The difficulty of trying to imagine something worse than the Ibrox ambience

The last few days down the Word Mines proved challenging.

My work on the sequel to The Squad is proving much tougher than I had anticipated.

Essentially there isn’t anything I can imagine that is more dystopian than what we are currently living through.

When I emerged, I was not surprised to learn in the Radar Press that everything is financially tip-top at Sevco.

They always win the Close Season Cup.

It is just real trophies that seem to elude them when those pesky football matches have to be played.

Sadly, I didn’t have to alter my world view when I read that at least one member of the Ibrox klanbase was involved in this shameful incident in Manchester.

Fair play to Burnley FC coming out so strong and condemning the racism in the sky.

In the immediate aftermath of the match, Ben Mee spoke from the heart.

Both player and club acted with good authority.

Indeed, cannot imagine anyone at Sevco calling out the racism of the Ibrox klanbase so unequivocally.

The supporter of the English club also let it be known that the folk behind the plane banner did not speak for them.

Today Jermain Defoe stated that he hoped that players would take a knee at the start of the new season in Scotland.

The observation by my Jambo mate Matt Leslie is unanswerable.

I suspect that Mr Defoe’s support for Black Lives Matter will not go down well with some of the Ibrox klanbase.

Sevco’s dignified clientele are not at their best when it comes to self-awareness.

Moreover, Ibrox has long been a centre of excellence for cognitive dissonance.

Knowing that the world is looking in, the  Ibrox klanbase might initially be on their best behaviour apropos Black Lives Matter.

However, they will see no contradiction in belting out their favourite anthem.

The Billy Boys is a song which fondly remembers a fascist street gang and their eponymous leader.

If anti-Irish racism is part of the cultural furniture, then any espousal of an officially inclusive message is fraught with PR danger.

The recent experience of Mr Richard McDonald should indicate to any rational person that the Everyone Anyone campaign is just marketing fluff.

The poor chap unknowingly committed the mortal sin of speaking the truth about the Ibrox “institution”.

If you can listen to him here [warning Sun Link].

Of course, the fine fellow now in charge of PR  at Sevco is Belfast City Councillor David Graham of the Democratic Unionist Party.

The sea reality is that ant-Irish racism is built into the DNA of the Ibrox klanbase.

It is what defines them.

Therefore, attempting to get behind ANY anti-racist message is a bit awkward for them.

Moreover,  the racism at Ibrox is not always confined to the cheap seats.

It can also be found inside the dressing room.

The Glasgow of Billy Fullerton did not have people of colour as victims of their racist spleen.

Instead, it was the Catholic Irish Untermensch who were the targets of the Ibrox Herrenvolk.

And so, it has remained…

The Ku Klux Klan that Billy Fullerton was a member of was the second iteration of that racist organisation.

This excellent piece by Sarah Churchwell is worth a read.

I selected this quote from it for Twitter.

It is not overreaching to compare the Trump zeitgeist to the ambience of Ibrox, especially when they are remembering their favourite Klansman.

The sequel to The Squad takes some of the original characters and places them in a contemporary Scottish setting.

Warning, there is some Sevco content.

However, what the klan do on a daily basis continually makes the output of my imagination appear anaemic and restrained.

Quite simply, there isn’t anything I can invent as a writer that is as ugly as the reality of Ibrox.

Ok, I have to get back to work.

Stay well all of ye.

42 thoughts on “The difficulty of trying to imagine something worse than the Ibrox ambience”

  1. Im of Irish scots descent and a native of Canada-grew up in the 60s watching civil rights protests south of here.
    Lucky for me saw the dying gasps of Orange control in my province.
    think most folk know a dog whistle when they hear it.
    Of course all lives matter but fact is in my homeland when I get stopped by a policeman for some stupid and officious reason my thought is “the cop is a bully and pompous overbearing clown ” not “Im being stopped because im black”.
    That is the reality of life for people of colour here and more so in the USA.
    Being white its not on my radar.
    Since my 20s in the late 60s our politicians have banged on about acceptance and diversity-which is frankly all to the good.
    The point is though no one here had even considered such notions until the ruling majority started to lose numerical power.
    The inclusivity protected the previous power holders just as much as their former victims.
    No doubt the same drivers apply in the Uk.
    The unspoken subtext of the all lives matter stance is of course -but not as much as white lives.

    Reply
  2. Phil, it’s sad to see the amount of posters on here who just don’t get the subtle nuances of the Black Lives Matter campaign. To say all lives matter or that white lives matter also completely misses the point as not one white person has walked a mile in a black person’s shoes and cannot know the evil that makes white folk treat them as 3rd class citizens. The statistics prove that we live in a racist society and that is a damning indictment in the 21st century.

    I see that some of the not so cuddly bears aren’t with Defoe on the taking a knee business. Too much like a genuflection or just out and out racism?

    Reply
    • At the start of this piece, I made reference to comments that did not pass moderation.
      They were appalling in both the content and the volume.

      Reply
  3. Very sad,
    One thing this article shows,is how much racism exists in Britain.
    Now it is not only racism,but in some cases anger,which is nearly as bad.
    We will never overcome this,unless common sense is used.
    Phil is pointing out,and proving how far reaching this exists,so well done.

    Reply
  4. People do not want to express a opinion on BLM, WLM, ALM, We all know all and any lives matter unless you are a tory or Trump who are more into the economy than lives of who they are supposed to represent regardless of race or colour.

    I get the BLM background I think, racism of any sort is disgusting. But BLM or WLM or Catholic lives matter or protestant or muslim lives matter can be conceived as racist and/or sectarian if you are so inclined.

    I believe there is a minority in the US and UK of fascists and racists and it seems to be growing esp in UK with Farage, Robinson and their followers. Fascism and racism brings wealth to the leaders of those causes. This bitterness is a disease passed thru generations and it dumbs people down to think certain factions are against their way of life. Assylum sekers a real threat to the British way of life?? FFS..

    The sooner Scotland breaks from this union, the better, rejoins the EU and gets strong leaders that want to build a society about peple all lives, colour, races, creed with an openness and a caring, community spirit. New jobs, frsh Ideas and England goes more under US, elitish control. We may find the border moves a few hundred miles south.

    On a football front great to see sevco thrive, when is pay day this month? As Mr Mc Cormick alluded too first tranche of SB money may not pay those owed but may cover the wages this month including those moved on.

    Reply
  5. One of the comments here sounds like something straight out of a BNP manifesto. She’s basically telling BLM ‘to go riot and loot in Africa’. What a ridiculous and ignorant remark. Additionally, black people are not all ‘constantly on edge’ or ‘scared’ about a movement calling for more equality/tolerance. On the contrary, many probably feel more liberated and politically aware. Oppressed people don’t need to remain permanently silent. This includes native Americans. the Irish nation, or of course BLM.

    Reply
  6. A spectrum of conflicting opinions here. What matters to me is that it’s an important scenario for the conflict of words and ideas ref: Camus.
    Personally I think the Everyone – Anyone slogan is hugely appropriate.
    I remember coming out from Leith Docks work one Saturday morning and walking into an impromptu cricket match being played on the pavement by visiting GRFC supporters. They were using fruit stolen from a vegetable shop for balls. Briefly, I was the wicket. I was in overalls, wearing no colours but as the mayhem spread, mother’s screaming, bairns crying, violence was perpetrated on …..? Anyone – Everyone.
    For me that slogan will always read: Arbitrary Unthinking and Indiscriminate. HH

    Reply
  7. There are are whole sections of society becoming very polarised by this movement. That’s worrying and I really don’t think it’s doing anyone any good. To claim that a poster claiming “black lives matter”, is okay, but a poster claiming “white lives matter”, is racist, is frankly absurd. Black lives, White lives, Asian lives or any mix of the aforementioned, ALL matter.

    When I first saw the “black lives matter” banners I have to say I feared some kind of – retaliation is probably too strong a word for what I mean – reaction or response is maybe better.

    I get the sentiment of the banners, but I knew others would look at the words and take it that the message was, “only black lives matter”. Had the banners read “black lives matter too”, or “black lives also matter”, the tone of the message would have been far more inclusive and far more difficult for racists to pick fault with.

    I’m not in any way excusing the reactions of the far right extremists, but I can understand how those with that particular mindset perceive the wording. Remember these people are capable of reading anything even remotely ambiguous in whatever way suits them. The ones who CAN read that is.

    Reply
    • What you dimwits dont get is that by saying “all lives matter” in relation to a section of society that have den discriminated against and abused for hundreds of years is that their lies matter only when White people are involved. White people, in ALL nations, are afforded the full access to institutions and the law that Black peoples simply do not get. This is not a hard concept to grasp and entirely documented. Your answers on these are akin to “I am not racist….but..” and proof of what Phil said. And while people like you, who re not openly racist, but racist nonetheless, your vile club and culture will not change

      Reply
    • Charger, this is a prime example of white privilege. It is as true as death and taxes that all lives cannot matter UNTIL black lives matter.
      That is the whole intent of the BLM campaign. To ensure that black lives are provided with the same protections that white lives do…. frankly the police need to do more in the protective and serve space about how they interface with all of the public. However it is the systematic racism that exists in America that creates a prison system where 75% of that population is black out of only 13% of the population of the country. The exploitation of black America continues, now it’s moving from the prison systems to tagging and home confinement, which still means they would loose their vote.

      Reply
      • “All lives cannot matter until black lives matter.” What complete and utter bollocks!!

        ALL lives, of ANY colour, matter at ALL times.

        My children are white. My siblings are white. Most, but NOT ALL, of my extended family are white. They ALL, Irrespective of their skin colour MATTER TO ME. And they matter to me irrespective of the fact that I disagree with the political views of many of them.

        The exploitation of ANY human being by ANY other human being is abhorrent to me WHEREVER and WHENEVER it happens.

        Reply
      • Yep here we go, WHITE PRIVILEGE. I’ve worked my arse off for 40 years to feed and keep a roof over my family’s heads. My dad before me worked 3 jobs to do the same, where was my white privilege? Why am I privileged? I don’t see the colour in anybody, if your a grafter and a good person that’s fine by me. People like you are causing division with your stupid comments about white privilege. People make of their lives what they want to make of them, not because of colour but because they want to. Black American football players and black soccer players all millionaires, are they black privileged? No they wanted to do what they are doing, no one held them back and they got where they got by grafting to be the best they could at what they do. So you can stick your privilege theory where the sun don’t shine.

        Reply
  8. ALL lives matter, and ALL lives matter equally. To claim that any race, of any colour, or any creed, matters more than any other is wrong, and in my own personal view, it’s sinister. It’s the thinking of 1930’s Nazi Germans and has no place in any civilized society.

    Reply
    • Phil praises Black Lives Matter

      White Lives matter? “ThAtS rAcISt!”

      Backwards minded and gutless from you Phil. Straight up incorrect. Have a look in the mirror.

      Reply
      • Very astute. Elderly lives do not matter.
        They cost public and private pension funds and welfare/NHS costs too.

        Workers will work until 70 and then enjoy one year of pension then die.

        The Elderly can live with cancer for 5 years on NHS ‘standard of care drugs’. Beatson trick them and their relatives onto trial drugs not approved by the NHS. They are tortured painfully for research and die at three months. Job done. Research payments received per head for each lab rat
        from drug companies.

        Human lab rats bringing in revenue rather than costing the NHS. Plus Beatson improve their research credentials and try to get Client drugs on the lucrative NHS approved list.

        The elderly being slaughtered on the altar of cancer research. The cure for cancer has cost millions of human life years plus terrifying deaths worldwide. The Elderly are not allowed even to die peacefully. The cure for cancer is not worth it.

        The cure for cancer is not worth it.

        Hospices give them paralysis drugs instead of sedatives. They are locked in but can hear everything. Families think they are unconscious. It is a torture to get them to lose the will to live. They die sooner than if sedated. Less work for nurses, efficient and cheaper. They may be in pain too but cannot open eyes or talk.

        Freemasons and the OO know u don’t put your elderly on Beatson trial drugs. Marketed by cancer nurses as these wonderful new drugs. Catholic’s are easy meat. Don’t sign them into Beatson non NHS Wards. It’s not private healthcare, it’s lab rat central.

        Reply
  9. You seem at pains to point out that you have black friends, which is hard to believe given the tone and content of your diatribe.

    Methinks the lady doth protest too much.

    You are fooling no one.

    You are a fascist and a racist who doesn’t have the guts to come out and admit it.

    You are to be pitied more than anything, since it must be horrible to be you and have these hateful thoughts going around in your head.

    You are indeed a miserable wretch.

    Reply
  10. christ you don’t half promote fullerton and the billy boys yer like a broken record everyone knows who he was and yet you keep his name in print like a badge of honour , leave the scum in the gutter and off your blog pages it would help

    Reply
  11. It’s working Phil. The people will never wake up an realise that the name of the game is: Divide and conquer. An archos.

    Reply
  12. Was Gerrard responding to a question from the media about finances, some hope,or did he volunteer the information that all was tickety boo in that department?
    Morelos, or Barasic,or both, will have to be sold pronto before the ST monies are drained by Sports Direct, Memorial Walls, deferred wages, transfer fee instalments, June wages, and deferred Vat and PAYE.
    Elite and Hummel may also come knocking on the door for money.
    I can exclusively reveal that Kamara will not be moving to Marseille nor Juventus for the widely reported media figure of £10m.
    Of course Alex Rae knows better as he hails the financial recovery of his former club, what with the Castore deal and other merchandising and sponsorship deals.
    It’s a tall order for the previously unheard of Castore to ramp up their organisation to cope with the expected volumes in such a short timescale.
    Production facilities, transport, marketing, quality control, finance dept, all requiring to be beefed up. That’s a massive amount of work, not withstanding they still have their original core business to attend to.
    In simple terms let’s assume 400,000 jerseys are sold at £50 each, that’s roughly £16m after vat.
    The oft repeated claim in the media was that Rangers cut from Sports Direct was pennies in the pound.
    Assume a 70/30 split of income between Castore and Rangers, the real figure however is likely to be skewed more in favour of the manufacturer who is soaking up all of the costs, but a 70/30 split would give Rangers a shade under £5m. Feasible?

    Reply
    • Castore is a brand name not a company. They outsourced manufacturing to cheap labour economies to maximize profits and minimise costs. They had been manufacturing in Portugal not really doing a great deal for the UK economy. Surely the Unionist Sevco support must demand change – “they deserve better”

      Reply
  13. At present being born white does not necessarily limit your life chances, being born black does. Not that complex. If you do not get that you are part of the problem

    Reply
  14. words missing from BLM and WLM: BLM – Too! Only WLM.

    Hypocritical racists above who will have a go at Rangers for the bigotry but can’t see the beam in their own eye. BLM is about blacks being 3rd class citizens – and worse in USA where murder by police is common. White foreigners here can sometimes be badly treated but never to the extent of blacks so WLM is a deliberate undermining of the BLM message not any kind of defence of foreigners (otherwise it would say so). ‘WLM’ isn’t supporting anyone it’s attacking the BLM message and the users know it. It’s a common deflection tactic of racists and bigots. You guys are Tommy Robinson supporters like the guys in the picture.

    Reply
    • That talent you have is unbelievable,truely unbelievable

      The fact that you believe it,is what is unbelieveable;to sum up folk you’ve never met,spoken with or even seen in one sentence is quite the feat.In fact,Penn and Teller,two American magicians,run a show for people with your obvious talent,it just might even be …

      🇮🇪🎼🎶🎵OH,OH,OH IT’S MAJIK YE KNOW IT’S GONNAE BE TEN IN A ROW🎶🎵🇮🇪

      🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 x 2 +🏆???? ⭐️ x1

      ALL OF THE ABOVE WON LEGALLY AND CRUCIALLY…WITHOUT CHEATING OR RACISM.

      Phil,I wish you every success wae the follow up to The Squad,I’m sure it’ll all fall perfectly into place
      G’luck🍀

      Take care one and all,there seems to be a little light up ahead

      Reply
  15. Oh dear Phil – these racist responses must be very disappointing to you.
    A lot more education about the historical, social and economic racism embedded in British society required methinks🤔

    Reply
  16. The Police have confirmed that there was nothing unlawful about the Banner.
    Make of that what you will.

    For the record all lives matter including the white ones.
    It’s just pigmentation after all and if you go back far enough we are descendants of people who were black.
    It is believed that Cheddar Man the oldest archeological find in the U.K. to date was most probably black or of a darker in skin tone to the modern Britons.

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jun/23/police-to-investigate-burnley-white-lives-matter-aircraft-banner

    Reply
    • What law do you think was broken? If it said “black lives don’t matter”, you could hammer them with anti racism laws. saying white lives matter is not bad of itself. We can speculate about the motives of the dicks that did it but thats all that is – speculation. Bad taste is not illegal.

      Reply
      • I was making the point that it was lawful.
        I think the bed wetting is at an all time high during this unprecedented period.
        Some folk just need to take a sweet Beecham’s and get an early night 😉

        Yon Serena Williams got it spot on.

        Reply
        • Wrong Serena Williams.
          Reduced to spreading fake news to back up your point – shows your point was not strong.
          All Socialists should support equality which is what BLM is about.
          Listen to John Barnes on this subject – maybe not a great manager but speaks eloquently on racism – he is someone who has experienced and studied it.

          Reply
  17. You confuse me sometimes Phil.

    If that banner had said….Irish Catholics Lives matter and was flown over Ibrox, you’d have commended it.

    Someone flies White Lives Matter and it’s condemend as racist.

    I live in England, I do not see racism against blacks, not the anti-irish racism. If anything I see anti Eastern European racism.

    The BLM thing has left a bad taste in peoples mouths here though, plenty white English people feel like second class citizens in the country built by their forefathers.

    The BLM seems to be having the wrong effect, it is and it will push more and more English people into a right wing stance.

    England is at breaking point, economically, structurally, culturally etc and it seems to many that the only lives that don’t matter are of the white peoples on who’s shoulder the country is carried.

    When declaring white lives matter is declared racists then there is a problem somewhere and it’s not with the white people crying out for equality !!!

    Mark my words, there is a LOT of trouble coming to England within the next decade.

    Reply
    • “breaking point” – a rather controversial poster by farage and his nutbars, was it not?
      which was a load of bullshit?

      Reply
    • Quite obviously “white lives matter” is not, in and of itself, racist. But to wheel it out now is the action only a racist would take.

      I think some people have to go and read about why “black lives matter” became the slogan. The point was to get people to realise white lives have ALWAYS mattered, black lives mattering would be new to the US institutions. We know all lives matter, but currently the ones who are in need of protection are black, so that’s the message.

      My ancestors would be turning in their graves reading some of the comments on here. Fled famine and poverty in Ireland to be met with racism and prejudice in the UK. Treated like humans by the black community, they knew the bond of the downtrodden. It’s our duty to those who came before to stand up and support the people who supported our people when we were the victims.

      Reply
  18. Trump zeitgeist and its racist to say white lives matter but not racist to say black lives matter? What if the banner said Latino lives matter or Indian? would that have been racist as well?

    Reply
    • So its racist to say white lives matter? Its fine however to riot, loot, and destroy everything in sight while running about with black lives matter signs.

      You need to wake up. Probably spending too much time down the “word mines” because you dont have a clue about real life.

      You are a disgrace.

      If you think saying white lives matter is racist then you are racist.

      Just so you know…. black lives dont matter to blacks. The biggest danger to black men is other black men. The biggest killer of black men is other black men.

      Have a look at the amount of shootings and stabbings by blacks on blacks in England alone since george the criminal was killed, it tells its own story.

      A few of my black friends want nothing to do with these violent mobs who are using the death of george the criminal as an excuse to cause unrest and destroy citys.

      At the end of the day, all the black lives matter nonsense had done is rapidly increase racism. I see it most days now with my black friends. They are scared and on edge constantly fearing some sort of attack just walking down the street or through the park etc. I see the way people look at them now and its a look of hate and resentment. They notice this as its hard to miss and this has been caused by the black movement.

      Why are the black lives matter protesters not heading over to Africa to riot and loot?

      After all it was blacks that sold their fellow blacks.

      Reply
      • All lives Matter
        The context if the plane banner is in direct opposition to the black lives Matter campaign.
        Anybody who thinks it is a non racist response needs help.
        Everyone knows what it means.

        Its a right wing response just like the guard the Statue brigade.
        HH
        TAL
        stay safe Phil

        Reply
      • who said its fine to riot etc and which rioters etc were holding black lives matter signs?

        methink thou doth talk shite

        going with your ludicrously tortured analogies, the biggest danger to children is their own relatives. look at the figures of child abuse by direct family.

        exactly what are you trying to say?

        Reply
      • “Why are the black lives matter protesters not heading over to Africa to riot and loot?” is possibly the stupidest sentence on the whole internet today. In saying that, there are a few others in your vitriolic rant that run it pretty close.

        Reply

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