I reckon that the last time I thought about Mr Neil Doncaster was when he sat down beside me at a funeral.
It was a beautifully sunny day in the Kingdom of Fife in April 2015, and I had travelled from my island to pay my respects to a man I was proud to call a friend.
Turnbull Hutton had gone to his rest eternal.
We had last spoken just before he was admitted to the hospital, and I could hear it in his voice that he thought that he wasn’t in a good situation.
As ever, he faced it with his usual flinty stoicism.
I was thinking of that conversation when I sensed someone sitting down beside me in the crematorium in Kirkcaldy.
It was Mr Neil Doncaster.
I immediately had Turnbull’s voice in my head from a sit down we had in the George Hotel in Edinburgh in 2012.
That day he regaled me with his views on the great and the good at Hampden.
In the mixture of emotions that day, I struggled not to burst out laughing as the man himself was said out in front of us.
Let’s just say that the Raith Rovers man had his own views on the SPL head honcho!
Now, a cynic might conclude that the real reason the strict liability “won’t work”, as Mr Doncaster would have it, is that it would have to focus on the main problem.
Hint: Ibrox.
If the governing bodies of the national game in Fair Caledonia see their primary role as safeguarding the well-being of a particular franchise, then I get their point.
Soon the klan chaos will visit the stadium where Mr Doncaster has his office.
Appeasement never works.
Ever…
Hopefully, the matter will now be taken out of the hands of the chaps at Hampden.
Holyrood must do what is required.
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Thing is, as per usual, Nicola Sturgeon saying it has nothing to do with politics. The world saw it on Sunday. Scotland, more kkkulture than cultured. Great advert for this wee backward’s bigoted country.
There is a fear in Scotland. You only appreciate it when you move away. It’s such a strange and intangible thing, but everything feels different. Before I left I never really felt terribly marginalised although I knew there was an undertone. But now when I do things I don’t have the feeling that I need to be careful and that the person sitting across the desk from me might see me as “untermenchen.”
It took moving away for me to realise that aspect of society still exists and still has power in Scotland. Until this changes we’re always going to see mealy mouthed Ibrox apologism and the lumping of celtic into the Ibrox problem “for balance”
Agree with all these comments about the spinelessness of Scottish gov. SFA, SPL to tackle this persistent offensive behaviour of Rangers fans and the apparent inability of RFC to deal with the issue. The 1st Minister could not bring herself to apportion the blame to the only culprits, didnt have the courage to name and shame the rangers fans. I wholeheartedly agree with sentiments expressed by Colin Malcolm.
Thats the problem though, Hollyrood will sit on the fence scared to tackle the problem , it’s allways and old firm problem.
I’m not against independence but I wouldn’t vote for it till a strong party comes along that has the bottle to sort it out and this SNP has no intention of doing so.
I don’t want to live in an independent Scotland that’s just the same old, we will just be seen as a small biggoted country that no one can be bothered with.
It’s a shame but ibrox and their followers are holding the whole country back and the SNP are pandering to their every whim
Given recent games involving Rangers fans causing delays to matches and delays to satellite broadcast why are the football authorities not taking them to task .
We had the bizarre scenes at Dens Park ,Then the events of Sunday .
A person hit with a bottle ,Glass in the goal area ,and only the intervention of another fan stopping someone getting into the pitch .
Who knows what could have happened.
There seemed for such a high profile game not a lot of security by either stewards or police
It is now Tuesday and still silence from the police and football authorities
What on earth are they afraid off
Celtic were fined £45k for the Dallas incident. I expect nothing less though the silence so far is ominous.
Phil, I was reading Mr Doncaster’s statement on a Celtic website via Celtic News now. I got the impression he was actually blaming the 700 Celtic fans for what happened.
I have no faith in the SPFL the SFA or the Scottish Government ever making any meaningful change to Scottish football – and Ibrox in particular.
There was a missed opportunity to make radical improvements in 2012.
Don’t remember there being any bother in the SPL in the seasons before sevco brought its negative influence.
The next opportunity MUST be taken, whenever RIFC – finally – hits the buffers.
These are my opinions NOT Phils,
SPFL rules were changed re. an administration event, so, sadly that’s unlikely.
Now, I wonder why they changed the rules to that particular event…?
That’s why if/when it happens, they KNOW they’re on terra firma coz the rules now permit them to survive and probably stay in the top flight… Great innit 🤬😇
Scotlands’ footballing landscape is a backward bigoted cesspit, the sfa are merely a sevco offshoot in their ‘non-rules’ and ‘non-compliance’ department.
They sfa are a national disgrace and should be removed asap.
They’re unfit to oversee the league fairly, and therefore shouldn’t be doing so.
When Glasgow City council commision a report on slavery related statues but fail to see the ironic nonsense of Catholic hate marches bt Orangemen thru the city is it any wonder these SFA charlatans brick it when the should shut Ibrox down.
Spot on Phil. Sadly you will remember the previous SNP First Minister saying in 2012 “Rangers are not just important to Scottish football, they are part of the fabric of Scottish society” and HNRC should “go easy on Rangers”. Thank God The Met in London, and HNRC in London were not controlled by the SNP in 2012. Holyrood has not had one Cttte hearing on the collapse of Rangers. Not one Ministerial statement. Silence.
Well, there’s been bigger collapses and scandals under this government with no enquiry so don’t hold your breath.
The first minister and the Scottish government will do nothing regarding the troubles caused by the mutants at ibrox, they paid lip service when the klan wrecked George Square twice and there’s nothing being done regarding the anti Irish and anti Catholic racism let the world see good old bigoted Scotland because that’s what it is.