JABBA THE AGNIVORE

GEORGIE PORGIE

Germany after the First World War, America after the Vietnam War, the British public after the Khartoum debacle and the British again after India became independent. All of them have something in common. Somebody else was blamed for the failure. Germany started the Great War, and was roundly vanquished, only to blame the 'stab in the back' by socialists in the government for the defeat. America made the same excuse after the Vietnam War. General Gordon disobeyed orders and stayed to outface the Mhadi when he was only meant to evacuate Khartoum. His defeat and death were blamed on Gladstone. Equally the ceding of India, which was inevitable, was blamed on the socialists in the Labour government.

So what am I on about with this history lesson? It is always the case that bullies, once exposed and defeated, always look to blame somebody else and, indeed, always try to paint themselves as the victims. When I was a teacher I encountered quite a few bullies, who, once it was proven beyond a doubt what they were like to their parents, were usually removed from the school. It was the fault of the school, other chidlren and other parents. The poor wee soul was just reacting to other people bullying him. Needless to say, the same story always played out at the new school.

And so onto the erstwhile bully of Scottish football. Rangers always seemed to get their way over anything; witness the postponement of fixtures in 2008 to help Rangers in Europe. When Rangers was liquidated it was time for Scottish football to stand up and say 'No more!' As it turned out, the rules were still bent in Rangers' favour. They were allowed back into the league set-up, the transfer embargo was moved to start in September to allow them to make purchases and Green was allowed to flout the law by taking the assets and fleecing the creditors. It was made clear, however, that Rangers were no longer running the show and nobody was going to dance to their tune anymore.

So has there been any gratitude from Rangers for being allowed to break the rules? Not a chance. They see it as their God-given right and now want to get back to their bullying ways. They are demanding that the new league set-up be organised to suit them and claiming that they deserve a seat at the decision-making table. They are, in fact, entitled to nothing; but when they are told this they claim that they're being bullied.

Mark Hateley rams this point home in his Daily Record column. Unfortunately, he chooses the analogy of a child at school. As I have already said, I was a teacher and, if you ask any school they will tell you that the ones that bleat the most about bullying are the bullies themselves. A bully that is no longer allowed to bully anyone is a lonely character; he or she has spurned friendships with their behaviour. When their behaviour is no longer tolerated all they realise is that they have no friends. Usually their mother will scream that their child is being bullied by everyone and move their little darling to another school. This is exactly the position that Rangers are in.

"For some reason, they are still being treated with hostility from people within the game," says Hateley. Is he for real? Doesn't he understand that it is the constant whining and blaming everyone else that the people within the game don't like? He claims that "everyone should have wanted to move forward together," but how can they when all we hear about is 'Rangers' enemies' and how they are all going to pay some day? The ridiculous carry-on about boycotting Tanadice tells you all you need to know about how far Rangers have moved on.

There have been no apologies to creditors, no apology to Scottish football for spending money they did not have and setting in motion the overspending of other clubs to try to keep up and no apology for the cheating. No. The mindset is that Rangers can do whatever they want and if anyone disagrees then they are the ones with the problem, not Rangers. They even lie that they have received 'punishments' when they have received no such thing.

To reinforce this lie that Rangers are more sinned-against than sinning the Daily Record decides to plumb the absolute depths, going to extremes that even Traynor might baulk at. They run an article on how disgracefully Duncan Ferguson was treated! This vicious thug was jailed for a disgusting physical attack on another player. To the Daily Record, however, he should have been a hero! The SFA should have stood up for him and he should have been an automatic choice for every Scotland game. 

Strangely, Leigh Griffiths is to be villified and kicked out of the game, quite justifiably I may add,  for a, racist tweet but a convicted thug is to be hailed as one of Scotland's greats. Only in the Daily Record!

So good luck to Green in trying to get into England. The Daily Record is doing its best to pave the way for you. The problem is, though, that the English press will not fall over itself to support Rangers the way the Scottish one does!