HARK, THE HERALD, THE RECORD AND THE EVENING TIMES SING.

Season's Cheatings!

Hope you're having a good Christmas and that you and yours are keeping well. Since it's the season of goodwill to all men, peace on earth and the birthday of Our Lord, I thought I'd be nice to everyone for once. Nah - fuck it! Behind Door 25 is the whole of Scottish football and everyone connected with it. For many, many years Scottish football has been a cesspit of bigotry and corruption; and, even in the 21st Century, it shows no signs of changing.

Celtic supporters have been called paranoid for as long as I can remember, and for long before I was born as well. Decisions evened themselves out over a season, nobody had it in for Celtic and there was no great hatred for Celtic FC and its supporters. This was shown up for the lie it was when Jim Farry, and the sleekit Sandy Bryson, deliberately delayed the registration of Jorge Cadete to help Rangers. Then there was the furore in 2008 when tactics were reversed and Celtic were getting decisions early in the season instead of at the end when it no longer mattered. Our Fourth Estate practically forced the SFA to pull its match officials into line and apologise to Mr Dignity and the others that had been complaining. No mention of things evening themselves out over the season then!

For nearly a century, one club in Scotland was allowed to follow a sectarian signing policy. Catholics were persona non grata at Ibrox and nobody, either in our football authorities or in our media, thought anything of it. Anti-discrimination laws came thick and fast in the 1960s and 1970s but, in Scotland, nothing at all was said about this filthy, bigoted policy. Anybody that dared to mention it was shouted down. Andy Cameron once brought the subject up at an early 1980s AGM and was almost physically attacked for his trouble. He had to be bundled out the door for his own safety.

In 1994 Celtic nearly went under, while everyone stood and watched. That was life; no business, including a football club, was too big to die. Rangers sent wreaths, while the Daily Record booked a hearse to sit outside Celtic Park for a front-page photo. It was a different story in 2012. Suddenly Scottish football couldn't live without the Old Firm. There would be no competition and the whole thing would be a boring waste of time. Everything had to be done to try to save Rangers; our media and politicians were all in agreement. But, then, what could they do when The Peeppul weren't prepared to step up? Even after Rangers died they were still at it; Green's new club was welcomed with open arms as our football authorities and media desperately helped to promulgate the Big Lie. I wonder if they'd have gone as far as that if Celtic had died!

Then there's the pack of thugs that have followed Rangers down the years, rampaging through Scotland, disgracing the nation with pitch invasions, defacing and even vandalising whole towns and cities throughout Europe. Meanwhile they sing their filthy songs of sectarian and racist bigotry. What do our football authorities do about it? Not a thing. Our media's reaction is even worse. Never has any word of criticism been levelled at The Peeppul without dragging Celtic into it. It's always been the 'Old Firm' at fault, with the old myth that 'each side is as bad as the other'. It's not even a question of sides; Celtic has nothing to do with it. It's never been an 'Old Firm' problem; it was a Rangers problem and now it's a Sevco one.

Another part of this 'Old Firm' myth is that Rangers, especially under Murray, did their best to stamp out the sectarian singing and chanting. This, of course, is absolute pish! Just listen to the 'Rangers' songs that still blare out from the PA at Ibrox. There's 'Follow, Follow', which contains the line, 'If we go to Dublin, we will follow on,' effectively saying that Dublin is the last place on earth that anyone would want to go to. Then we have, 'There's Not a Team...', where 'Celtic have their troubles', whatever that's supposed to mean. In fact, there's not one 'Rangers' song that doesn't mention Celtic, Catholics or Ireland. Far from banning such ditties, Rangers, and now Sevco, positively encourage them with their pathetic 'official' songs.

And just look at the way our authorities and our media treat Celtic and Sevco differently. It was only recently that we were encouraged to feel sorry for Kirk Broadfoot, who had been handed a ten-match ban by the English FA for making sectarian remarks to James McClean on the pitch. Even though there were witnesses to his vile comments, our media made it seem as if Broadfoot was the victim, worried about how his reputation had been tarnished. Contrast that with Aleksandar Tonev getting a seven-match ban for racist remarks that nobody else heard. His appeal was denied by the SFA, who preferred to take the other player's word, while our media seemed to think that justice had been served.

Warburton, meanwhile, has never won anything in a football career that's not much older than Sevco. Getting his team to the final of the Petrofac Cup has been his crowning achievement so far. In the league, he's thrown away a massive lead to be now only in front through goal difference. And yet, our media still talks of him as if he were the best thing since...well...sliced bread! Ronny Deila, on the other hand, won a double in his first season at Celtic and would have won a treble if it hadn't been for cheating match officials. Deila, however, is constantly portrayed as a failure, just because his European results haven't been that great. Then again, neither were Walter Smith's or Dick Advocaat's. As for Sooperally, the least said the better. No criticism against any of these characters was ever as intense and ongoing as that against Deila.

One final point. The Peeppul, and their friends in the media, love to point out that Celtic has been 'downsizing' over the past few years. Celtic supporters as well get caught up in this, blaming Peter Lawwell for the lack of success in Europe. The truth is, though, that Celtic, along with the rest of Scottish football, is going through a transitional period. After the overspending that every team had to do in order to keep up with Rangers (while Murray spent other people's money) Scottish football is now learning to live within its means. The sheer incompetence, as well as the Sevco-centrism, of our football authorities has led to there being less means for Scottish football to live on. It's going to be a while before any Scottish team is able to make a dent in Europe again.

One club, however, has not learned from the mistakes of its predecessor and is living beyond its means. No prizes for guessing which club this is. Our media, as usual, say nothing on this matter, too busy having a go at Celtic and Ronny Deila. As for our football authorities, they're perfectly happy to let a convicted criminal overspend while relying on loans. Sounds ominously familiar. To paraphrase a well-known saying, the SFA and SPFL are government of The Peeppul, by The Peeppul, for The Peeppul. Same as it ever was.

There are countless other examples of the bias evident in Scottish football but I don't want to be a complete Scrooge bastard and ruin everybody's Christmas dinner! So let's raise a glass and hope for peace on earth, happiness for all and a new spine for Scottish football.

Merry Christmas!

"God bless us, every Hun!"