cásca with the burning of Bombay Street in 1969 has my pity.
However, for the Fitba Fourth Estate to lump that in with the lauding in song of a fascist razor gang led by a member of the Ku Klux Klan is shameful.
Journalism must punch up and never punch down.
Our role is vital in a functioning democracy by holding power to account.
All that has happened since the UEFA sanction was made public has been the shills in the Stenography Corps parroting the party line from Ibrox.
Meanwhile, the Sevco High Command is in a bit of a bind.
They know that future UEFA sanctions could be financially damaging, a closed Ibrox denies them much needed match day revenues.
Moreover, in the aftermath of their fortuitously timed launch of the “Everyone Anyone” campaign last month they must agree with UEFA’s characterisation of the Ibrox songbook.
However, the Off Licence Putsch came to power to the soundtrack of the angry klan storming into Argyle House on the night of January 16 2015.
Two months later Mr David Cunningham King and his Concert Party were in charge.
He referred to the fans as his “co-investors”.
Now he has to tell the same folks that if they’re racists then the club is not for them.
For the avoidance of doubt, he needs to be putting out that message like he needs another big bill from Mike Ashley!
The saving grace in all of this for the Sevco High Command is that the local media are on message.
When it comes to matters Ibrox they are craven, cowardly and complicit.
Essentially, they will do as they are told.
There are, of course, very honourable exceptions to that entirely valid generalisation.
However, they have been seen to publicly suffer for their fidelity to the truth about the klan.
They know who they are.
The Ibrox match day experience has, for generations, been about anti-Irish racism.
It has been about hating Scotland’s multi-generational Irish community.
A key component of this racist double-bind inflicted upon the community that reared me was to deny our very existence as part of the Irish diaspora.
Therefore the neuroscientists who came up the “Famine Song” in 2008 thought they were making sense.
“The Famine is over. Why don’t you go home?”
Of course, the famine being referenced is An Gorta Mór.
Therefore, the people that the song was aimed at, in some sense, belonged to Ireland.
However, if one of those people wanted to, in any way, celebrate that Irish heritage they would be denigrated.
As Ms Mhairi Black MP might style it they are “plastic”.
Just for a second dear reader imagine that a Scottish politician so publicly smeared any other ethnic minority in Fair Caledonia.
Would they escape without any consequences?
I rest my case.
What is espoused at Ibrox and anywhere that Sevco plays a game is a socially acceptable hatred in modern Scotland.
Now, if that anti-Irish racism is finally banished from Ibrox then UEFA will not need to order the closure of stands, because they will be empty anyway.
Now, it really shouldn’t come down to a Fenian in Donegal to by laying all this all out for you dear reader.
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Joseph, my good man. Now see here. Did you really use the word ‘mo’ in your post. Does 10th July 1989 not ring a bell? I am most upset by this and may have to have a stiff drink to get over the shock. HH
Cyan, I take your point, and very well made it was too. I was of course not talking about banning real journalists from CP. If that was the impression I gave, an apology from me is warranted.
Here’s the thing that I was trying to get across, none to successfully it seems. Sure, they can indeed be shown up for the morons that they are at pressers. However, these bigoted Bluenose bastards MAKE A LIVING out of libeling and slandering our club and support time after time. And what are our dear old board doing about this…Sweet F.A. As always. Nay I say. Nay, nay and thrice nay, as a famous man once said.Once these feckers are signing on the dole, they may be amenable to adapting to change. It may take a while, but change is gonna come, as Sam Cooke once sang. By the way, in my opinion we should tell the Ibrox mob to stick their tickets for Sunday’s game, right where the sun don’t shine. HH
Completely off topic, but I assume that since we haven’t heard anything to the contrary sevco came up with Ashley’s legal bill down payment ten days ago. Or did I sleepwalk through something and miss it?
The Sun is running with a story that Rangers 2012 has been ‘linked’ with a bid for the Amiens striker Konate for €10 euros.
Hang on a mo. Is this the same club that can’t afford the £7m Liverpool want for Kent, Gerrard”s number one summer target?
Is this another indication that the Colombian man/child is on the move to pastures new in Europe?
Wouldn’t even wipe somebody else’s arse with that rag. NOT that I run around wiping other people’s arses let me be clear! But you get my drift…….hopefully!
Looks as if either Morelos, Tavernier, or both will be gone by the end of the week with the Scottish media attempting to soften the blow with today’s back page Gerrard headlines ‘I fear losing a top player before the window closes.’
The result of Thursday night’s game might be immaterial with Sports Direct’s bill on the way but failure to secure Europa Group participation will be a financial disaster.
Going where? The English window is closed to the big boys. They are NOT going to La Liga, Serie A or the Bundesliga. To my mind they are both, at best, English League One players. That’s not £10m per head. That’s the kind of bawbees sevco need.
No doubt that today, Thursday and next Sunday we will be treated to the entire racist songbook that the ‘minority’ of their support are so fond of.
Once again the lack of response to the UEFA charge from the SFA/SPFL is a complete embarrassment, almost up there with Maxwell’s ignorance of basic English language…… well almost!
Anyone who thought that the appointment of Maxwell would herald a new dawn in Scottish football governance will be sadly disappointed.
What particular qualifications he brought to the post remain a mystery clouded in secrecy.
O level English wasn’t one of them.
Is it a pre requisite for employees of the governing body to be a member of a secret society?
Perhaps when the diversity officer gets round to opening one of my frequent letters on the subject we will get an answer.
Nothing has changed since Maxwell’s appointment and those involved in waiving through the fraudulent 2012 UEFA licence are still in situ.
The shadow and shame of the Farry and Dallas episodes won’t be forgotten.
There is absolutely no evidence that the culture that allowed these odious individuals to flourish has changed one iota.
In fact it’s worse with the 5 way agreement, treating Newco as if it was Oldco, and awarding the trophies of the liquidated club to a club formed in 2012.
Just wondering. If UEFA have decided to take action on this against Sevco, would they have the power to take action against the SFA for failure to acknowledge this in the past, at present, or in the future.
If they do have such powers what sanctions could be taken.
Anyone know?
Yes.
http://etims.net/?p=14519
Every club has its share of bigots, racists, crazies.
Normally this would be balanced by an equal amount of free thinking, intelligent, forward thinking fans with a view of the bigger picture.
I’ve given up on any hope of such fans coming forward at Ibrox as they would be shouted down and labeled as haters by their fellow supporters.
Up to their knees in Fenian blood, no surrender, WATP!
Where is the ‘decent’ element of the Rangers support that doesn’t hate Catholics, Irish, the SNP and anyone else who is intent on putting them down?
Don’t they realise that the real hater was SDM who when confronted with the choice of selling to Whyte and ridding himself of the club jumped at the opportunity with the bank incentivising him with the chance to buy back part of Murray Int Metals, his original love child.
That was the final nail in the old club’s coffin.
Lets not forget that Whyte was portrayed as a billionaire with wealth off the radar, particularly with the Daily Ranger and ace reporter Keith ‘ scoop’ Jackson.
”A Fenian in Donegal ” ?
Weren’t you born and raised in Scotland , Phil ?
It was your choice to leave – many of us stay and try to improve things from Ground Zero , but we don’t continually praise ourselves for our efforts although we wish to see ALL prejudice removed from our society .
Gradually , though certainly not quickly enough , things are improving . Having lived 70 years in this country that you relentlessly denigrate , I see that there have been great improvements since the days when I was asked ”What school I went to ” when applying for a job .
The Kulture which clings on at Ibrokes and in the OO are the dying remnants of a time when open prejudice against the Irish/Catholic community was the norm – that is NOT the case today , despite your protestations .
As for the ”plastic Irishman ” comment – I for one understood the context in which the comment was made having been raised by a mother who defined this concept .
HH
http://www.theirishvoice.com/news/mhairi-blacks-reference-to-plastic-irishmen-is-totally-unacceptable-for-a-member-of-parliament/
“The phrase is a cheap and nasty way of undermining the Irish community. It suggests that any identification with Ireland is false, artificial or contrived. What is it about the Irish community in Scotland that Mhairi Black feels is insincere or fake?”
“…cheap and nasty…”
Your mother did you no favours on that one.
Phil, I have no idea of the context in which that remark was made, but I can assure you I know SCORES of plastic Irishmen. And plastic Irish boys. They are an absolute embarrassment to the country of their ancestors. AND FAR TOO MANY OF THEM gather at Celtic Park. They sing Irish rebel songs that they have NO IDEA of the origins of. Boys, who have NEVER been to Ireland, who’s fathers have NEVER been to Ireland, who’s grandfathers have NEVER been to Ireland, other than maybe to Dublin on a stag weekend. And the CFC claim that these are not “sectarian” songs but “political” songs is frankly a pile of shite. These people are incapable of making such a distinction.
The battle for Irish independence that went on for hundreds of years, to many of them, started with the Provos who DIDN’T EXIST before Bloody Sunday. Or if they existed before that they were a complete irrelevance.
They are as big an embarrassment to us as the waders SHOULD be across the city. When we get OUR HOUSE IN ORDER we can criticise them.
Oh aye another thing, Billy Fullerton’s gang were a bit different from the razor wielding gangs of their day. They favoured broken bottles.
Charger, What makes you judge and jury over Irishness?
That’s quite a sweeping stereotyping of thousands of people in the Irish diaspora.
My Irish ancestors came over here at the turn of the century as economic migrants.
There’s no longer an Irish accent on my side of the family.
Do I forfeit the right to feel even a little Irish? I am proud of both my Irish and Scottish heritage.
I know my Irish history though I am no expert and I’m sure there’s plenty more I could learn.
So in your opinion I’m a ‘plastic Paddy’ because I would sing Irish Rebel songs (I don’t sing them at Celtic Park, with the exception being the Irish National Anthem).
This is where I actually agree with you. I would like to see an end to the singing of songs which ARE political (they are not sectarian) at Celtic Park.
But I would like you to quote me just one line from an Irish Rebel song which is sectarian in nature.
I am most certainly NOT judge and jury over Irishness. I NEVER said thousands. I said SCORES that I personally know. And you are missing my point entirely. The songs are NOT in themselves sectarian. But the people singing them, certainly the people I’m referring to, INTEND them to be. I would lay good money that you could write their collective knowledge of the last five hundred years of Irish history on the back of a stamp! Probably with a heavy felt-tip pen.
My maternal grandparents came over here from Donegal at the start of the twentieth century with their children. They had another couple of kids here and then returned home. My mother was the youngest of the second wave of Donegal kids. My father came to Scotland as a teenager in the nineteen thirties with his best friend. One of my mother’s brothers who had been born here. Both served in WW2, along with other brothers from both sides of my family. My mother and father married in the fifties and she joined him here. I was born here in 1955.
I AM SCOTTISH AND PROUD OF IT. First generation Scottish. Almost all of the people I’m referring to are 3rd, 4th or 5th generation Scots. The majority don’t even know whereabouts in Ireland their ancestors came from.
The FACT that I am Scottish does NOT mean I have forgotten my Irish roots. I am incredibly proud of them. As a child and teenager I spent so many happy times in Donegal. That however, does NOT mean I proclaim myself Irish at every opportunity, (other than to occasionally wind some specific people up! But that’s another story and part of a long established game.)
Despite the fact that my ashes will one day be scattered at a very specific place in Donegal, Scotland is my COUNTRY, Ireland is my HERITAGE. The two should not be confused.
Another ignorant Scot!!! Wow
You are very fortunate to not encounter the real Scotland every day. Since I had the misfortune to have to move back to a country I had escaped I think things have regressed and are much worse than when I left over a decade ago. I still get asked what school I attended and I am 50 years of age.
A country with deep rooted racism and populated by a large swathe of illiterate belligerent no marks whom would not last ten minutes in employment in many other countries.
Scotland is a beautiful country, unfortunately it’s population needs to raise the bar considerably, but it is so insular it can’t see its own failings. Having worked across the Atlantic and throughout the UK, I can assure you Scotland is a bigoted toilet with a useless government with chips on their shoulders whom I wouldn’t trust to change a light bulb.
Moving on, regards the “singing issue” over at The Debt Star;
Remember that the main authority that has delegates at all of their league matches is the SPFL. The SFA as governing body only have the right to sanction in the Scottish Cup, however as UEFA are once again involved in disciplinary issues regarding a club/company playing at Ibrox then the least you would expect is the SFA warning Sevco to get the finger out!
Two main problems here are that the football authorities are full of guys who see nothing wrong with it as it is ingrained in them and also that they can’t be bothered with the ensuing hassle and bullets and bombs in the post.
I regularly tweeted the SPFL and ask if their delegates required hearing aids. I then asked if I could pay to attend matches with said delegates to see if they needed a translator. The SPFL blocked me. So did the SFA after I asked the same question involving delegates at Scottish Cup ties. Calling the SFA twitter guy a spineless prick didn’t help admittedly.
The tragedy in all of this is that Sevco are worried about the ramifications for their club, there hasn’t been one single utterance of condemnation of the racism. They just don’t get it because it is in their DNA.
As for the orange strips, every man, woman, child and Sevconian thug knows why they are there and what they represent, to deny it is to lie.
I was at a social gathering as recently as last week at a table of guests of 20 people, most of whom had only been introduced on the evening, and the host openly said that he only employed “good bears”, I interjected by saying I hope you are joking and that it was illegal and a symptom of the problems that runs to the core in Scotland.
The subject was changed immediately after an uncomfortable laugh. Only two people at the table spoke with me for the rest of the meal.
I left as soon as the meal was finished as I was with two other work colleagues. The host knows now, in no uncertain terms, that our business dealings are at an end.
This country is bigoted and racist to its bitter core. They are the vast majority and we should forget the fantasy that they are a dying breed. Their hate is alive and well and thriving. It will take several more centuries before their numbers dwindle to offer parity to the minorities in Scotland.
Never underestimate the establishment. Never underestimate their desire to keep alive any form of football at Ibrox, it is the lower class outlet for their legions. On a par with their animals marching the streets, featuring many of the same people. Meanwhile government ministers sit in silence. The police do nothing as the majority of them are the same animals. The football authorities do nothing and so on and so forth.
Some of their grandchildren may well end up being Celtic supporters but they are still large in numbers and are wounded, they have circled the wagons and are lashing out. This ugly festival of hate still has many acts and scenes to run.
All we can do is try to keep our own house in order and let them play out their denial, accusations and hypocrisy.
The best thing the Celtic Support can do is refrain from using the term OB or Hun in anything they chant or sing.
That way the usual deflection techniques used by the SFA and Police Scotland cannot be deployed and the usual line of its two cheeks of the same arse cannot be applied.
Time those attending Celtic games got savvy on the issue.
I agree wholeheartedly, I neither want them to cheer up or hear them sing at all.
Both those songs annoy me and are pointless.
If they are happy they are winning, if they are singing they are winning. I want them silent, unhappy and losing.
The word ‘Hun’ is neither sectarian or racist.
It is simply a derogatory term (used by fans of all other clubs) for the fans of that Ibrox club, and based on a comparison of their behaviour to a 5th century tribe of nomadic and warlike people.
It is entirely accurate and appropriate.
The fact that they dislike it and try to label it as sectarian is pathetic and amusing at the same time. If anything it would be the 5th century Huns who should be offended.
I will never stop using it as long as there is a club calling itself Rangers.
To paraphrase the club themselves…
‘Huns then, Huns now , Huns forever!’
Your last paragraph nails it. Bang on!
Not sure what I actually replied to there. It was meant to be Magdalena’s 1:59pm comment.
I don’t think it is a fantasy that they are a dying breed. I do however agree that things recently have got worse, particularly since 2012. I think what we are now witnessing are the death throws of a beast that KNOWS it’s dying. The death though, could be a long protracted affair and the beast could still cause a lot of damage and suffering before it breathes its last, and our beautiful wee country can call itself civilized.
The SFA should take further action on Hearts, Kilmarnock, Dunfermline e.t.c. and stop burying their heads in the sand and leaving it all up to UEFA. By allowing the racism to continue without repercussion proves that those in charge of the game in this country are happy to condone it. HH
Phil, what’s your take on this, as a journalist. I am half-way through ‘Celtic Minded 4’ and many of the foot-notes refer to articles by the bold Bill Leckie. I had forgotten what on odious piece of trash this Ayrshire bigot is. My question for the PLC board is this:why are anti-Celtic bigots like Leckie, Jackson and the like not banned from CP and their red-top rags with them. After all, if someone comes into your home and constanlty insults and belittles you, at some point you have the legal right to f@@k them out on their bigoted fat arses, do you not?
Now I’m not saying for a minute that I would wish for a green-tinted succulent lamb mob in reverse. However I do expect fairness. It seems that this quality is sadly lacking when it comes to the ‘gentlemen’ of the press in Scotland. Oh for an Ian Archer, Hugh Taylor or Jimmy Sanderson these days. We can but dream. HH
Not so sure about Jimmy Sanderson, but I would seriously love to see a John Fairgrieve. An astute and brutally honest journalist and an absolute gentleman.
I’ll take your word for it Charger…did not know Mr Fairgrieve personally. Most Celts thought he was a Hun, and, most Huns thought he was a Tim. I believe he was a Jambo. HH
Think he probably was.
Banning Journalists is not the answer for me.
Taking them to task when they do attend pressers and asking THEM to justify their own words is however a way of turning the focus back onto those who continue to lie,deceive or put misinformation out into the Public domain.
Lock the door behind them,get the camera panned on them and then watch them squirm like maggots as spotlight falls on them and their evident inadequate levels of professionalism.
Terrific article and I couldn’t agree more as a Scot who’s ancestors came to these shores seeking food and shelter under the most horrific conditions.
Keep shining the torch into the murky crevices of Scottish mainstream media hypocrisy Phil.
Scotland’s shame right enough 👏🏼