When historians finally try to pull together the events of the early part of this decade, we’ll finally know what happened and why. In a world where information is available at the touch of a button from multiple sources, it’s quite incredible that their conclusion will probably be that although information was available, we were considerably less well-informed.
In the big wide world out there this morning Donald Trump, the current US president, looks like he might well have garnered enough support to put the country on a civil war footing when any two from Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin or Pennysylvania put an end to his term of office over the next couple of days.
Like his comrade in arms over in Westminster, he has made a mockery of the basic rights and freedoms enjoyed in their respective countries by alienating anyone who sees through his charade, whilst praising those not quite bright enough to see through the charade.
All done with ruthless manipulation of a compliant media.
You can already see the similarities with the microcosm of Scottish football.
It doesn’t matter what has happened, it’s being re-written to suit the narrative of those in situ to preserve the status quo.
Breaking down those barriers requires enormous courage and enormous effort, and sometimes it’s easier just to accept whats going on.
In Scotland, the establishment, having seen the financial meltdown caused by the self harm at Ibrox, it’s become more important to return to the way things were than to learn lessons and move forward, accepting the damage done and making sure it doesn’t happen again.
With the newly formed Ibrox club leading the league table, nine points to the good, there is now a concerted effort to keep it that way, although it has been the plan all along.
Whilst Celtic can commendably be said to have circled the wagons on the field after a relatively poor start to the season, the wagons are being drawn even tighter off the pitch by those who can’t abide the idea of those uppity taigs remaining supreme.
At risk of sounding a little more paranoid than usual, even the Holyrood government seem to be backing the unionist and conservative camp at Hampden.
Two Rangers players were caught attending a birthday party for a third player, who escaped criticism, which was contrary to Covid protocol, and have been thrown to the wolves by their club/company and greedily devoured by the media.
Jordan Jones and George Edmundson have been held up as an example and told they will never play for the club again, which according to the media should be the end of it, and Holyrood , it appears, have commended “rangers ” for their swift action.
But hang on, where are the demands for punishment to the club ?
Surely the precedent set when Aberdeen and Celtic were forced to postpone matches should kick in as a matter of course ?
The press were on the earlier breaches quite quickly, and quite venomously…but this time round….
Certain sections of a certain support were furious…
Whilst one couldn’t help but spew his disgust….
And this party, why has no one questioned why only two of Arfields team mates were there, especially given that it was heralded as a bit of an event on social media …..
The latest storm surrounds a group of “attractive ” girls staying nearby that were summoned from their hotel to join in the fun via social media, which is a euphanism if I ever heard one, and the whole issue is beginning to look a lot darker than a few lads letting their hair down.
The problem is, we cannot count on the media to do a full and frank investigation, and so, given time, the while thing will go away, and the two players may even be offered a reprieve, having “mended their ways”
As ever, though, it’s important to look beyond the headlines, and there appears to be much more to it.
Allegations that other players were there have surfaced, and even some videos and photographs to back them up, and it seems that the two found guilty are merely a nod to those in power to let it go now, and there’s been a much more serious breach of protocol, and that in turn leads to some more questions, such as why have one club seemingly found a miracle antidote to covid infections, with none of their players infected thus far ?
The virus is cutting a swathe through the game, but apparently avoiding Ibrox because they are adhering to all the rules ?
I think we all know thats unlikely.
Earlier in the season, the club/company were found to be not testing players properly, and were duly told off. One wonders if like , say, rules about payments to players, other rules have been adjusted to suit their own agenda.
A league title this season would mean that they could possibly survive their latest financial crisis, and if its deemed to be good for the game by all, including Celtic and the other clubs, then a blind eye could be turned to current problems, as the money coming soon from UEFA would sort it all out.
Suspicions were further raised when they announced a further share dilution yesterday…which,of course, was reported as another investment…
The ever loyal Mark McDougall of the Record….
Rangers have launched 19 million shares at a price of 20p each, according to a report.
That will bring in around £4million if they have been sold to new investors.
It’s the second share issue in the last month after Stuart Gibson put £5million into Rangers in October.
Record Sport exclusively revealed news of Gibson’s investment in the club earlier this year and the Hong Kong-based, Paisley-born businessman.
The new issues could see extra money into the coffers of the Ibrox club at a time when football teams are dealing with the financial fallout of Covid-19.
Hot on the heels of the report on Celtic’s financial figures, which although showed a profit, was touted as bad news because it wasn;t a huge profit, and depended largely on player sales, again touted as a bad thing but it is , in fact, company policy.
A lack of gate money and matchday revenue means every club in Scotland is operating with less money than they normally would.
That’s true, but the difference for some isn’t quite as big as we’ve been led to believe.
Remember the Livingstin CEO said he;d costed it, and his club would lose money if they had a restricted amount of fans at games, although to be fair, apart from Celtic and “rangers “, most clubs wouldn’t see a major downturn in attendance figures of a proportion of fans were allowed in, which leads me to think that it’s all bluster to avoid anyone asking for their season book money back.
Which itself points to a need to avoid a second meltdown at Ibrox…..
Of course, league titles are won on the field, and in fairness, the Ibrox club have racked up the first win over their city neighbours which has helped to put them in pole position.
That was down to a poor performance on the field by Celtic, and no excuses are offered.
But there may be reasons, which are just unfortunate, such as the under strength squad and illness and injury.
The Scotland squad was announced for the play off with Serbia this month, and Celtic have a few players in there. If Celtic were to withdraw those players, purely on health and safety issues, we would see the media hound them as unpatriotic, which is eerily similar to how the media treats anyone who speaks out against the Johnson/Trump governments, and yet given that players health is at stake, it’s the correct thing to do.
But Celtic won’t do it, and will blame it on the “rules “.
No doubt other nations will call up other players, and again there is a risk that they will contract infections, or, more likely, come into contact with those who have.
All of which upsets the consistency on the field, of both selection and performance.
And thats before we consider the subtle moves to make it difficult for Celtic on the field, which we’re kind of used to, and almost beginning to accept.
Largely unnoticed, and certainly uncriticised at any level, is the involvement of Andrew Dallas in high profile “rangers ” or Celtic games.
Dallas is a piss poor referee, of that there is little doubt, yet he seems to have an unusually high amount of games thus far this season that could have an effect on the outcome of the title race.
Of his nine games so far, five of them have featured one of the Glasgow clubs, and all have resulted in wins for them.
But, if we were to examine the nature of those wins, and the performances of the referee, then a different picture emerges.
Dallas can be counted on to influence a game, by whether breaking up play, making early bookings and, of course, awarding penalties.
He’s not the only one, but I’m getting the feeling that he is being groomed for a major role in influencing the outcome further down the line, at a point when interference will be so blatant, the media can point to the overall statistics to show he’s not biased at all, as he;s refereed several Celtic victories already…
Like when there’s a flurry of bookings towards the end of a game for “rangers ” players to even up the stats.
Another referee, Conservative party branch manager Douglas Ross is under investigation for using an image of himself in referee uniform, strictly forbidden by FIFA, and yet escaping mention in the Scottish media.
Where morals are flexible in one aspect of one’s life, they tend to be flexible in them all…
Like in the USA, like in Westminster, there’s some dodgy stuff going on, and its time for our club to start to stand up for itself.
We are still too much of a sift target for those with an agenda, our own PR and social media management is dreadful.
Too often trying to become part of the media as opposed to standing alone as a voice for the club, seemingly afraid of criticism or scorn, when in fact, it;s earning criticismm and scorn from those it’s supposed to be aimed at.
If we don’t pull our act together now, then this story is not going to play the way we want it to.
Time for someone not only to move to the front of the bus, to coin a phrase, but to grab the driver and throw him out, taking the wheel himself, and putting the bus back on the right road.
And it needs to be done now, and although it may seem to some as being a little bit unsporting, and not gentlemanly behaviour, we’ve seen in the real world that those things don’t matter any more.
Results, and the money that comes with it, are the only thing that matters now.
Paranoid ramblings ?
Well, you”d be paranoid if everyone was out cheat you out of whats yours….
We’ve seen it all happen before, for all the same reasons.
And they think they got away with it…so why wouldn’t they do it again ?
There was more gloom on the injury front when James Forrest underwent surgery on his ankle. It’s not looking good for a return to action any time soon, and it’s fair to say he has been missed.
And the striking options were exposed a little when it was revealed that Jeremie Frimpong doesn’t even like scoring….
To be fair, to Frimpong, he won’t be the first to meet someone online and find she wasnlt quite the catch in real life.
Come to think of it, some we meet in real life aren’t quite the catch either.
The sun, incidentally, changed it’s headline after it provoked a bit of a backlash….
Oh My Days indeed.
Surely there must be a nice young lass out there to keep him warm this winter ?
In fact, we hear there’s a couple of models about to hit the stage as they embark on a new singing career
complete with backing dancers…
Having said that, if he fancies any of these, then I’d recommend a Covid test straight away, as taste and smell are the first to go….
Caption competition……Monday….
Caption……..
We’ll see what that prick Zorro thinks when I land on his napper for a change.