CRYING TIME

Keith Jackson decides to have a go at Neil Lennon for his ill-advised rant after the St Mirren match at Hampden. Fair enough; Lenny did go a bit over the top, even though most of his criticism was reserved for his players. What gets me, though, is the sheer two-facedness of the whole thing. This is the man that supporterd Traynor's valedictory bile, remember. Apparently it was okay for Traynor to bad-mouth his fellow journalists, as he is still doing, but not okay for Lennon to react to criticism!

Equally, there's hardly a week goes by without Green, Hateley or somebody else telling us all how the boycot of Dundee Utd is justified, Rangers have been hard-done by and that league reconstruction is just a malicious plot to keep Rangers down. And yet there is not one word of criticism advanced against all these paranoid ravings. Absolute double standards.

Jackson even has to resort to lies in his condemnation of Lennon. Okay, maybe not lies but certainly being economical with the truth. Lennon points out the lack of atmosphere at Hampden, which Jackson leaps on with relish. Later in the same piece, however, Lennon is quoted as saying that the lack of atmosphere is no real excuse, that Hampden isn't there for Celtic's benefit and that they should have learned to cope with it by now. So Jackson is a bit premature in his criticism.

It is obvious to anyone with more than one brain cell that Lennon was angry; and justifiably so the way St Mirren put Celtic to the sword. It was probably not the best frame of mind to be in when facing the press. Anyone else, however, would be cut a bit of slack; Green, Auld Dignity, Sooperally et al would have had all manner of excuses trotted out for the way they reacted. When it comes to Neil Lennon, however, they try to portray him, as they always do, as the angriest man in Christendom. Again, as usual, pandering to the bigots.

This makes it all the funnier when you have a look at Loony Leggat's latest offerings. He's still banging on about our meeja being under the control of people whose sole purpose in life is to destroy Rangers. It's all some big conspiracy cooked up by the Vatican, the SNP, Irish Republicans and basically anyone else that the auld bam doesn't like. If he was right do you think Lennon would be pilloried in the press while Green and Sooperally are handled with kid gloves?

And here's the best bit at the end of his tirade, in which he specifically names two Daily Record editors as Celtic Supporters and IRA sympathisers:

 "Finally, let me be clear as to what any reaction of any Rangers supporter should be to this news. It should most certainly, most emphatically, not involve any communication of any sort with either Daily Record editor Alan Rennie or Daily Record news editor Kevin Mansi. That would only play straight into the hands of the Rangers haters. Of whom there are many."

The very fact that he has to say this shows that he knows very well what the normal reaction of many Rangers supporters would be. And we all know as well what kind of  'communication' would be sent by such 'peeppil.'

WHINE KAMPF

Hateley decides to have a go at Dundee Utd fans over their plan to wear Craig Whyte masks. He calls it 'foolish and inflammatory.' Strangely whenever Ibrox has rung to the strains of 'Up tae wur knees' or 'Why don't you go home' he has had nothing whatever to say. Hypocrisy doesn't even begin to describe it.

Anyway, Hateley mentions that 'Rangers fans have taken a stance over the belief United wronged the club last summer.' Naively I expected a balanced article after this sentence but was sadly disappointed. Hateley goes on to let us know, in no uncertain terms, that, as far as he is concerned, this 'belief' is perfetly justified. 'The boycott of this tie is something I back' he says, without saying why. 'United’s relationship with Rangers is already at breaking point after their stance which denied the Ibrox side SPL status after their implosion.' Ah, so now we have it; United is to blame, or partly to blame, for Rangers being in the Third Division!

'...that should be the end of the bad blood' he says about the boycott, 'We should be moving on.' In other words, United and its fans should be apologising to Green for not allowing Rangers Mk II into the SPL. 

This blame game is getting more and more ridiculous but also more than a bit sinister. There were no calls for a boycott when they were playing ICT and Motherwell were welcomed to Ibrox with open arms. Apparently not all teams in the SPL are being blamed for what happened to Rangers.

'The Enemies of Rangers' seem to be confined to just three teams: Celtic, Hibernian and Dundee United. There is no evidence whatsoever that these three teams conspired to disallow the new Rangers into the SPL. Indeed, these three teams could not have done what they are accused of all on their own. So why are these three the ones that stand accused? It seems totally random until you find out, as many a raging, slavering Rangers supporter will tell you on football forums, that Dundee United were once called Dundee Hibernian. See a pattern emerging?

Every Rangers apologist, from Hateley to everyone in our Fourth Estate to Traynor to the lunatic fringe of David Leggat, seems to be going along with this idea. Basically they are trying to divide football supporters along sectarian lines. They are desperately trying to make this into appearing like some kind of Catholic agenda against the 'indigenous' Protestant Scots. Now, the majority of Protestants in this country could not care less about any of this kind of hatred, rightly seeing it as something that belongs in the distant past; there are enough morons about, however, who lap up this kind of stuff like mother's milk.

Leggat's blog is not just about the Rangers sob story but how our country is gradually being taken over by terrorist-supporting Catholics of Irish descent. According to him our media is already in the clutch of such people and the whole of Scottish Protestantism is at risk. Such scaremongering is straight out of Mein Kampf and would do little to persuade anyone of reasonable intelligence. The problem is, though, that it's not just Leggat. Have a read at his blog and then look at some of the nonsense being perpetrated through our media; you'll see it in an entirely new light!

Worryingly, Leggat also includes the referendum on Scottish independence in his catalogue of conspiracy. Our newspapers haven't stooped quite that low yet, but give them time!

It remains to be seen how far this agenda of bigotry will be pushed. If the projected league reconstruction goes through then no doubt we will be treated to more and more of the same!

And before anyone gets riled about Craig Whyte masks, they should read what Hateley had to say this time last year:

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/rangers-supporters-must-believe-in-craig-1113418

MULTIPLE MOANS

One of the big stories in The Sun today is about some idiot haranguing Andy Goram in a bookies in Peterhead. Amazingly some clown hurling sectarian abuse is headline news but thousands doing it merits not a mention. Last season we were treated to rousing choruses of The Billy Boys and The Famine Song with nothing at all said by Vincent Lunny or our friends in the meeja. The 'demonstrations' outside Ibrox to 'save the big hoose' were peppered too with 'We hate Celtic...Fenian B-'. Again the Fourth Estate said nothing. And yet this one moron will be trotted out as part of the old 'bad as each other' excuse.

Meanwhile Keith Jackson has decided to write about Gary Hooper. Amidst all the smokescreen he uses to obfuscate his main point he goes on about what a great player Hooper is, how well Celtic are doing in Europe and how well Neil Lennon is doing. Waft away the fog, however, and his point is that Hooper is going to be sold before the end of the transfer window. How many times have the Daily Record got to peddle this line? Every transfer window they try to stir things up by speculating about players leaving Celtic!

And apparently it's great news for Sooperally. Portland Timbers (Who?) have decided to get rid of useless, so-called striker Kris Boyd. According to the Daily Record this frees him up for Rangers to sign him next September! Will they? Maybe. When he was at Rangers Boyd got away with absolute murder: blatantly offside goals, dodgy penalties and, his speciality, going in on the goalkeeper with both feet, studs aimed at the guy's head. Will he get away with things again? A quick look at the number of red cards handed out to Rangers' opponents this season tells you all you need to know!

A strange story to finish with. Celtic Women's team were thrown out of the Scottish Cup. Due to injuries they only had 14 players fit to be fielded. Unfortunately 4 of those players were called up for international duty so were unavailable. Scottish Women's Football at first agreed to a postponement but changed their mind after Celtic's opponents, Glasgow City, appealed against this. Of course, no blame can be attached to the SWF, can it? Well, it puts a different slant on things when you discover that the four players called up for international duty were playing for SCOTLAND!

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose!

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!

LEGAL EAGLE ALLY

Poor old Sooperally is clutching at straws again. His latest brainwave is to cite the example of Stranraer 18 years ago when the three-league set-up was changed to four leagues. Stranraer had won the Second Division and were promoted to the First Division and "effectively jumped over other teams."

Lke some small-town lawyer in an American TV movie he has found a precedent in an old law book. So now he can kiss his old secretary, leaving her smiling and flustered, and go off to trounce the smug, corporate lawyer that looked to have the case sewn up. Unfortunately, he's barking up the wrong tree.

I don't know all the ins-and-outs of what happened with Stranraer but, as normally happens, the whole situation would have been discussed and an agreement reached among all the teams. The decision was not just rubber-stamped by some bureaucrat. I certainly don't remember Ally bleating about the injustice of it all at the time!

It is difficult to understand exactly what the problem is. Rangers look set to win what is effectively Division 4 and would, in the current set-up, be promoted to Division 3. That would mean two more years to work their way up to the top tier. In the new set-up Rangers will be promoted to Division 3 and it will take two more years for them to work their way up to the top tier. So what's the difference? 

Rangers have now got so used to playing the victim that they see everything as happening for the sole purpose of keeping them down. Bleating on about being 'back in the bottom tier' is disingenuous in the extreme. The big problem, apparently, is that they will be playing the same teams again. So what's going to happen if they get back to the top tier? Suppose they get to Europe and they are drawn against the same teams as in a previous season?

The fact is that nothing, essentially, will change for Rangers in the new set-up. Over the years the club has got so used to being treated as something special that they think that the rules should be completely rewritten just to accommodate them. In reality, this has already happened. Green has been allowed to defraud creditors by taking the assets before liquidation, he has been allowed to claim that his new club is actually the old one, without any of the old club's obligations and his new club has been allowed into the Scottish leagues with flagrant disrerard for the rules of the game. So what more do they want? Everything, it seems!

It's only January but Ally and Green are already the short-priced favourites for Brass Neck of the Year!

McCARTHYISM ANYONE?

A warm welcome to David McCarthy, the Daily Record's newest columnist, who, according to Euan McLean, "hit the ground running" with his piece about Leigh Griffiths's racist statement on Twitter. Certainly what Griffiths said was disgusting and deserves to be condemned but, as usual with the Daily Record, there is the dank smell of hypocrisy around this stance.

So what did Griffiths say? He told somebody to 'F... off back to your own country.' Now that, as McCarthy rightfully says, is racist and is worthy of condemnation. Nobody in their right mind would stick up for Griffiths on this one, but doesn't that phrase that Griffiths used sound a tad familiar?

"Get back to your own country." Isn't that the whole point of The Famine Song? What is the essential difference between "Get back to your own country" and "Why don't you go home"? None whatsoever, as far as I can see. So why the difference in approach? Remember Traynor telling us all that The Famine Song was just a bit of banter? Considering that Traynor was the sports editor it is reasonable to assume that this was the the editorial policy of the Daily Record. With the dearth of criticism of the hordes heard singing, and still to be heard singing, this song and The Billy Boys one can only deduce that this is still the policy. 

So why does the Daily Record see, or purport to see, a difference in two racist statements that are essentially the same? A quick read of other Daily Record articles gives you the answer. According to the Daily Record, Rangers have been beaten down by everyone. Most of the clubs in the SPL, especially Celtic, are culpable for all of Rangers' woes. The league reconstruction plans, similarly, are only there to cause Rangers problems, even though, in reality, they don't. The Daily Record is also beating the drum for Rangers going to the Conference League, desperately trying to make a case and attempting to get the teams in the Conference League onside. The upshot is that Rangers, and by extension its fans, can do no wrong. If this means turning a blind eye, and a deaf ear, to racism then so be it.

Another, rather more sinister, connection is to be found if you read the paranoid ramblings of one David Leggat. Mr Leggat stated that he had a new source inside Ibrox. It doesn't take a genius to work out that his new source is our old friend Traynor. This is especially apparent if one compares Traynor's latter rants in the Daily Record with those on Leggat's blog and sees the similarities in approach, subject matter and details. Now, with this link between the Record and Leggat it makes one see the condemnation of Griffiths in a new light. Leggat is constantly citing Rod Petrie, the chairman of Hibs, as a major enemy of Rangers and as Lawwell's lapdog in running an anti-Rangers agenda in Scottish football. Is it possible that this is why they have singled out a Hibs player for this condemnation? They refuse to condemn others for the same offence so some kind of agenda is obviously on the table here.

To avoid sounding as paranoid as Leggat, or his friends on the Daily Record, let me unequivocally condemn what Leigh Griffiths did. Will the Daily Record join me in condemning all racism, no matter what the source?

ENGLAND EXPECTS...! (NAW IT DISNAE!)

Keef Jabbason's latest piece in the Daily Record merits the usual double take that all his articles need. He starts off by saying that Green acts like "a spoiled child," talks about his "abrasive style" and about him "stamping his feet in anger." Couldn't have put it better myself. But wait, this is all just the usual smokescreen to put us off the real theme of the article: basically, that Green is right.

Jackson decides to hammer the new league set-up by laughing at how the Swiss abandoned it. He then goes on to list some racist, Swiss stereotypes. Maybe he should look at one historical fact about Switzerland: Catholics have lived there for centuries in a mostly Protestant country without any discrimination or sectarian abuse. Can you say the same for our great nation, Mr Jackson?

Anyway, the main thrust of Jackson's argument is that we should have a British league. The teams in the SPL should move to the lower leagues in England! He cites Wenger, whom he describes as "sage," as supporting both Celtic and Rangers moving dahn sarf. Wenger, however, also states that this would "kill the rest of Scottish football." But who cares about that, eh, Mr Jackson?

Over the past few months we've been told how the 'wee diddy teams' are the life-blood of the Scottish game. The SPL is apparently a 'busted flush' and filled with corruption and hatred. The SFL, on the other hand, has been touted as a model of respectability and organisation; its chief, David Longmuir the epitome of integrity and all-round good-eggedness. 

Now, however, as far as Jackson is concerned, they can all to to Hell! Since he has made it plain what he thinks of the teams in the SPL and is ready to jettison all the other clubs then why is he so keen for the move to England? It doesn't take an atom-splitting genius, working on the Hadron Collider, to discern that it's all for the benefit of only one club. Guess which club it is? I'll give you a clue: it starts with R, ends in S and is filled with anger.

There would be one other consequence of Jackson's half-arsed plan that he fails to address. For years FIFA have been trying to get rid of the national teams of Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and Wales and replace them with a British team. If, as Jackson wants, the Scottish league goes down the Swanee and our erstwhile SPL teams (plus Rangers, of course!) are playing in a British league then there would be no argument for keeping the four national teams. Do you want to support a team called Britain or (God forbid!) Team GB? It does not bear thinking about, especially since you know it would be, for all intents and purposes, the England team!

Anyway, Jackson's plan is just a pipe-dream. The English football authorities have made it plain since time immemorial that they are not going to welcome any Scottish team into their leagues. So dream on, Keef! You'll need to come up with a lot better than that if you want to take over Traynor's mantle as Agnivore-In-Chief!

JABBA'S JINGOISTIC JIGGERYPOKERY

The knives are out for the league reconstruction plans as Rangers try desperately to play the 'integrity' card. 'It's all just about money and self-interest,' they bleat, blissfully ignorant of the irony of such statements given how they treated their creditors!

So what's the problem? Well, apparently Green and his puppets are concerned that they will end up in the bottom tier again. The intellectually challenged are lapping up this disingenuous argument. It falls flat on its face when you look at the fact that next season Rangers will be in the THIRD tier, as they would be without reconstruction, and could be back in the top tier in two years, again as would be the case without reconstruction.

Another argument is that Rangers will be playing the same teams again next season. So will Celtic, so what's the problem? And weren't Rangers playing against the same opposition year-in year-out in the SPL? And wasn't Green desperate to do so again by applying to join the SPL and throwing a tantrum when he wasn't allowed in? 

Even Sooperally has joined in with a rant that shows a distinct lack of understanding of the situation. 

“That’s what we’ve prepared ourselves for — Division Three, Two, One and back into the top league, whatever that may be. So straight away that has been taken away from us."

 How does he make that one out? Instead of Two, One and back into the top league it's now going to be Three, Two and into the top league. Does it really matter what the league divisions are called? It reminds me of the apocryphal story about the change to the Gregorian Calendar in England, when people were supposed to have rioted to demand their six days, or whatever, back! Surely McCoist can't be that stupid?

Of course, stupidity has nothing to do with it. It is easy to detect the hand of Jabba in all this. He has been riling up folk with specious arguments for years and this new tack from Ibrox has his fingerprints all over it. The strategy seems to be to argue and fight just for the sake of it, to convince all the fans of Newco Rangers that they are being hard-done by, even when the truth is that they are not!

Green, meanwhile is threatening to leave Scotland and to take UEFA to court if he is not allowed to. But where is he going to go? UEFA can't shoehorn him into the English League, no matter how many 'discrimination' cases he wins. At the end of the day, it is up to the English League to decide who they want and do not want in their divisions.

Mark Hateley, in his column in the Daily Record, also comes to the same ridiculous conclusions, albeit in a roundabout way. He also finds time to praise the SFL as having "retained its reputation for sane, sterling and solid administration." Did you ever hear him saying such things before this season? The SPL, meanwhile, "have been a laughing stock for too long." Again, does anyone remember him saying any such thing before this season?

The whole thing is becoming a bad joke and Jabba has lost the plot completely if he thinks this strategy is going to get him anywhere. If anything, the events of last summer showed us that most of Scotland is sick to death of the arrogance and triumphalism of Rangers. Not once has there been an apology to the shareholders, an apology for dragging Scottish football down to its current financial crisis and no word of gratitude for being allowed into the Scottish League ahead of other, more deserving teams. No. All we've had are complaints, moans, recriminations and bloodthirsty cries for vengeance. 

As I have said before, if Rangers want to get anywhere with their complaints then they need to get all the other teams in the SFL onside. To react the way they have, even decrying Longmuir and the other SFL clubs, is hardly going to win them many friends, is it?

Rangers are no longer the dominant force in Scottish football, despite the numbers of cheap ticket-holders passing through the turnstiles, and it is about time Traynor, and the ones following his advice, realised this.

THE AGNIVORE STRIKES BACK

Yay! Big Jabba I is back, and making a complete erse of himself as usual! He has a go at the league reconstruction plans but doesn't bother telling us all what's wrong with it. His main gripe is that Rangers weren't involved in the decision-making process. This is all part-and-parcel, he tells us, of the great conspiracy to put Rangers down.

According to Traynor, it's a disgrace that the 'biggest club in the country' was left out of these important decisions. Sorry, Jim, but how do you make out that Rangers is the biggest club in the country? Attendences? All down to the tickets being cheap, my dear fellow! Those figures will soon dwindle when Green puts the prices up, as he will have to in order to maintain that huge wage bill! This is a new club, remember. You can rant and rave all you like about 'holding companies' and 140 years etc etc but the fact remains that Green's Rangers is the newest club in Scotland. 

Traynor hasn't quite got the hang yet of Green's and his followers' doublethink. Green yells about his team never having been in the SPL, yet he still thinks he is owed money from last season and bleats about having 'bought' the history. The absolute truth is that Green did not buy Rangers; he bought the assets for a song, probably illegally, and set up a new club. Not being associated with the old club, he is perfectly, and legally, entitled to call his new club 'Rangers.' It does not, however, make it the same club.

Traynor tries to foster the paranoia he had already been trying to whip up in his Daily Record column. He perpetuates the lie that Rangers were punished and punished again. Where does he get this from? A transfer embargo; that was it. No other punishment was meted out to Rangers; absolutely none whatsoever. Granted, I'm quite willing to concede that the transfer embargo should not have been imposed but, equally, the rules should not have been bent to allow New Rangers into the Scottish league at all. You can't have it both ways, Jim lad!

He goes on about Rangers accepting their 'sanctions.' That's not plural, Jim, that's singular - sanction. But why let the truth get in the way of a good rant? Rangers are going to come back 'better and stronger' he tells us and warns us all that we're all going to pay. He also warns the denizens of the Scottish meeja that they had better tread carefully and watch what they're saying! He seems to have fitted in quite quickly at Ibrox with his triumphalist rhetoric and threats, eh? I take it Leggat was right and Jimmy Boy is going to encourage his new masters to start suing everybody left, right and centre. One example of these evil hacks that criticise Rangers? Somebody said Green 'speak with forked tongue.' My God, the courts will be meting out justice soon for that one!

My favourite bit of his whole twisted diatribe is at the end, where he says. 'Tolerance and sanity. That's what Rangers will demonstrate and maintain, especially when back at the summit.' 

Tolerance and sanity! Of course, that's what Rangers have always been renowned for! The tolerance bit speaks for itself and the whole country will be laughing at that one! Sanity? Not much of that displayed in your paranoid rant, Jim!

He also, again, decides to have a go at the 'deranged' on social media. I wonder if he means the Rangers supporters on Facebook, bragging about going over to Belfast to fight with the police! Probably not! In fact he tells us who he means earlier on; it's Celtic fans and their club. They're the ones that caused all of Rangers' problems and are still putting the boot in! 

'And they are still at it on social media sites and on blogs clattered out by individuals who are no better than semi-literate.'

Now, maybe Traynor is what passes for an intellectual giant in Airdrie but things are different elsewhere. One blogger I read has a Law degree and I myself have a university degree as well. I also know, unlike Traynor, not to use mixed metaphors and I know too that the relative pronoun in his sentence about blogs should be 'that' rather than 'who.' 

I phoned 'Your Call' once and Traynor offered to send a psychiatrist round to me because of my paranoia. Reading Traynor's new rant, and those he latterly published in the Daily Record, I think he's the one that needs psychiatric help. Oh, and save a space on the couch for your Uncle Davy Leggat!

BACK TO THE FUTURE

David Longmuir. I don't know about you but I'd never heard of the man before last summer. In fact, Mrs Longmuir probably hadn't heard of him before last summer. He is in charge of the SFL, a pretty unimportant position before this season. Now, however, he's the Messiah, the saviour-in-waiting of Scottish football; a man with his finger on the pulse, a man of integrity, a giant in the sporting world, a man....well, you get the idea!

There's no surprise, then, that Keith Jackson is telling us all in the Daily Record that we should be following Longmuir's plans for league reconstruction. Longmuir's proposals include a top tier of 16. Apparently everyone is bored with watching 'the same matches' over and over. This begs the question that nobody seems willing to ask: why was a premier league set up in the first place?

In the 1970s harsh realities were facing Scottish football. Everyone was bored with the same teams being relegated from the First Division and then popping back up the next season only to be relegated again at the end of that season. Celtic and Rangers fans were refusing to pay to go and see their teams slaughter Durness Women's Institute XI, or whatever. Scottish football had reached a crisis. The solution: a more competitive league consisting of Scotland's top teams. 

So David Longmuir's solution is to go back to the position in the early 1970s, which everyone was fed up with! Radical thinking, eh? If he had come up with this idea a couple of years ago then our sports meeja would have rolled about laughing. Now, of course, things are different. David Longmuir is the man that wanted to shoehorn Rangers straight into the First Division and was only stopped by all the member teams of the SFL. To the agnivores of the Scottish press, then, he is a man of integrity and forward thinking!

Scottish football has changed a lot; more so in the last thirty years than it had in the hundred years that went before. As late as the 1980s football was still all about getting people through the turnstiles and only very rarely would you see a match on the TV. Even if there was a huge match taking place the TV companies were not allowed to show it if Sutherland Shepherds were playing Glasgow Gas Meter Readers on the same evening. All of our sporting commentators decried this ridiculous situation and, eventually, it changed. Nowadays TV channels can even dictate what time a match starts at!

The Premier League was exciting in the 1980s; it was a league of equals, where Dundee United and Aberdeen could dominate for a while and Hearts could challenge Celtic for the championship. So what went wrong? Two words: David Murray. His reckless spending of money he didn't have led to Rangers dominating Scottish football for over a decade. Celtic nearly went bankrupt but had to spend as well to present any kind of challenge at all. The other Premier League teams had to spend too but certainly could not compete with the kinds of resources to hand, ie borrowing power, of Celtic and, more so, Rangers.

Of course, this spending couldn't last forever and Rangers paid the price for their recklessness. Other teams might possibly be heading the same way. So how do our sports meeja react to this? Remember, for years they went along with the Thatcherite 'devil-take-the-hindmost' philosophy and we had to leave the old days behind and look to the future. Airdrie being put out of business was just the way things went and nobody shed any tears when Gretna overreached and got badly burned in the process. That was the way things were: football was a business and we all had to face up to life in the modern age.

Strangely those opinions have changed, and changed radically! We are supposed to go back to some Sunday Post-Land where every man in Scotland will have their half-day holiday on a Saturday and troop off to the football match in their work clothes and flat caps. This, as they well know, would not work. With breathtaking hypocrisy they also tell us that it's not healthy for one team to dominate Scottish football! Meanwhile, New Rangers, just like the old one, is spending more on wages to win Division 3 than many SPL teams can afford. This, however, passes without comment!

The only way Scottish football will get any better is if limits are put on what teams can spend. This, however, is unlikely to be supported as, when the transfer embargo is over, Rangers will throw money at winning their way up the leagues. Equally ticket prices need to come down. One only has to look at Ibrox to see what happens when the prices are reduced: increased crowds. Again, Green is planning on putting ticket prices up so this idea is dead in the water too.

If I didn't know any better, I'd swear that our sports 'journalists' were only concerned about the interests of one team and not the whole of Scottish football at all. But, that can't be true, can it?

LAMB FOR LECKIE!

I don't know if the Sun has overtaken the Daily Record as Scotland's best-selling 'newspaper' yet, but it must be there or thereabouts. I know my dad buys it now instead of the DR, mainly because it's cheaper and the racing section is better. Mind you, he's thinking of buying a Kindle, where he'll be able to read the Racing Post for free instead! Anyway, he prefers the Sun at the moment, as do people who read online, especially since the Daily Record decided to ban comments.

Another area where the Sun is competing fiercely with the Daily Record is in the agnivore stakes; step forward Mr Bill Leckie, your lamb dinner's ready! Like good old Jabba, Leckie decides to play the SFL good/SPLbad card. Like some childish Rangers fan commenting on a blog, he can't even bring himself to write the letters SPL, instead coming up with 'EssPeeEll.' Sad, or what?

Anyway, the gist of his column is that the SPL's plans for reconstruction are purely selfish and just for the benefit of its member teams. The plans of the SFL, on the other hand are wonderful and a panacea for all the problems in Scottish football. This, of course, completely ignores why the SPL was set up in the first place!

Isn't it strange that people that never gave a damn about the teams in our lower leagues are suddenly championing their cause? I wonder what it is that has changed!

Meanwhile, Sooperally must have been reading my blog. He's come out in support of the Elgin player that was sent off, as Rangers' opponents usually are. Remember I said that the referees would be called into line? Stand by for no more red cards in Rangers matches! The SFL teams must be kept onside!

My God, they're so transparent!

GEEZA BREKK!

Poor old Sooperally is feeling the strain. He needs a winter break after a hard half-season playing against ten-man teams of postmen and teachers. 'It's no' fair!' he bleats, while protesting weakly that he's not 'throwing his toys out the pram.' He said: “That’s Scottish football, some people get a rest and others don’t. We’ll just get on with playing.' Well, get on with it, then, and stop moaning!

His whole greetin' session implies that some senior agency has given the SPL teams time off while ignoring those in the SFL. Maybe it hasn't sunk in yet: the SPL and SFL are two separate entities, over which nobody else has any jurisdiction. He needs to take up his concerns with the folk that run the SFL, but that wouldn't fit well with Rangers' new image as self-styled spokespersons for the SFL, would it? Again, the SPL is cast as the enemy, even though it has nothing whatever to do with them.

This is a recurring theme in all the noises coming out of Ibrox: SFL GOOD, SPL BAD. Somebody, I can't remember who, pointed out that this seems like a planned strategy, with someone from the Scottish media providing Green with the angle. This astute commentator named Traynor as the most likely candidate. Jabba's subsequent rants in the Daily Record and employment by Green tend to confirm these suspicions.

Since Green started his new club with the stolen assets, all we've heard about is how Rangers' 'enemies' have triumphed for the moment but payback is coming. Blogs like Leggoland keep this uppermost in the minds of the blue horde, feeding the myth that everything that transpired at Ibrox was no fault of their own but the result of a concerted conspiracy by other people.

So what we have is a two-pronged attack. Bloggers like Leggat play the old sectarian card, trying to propagate the myth that our football authorites, apart, of course from the SFL, have been infiltrated by 'Rangers' haters,' Equally, they keep telling us that our media has been similarly infiltrated. Irish-sounding names are trotted out to 'prove' these points to the bigots, while you will never see the word Celtic mentioned without the letters I, R and A alongside. These attacks are calculated to rile up the Orange Sturm Abteilung and keep the hatred alive.

Meanwhile the other method of attack, obviously orchestrated by Jabba, is to try to gather all the teams of the SFL around them as well. Moaning sessions like Ally's are quite transparent in their desperate attempt to create a new division in Scottish football. 

To these people nothing else matters other than that Rangers reigns supreme. They would like nothing better than the whole of Scottish football to go down the drain and for Rangers to join the English leagues as the only Scottish team in existence. 

Unfortunately for the plan, the fact that Rangers are allowed to take their own referees along to Division 3 matches is going to undermine things. How many times are all the teams in Division 3 going to stand for being reduced to ten men every time they play Rangers? Somebody is going to have to have a word with Collum et al.

A NEW YEAR BUT THE SAME OLD SONG

David Leggat, in his bile-ridden blog Leggoland, is predicting an aggressive stance from Rangers in the New Year. Of course, this comes as a huge surprise given all the shy, shrinking violets at Ibrox we have come to know and love! He seems to have a new source at Ibrox; I wonder who it is? He says that Rangers' 'enemies' are going to be dealt with, including Radio Clyde and Radio Scotland. The latter, especially, is on Leggat's radar, being, so he says, extremely unpopular with Rangers fans.

"And that unpopularity has become even greater since the departure from the BBC Radio Scotland studios of Jim Traynor, leaving Cosgrove and Cowan with greater freedom than ever to slag Rangers.' 

Well, I think that clears up who Leggat's new source is at Rangers! It also confirms what everyone thought was the case about Traynor for years and confirms the link between Leggat's rantings and the latter-day outpourings of Traynor in the Daily Record!

He sums up his latest hate-fest by telling us how we're all in for a shock in 2013 as Rangers fires back at its 'enemies.' 

Speaking of the New Year, Leggat lets us all know where he stands with his shameless proselytising in his post of 31st December. Apparently, Hogmanay is an old Presbyterian custom! That'll be news to all the pagans that celebrated the festival in Scotland long before John Knox was even a twinkle in the local farmhand's eye! It will also be news to the Church of Scotland, who tried, unsuccessfully, in the Seventeenth Century to stamp out the celebration of Hogmanay among the lower orders.

I think my favourite lie in Leggat's shocking re-writing of social history is this:

"To this day, when the Bells Ring out the Old and herald the New, I am not ashamed to admit to shedding a tear. A wee droplet from the eye in memory of bygone days of yore, for family long gone and times gone with them. For an era when Scotland was a better place, a more tolerant and tolerable nation."

That'll be why all the Irish Catholics had to live in a ghetto in Garngad and why my grandad was beaten up by the police because he was absent-mindedly whistling 'Faith of Our Fathers' on his way home from mass!

In reality, Scotland was ruled by a kind of Taliban up until modern times. Conformity rather than conscience was the watchword. Enjoying yourself was frowned upon and people would sneak to the pub or to dance-halls in case they were seen by the neighbours or, God forbid, the Meenister! A great mind like David Hume was shunned and he was refused a chair at Edinburgh University because he was an atheist, while the Darien Venture was hampered in part by Scottish refusal to recognise quinine as a cure for malaria because it had been discovered by Jesuits.

Even into the Twentieth Century the Presbyterian Taliban continued to exert its influence. Everyone knows about the 'What school did you go to?' question when applying for a job. Christmas was frowned upon and was celebrated clandestinely.

Fortunately, those days are gone but right-wing supremacists like Leggat would love to see them back. Back in the day working-class Protestants might be made to feel like miserable sinners, while local worthies flaunted their communion tokens; but at least they could comfort themselves that they were better than 'They Kaffliks!' This is the Scotland that Leggat misses!

The whole thing is completely risible, of course, but the frightening thing is that there are lunatics out there that hang on Leggat's every word and believe that it's the truth. God help us all if these folk come to the fore again. We need to watch out. After all, they probably all laughed at Mein Kampf when it first appeared!     

 

"As my auld Scots Presbyterian granny used to say..."

MR LONELY

Hey! A personal appeal from me to you. Don't just read the thing - comment! Even if it's just to tell me I'm paranoid, I'd appreciate some feedback!

ANOTHER POISON PEN

Happy New Year everyone and hope 2013 is good to you! So did you see 'Only An Excuse?' Obviously the BBC is running scared these days they way Jonathan Watson went so easy on Rangers. Rather puerile jokes and a new catchphrase for the Death Eaters: 'Nowt Surrender.' Meanwhile Celtic were lambasted as perennial whingers and well-known for letting off smoke bombs! Strangely I've seen more smoke bombs on televised games from Ibrox than I've seen at Celtic Park. The difference is that one set of fans is reported in the press, while the other isn't. 

Speaking of such, Jackson ends the year on a foul note in the Daily Record. He laments the poison in our game but, apparently, this poison all comes from Parkhead! 

"Yes, 2012 will be remembered fondly by some. They will cherish the memories of how Rangers were savaged by a foaming-mouthed pack and then ripped limb from limb.
These bloodthirsty ghouls would gladly watch it all happen again tomorrow, such is the depth of their hatred but it is time now for the more gentle, civilised and decent minded among us to rise up and to quietly take our ball back."

Is this guy on the same planet as the rest of us? The hatred is due to the sheer bile, bigotry and arrogance that has emanated from Ibrox for years; and still emanates. Rangers, under Murray, destroyed Scottish football with their spend, spend, spend philosophy. Everyone else had to spend to keep up. The ultimate disgrace, and the real kick in the teeth, is that Rangers spent other people's money and then refused to pay it back!

We have vile blogs, one run by a supposed journalist, casting aspersions on anyone with a Catholic or Irish background. All they go on about is vengeance and getting their own back on those that are supposedly destroying their culture (Ha!) The hatred and bigotry is there for all to see; yet Jackson is out to blame everyone else!

Seemingly, though, the tin hat on this 'Year of Poison' is the behaviour of 'Celtic fans' at Den's Park. He lashes out at any 'Whataboutery' saying that we're all missing the point. So singing banned songs at practically every game, as Rangers fans do, is okay is it? Rangers fans being arrested is not up for debate, is it? According to Jackson it's up to Lawwell to deal with things. Only Celtic can stop the poison, apparently, leaving us all in no doubt that all Scottish football's ills are down to Celtic.

Oh, I'm sorry, Jackson mentions the death threats to Neil Lennon as part of the poison. He makes a point, however, of telling us that the death threats were 'crayon scrawled,' letting us know that it was just stupid people or kids doing this - nothing serious, then!

As I have already mentioned, I'm a bit skeptical about these so-called Celtic fans causing trouble. Have a look at this picture, which accompanies Jackson's rant:

Notice how there are some folk there with their faces covered? This is usually seen at anti-government demonstrations, where peaceful protesters are infiltrated by anarchists hell-bent on trouble. In other words, when folk go to the bother of hiding their faces it is because they are out to cause trouble from the start! Do you think a section of Celtic supporters purposefully went through to Dundee to deliberately cause trouble and drag Celtic's name through the mud? Look again at the ones with their faces covered. Do they look like the 'drunken neds' that the papers have been telling us about? Or do they look like people that went to Den's Park with the express intention of causing trouble? I know which one I think!

So Jackson's suggestion that Celtic should 'hunt these people down' is just a way of bringing more opprobrium on Celtic! Obviously, if I'm right in my suspicions, there is no way that Lawwell, or anyone else, will ever find out who these people are. Then we will have to listen to the Death Eaters and the agnivores telling us that Celtic have done nothing to solve 'their' problems!

Then again, maybe I'm just being paranoid. Maybe I should start a list of 'Enemies of Celtic,' eh?