“If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you’re mis-informed.”
Mark Twain had a knack for overstatement, but you wonder if there was ever a golden age of the newspapers, and if so, what it looked like. In Scotland, it’s seldom looked like it has this week.
Some weeks ago, Graham Spiers, writing in The Herald, made reference to comments he claimed a Newco director made about the Billy Boys song. Spiers didn’t name the director, but questioned the club’s board’s willingness to tackle offensive behaviour.
The Billy Boys were a Glasgow razor gang from the 1920s and 30s, named after their leader, Billy Fullerton. Glasgow was one of the poorest cities in the industrial world, with high unemployment and mortality rates, squalid housing conditions and what we would now term disaffected young people who drifted into criminal gangs. The Billy Boys were known as a Protestant gang (there were similar Catholic gangs) and started going along to watch Rangers, and singing their signature tune, in the 20s.
So far, so anthropologic. The song, the gangs, the disaffected masses were a product of their time, but the song persisted through the decades, including the “up to our knees in Fenian blood” third line. It was the mood music to employment practices at Ibrox from the 20s until 1989.
Scotland has changed enormously since then. We are a genuinely plural society, not one scandalised by “mixed marriages”. The vast majority of people don’t care who or what you are, boundaries have been pushed back, there is a fairly level playing field, no matter your creed or colour. All of this change brought focus to the Billy Boys song, it’s not the mood music to modern Scotland, or to ANY Rangers fans I know.
I couldn’t care less about the song. For me, it is a millstone around the neck of Newco, as it was of Oldco. It drags them down to a place they can ill-afford to be. It offends (not alone in football), has a criminal legacy (not alone in football), but it’s unique quality is that third line. You can’t say that about any group of people anymore.
Spiers has put his neck on the block over sectarianism at Ibrox repeatedly over the years. He wrote about his recent experience at Ibrox, expressed an opinion, and submitted his copy.
The club complained. Football clubs complain lots about many things. There’s a set answer newspapers give to these complaints: “It was an opinion piece”. They never retract or apologise for “an opinion piece”.
I’m 100% certain The Herald’s first response to Newco was “it’s an opinion piece”. This would normally have been the end of it, but on Wednesday The Herald issued an apology.
Spiers then became a blogger to explain “My opinion – as expressed in my column – was based on a truthful account of my meeting with a Rangers director.”
Who you believe is irrelevant for this topic. The only relevance is that within a 24 hour period, The Herald and Evening Times group changed how they deal with criticisms of an opinion piece – and then used six degrees of separation to drag Celtic into a sectarian headline.
“Ex-Celtic player in dock for sectarianism”, screamed the Evening Times, using the Celtic badge into the bargain. A woman is on trial for allegedly making a sectarian comment on Facebook. She once played for Celtic under-19s, never the senior ladies team. She doesn’t play for Celtic Ladies under-19s (or any age group) anymore, and didn’t a year ago when she made this comment. She never held an employed position at the club.
An amateur, juvenile, registered with the club who are a member of the Women’s Association. Fill your boots, Evening Times. The apology will do them no favours with any constituency, it will cost them more readers in each than sticking to their guns would have. Reacting by grasping onto something so tenuous to drag Celtic into the murky waters was unconscionable.
They do not report in this manner elsewhere. Headlines for court appearances never lead with the person’s club memberships, “Prestwick Golf Club member in driving ban”? You’ll never read this.
One very good political journalist once told me “The football content pays my wages”. That being the case, The Herald’s already difficult job to survive has been enormously undermined. Spiers also explained “the pressure brought upon the newspaper became severe”. They can ill-afford to lose advertising revenue streams, or readers.
Napoleon once said, “‘Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets”. He’s been dead a long time, though. Newspapers can now make themselves impotent in an afternoon.
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At last we appear to be improving the team during a transfer window…a welcome development
CELTIC40ME on 29TH JANUARY 2016 6:21 PM
Neganon2
First the death of Celtic, now racism in Scotland and Mandela
With that amount of drama I refuse to believe you’re an accountant
——————–
I don’t get your point!
*He stopped himself mid-sentence, put his botton down and turned the shredder off.
Looking the interviewer in both eyes, simultaneously he responded to the question of transfer war-chests…………*
“we can expect a figure likely to be north of numpteen and just south of insubstantial, but most certainly the guts of hee-haw.”
Evening all…
Back in days of yore, when we used to talk about prospective transfers in transfer windows, especially on Carlsberg Friday’s:)
I came across a site, now what this site did was look at various Newspapers, National and Local and look at their transfer predictions and how successful they were.
The Herald: Rangers FC they predicted 80% of their eventual signings. Celtic 20%
Hail Hail
Good article Paul and some great and funny comments.
My favourite after only reading to the end of page 2
Florida Bhoy @ 2:13
Hear Hear and Hail Hail
pyfird
A propos of nothing Wikileaks just published the names of 325,000 (mostly US) policemen who are members of a masonic order https://archive.is/8tuPP
prestonpans bhoys
No word from Celtic about my seat relocation.
The Green Man
“That is what wingers do…is it not? ”
It is one of the things that wingers do. It is one of the things that JF does too. But the cut back part o it would be impossible if he kept running in a straight line for more than 10 seconds, which is what you were asking him to do.
Aff oot for a night of quizzing now
Daily Ranger and the new Leeds Utd player.
SFTB
I knew you couldnt resist:)
Yer wrang, and thats it:)
HH
Watched the Roberts videos.
Playing style very very like Stuart slater.
Send him bsck
ThomtheTim
With regard to the status of Sevco, the FFSA and SPFKnL prefer to spell it with an ‘n’, NAMOURPHUS!
Not a peep on the Scottish TV news about Celtic signing Patrick Roberts, ‘the English Messi’.
You can bet if the Zombies had miraculously procured him the Herald’s Saturday front paper would just have been a miasma of white spashes…
Mr Pastry
You addressed me then, albeit having a wee pop, but progress all the same :-)
I agree that Pedro should get some credit, but in reality, he was only doing his job in agreeing the terms etc, and I’m sure he got us a craking deal, no.
I think RD should get the kudos for refusing to have the boy on a short term deal, 18 months is worthwhile, hopefully the boy lives up to his hype.
I have said time and time again that I think Pedro is doing a great job re the finances, but I think he is failing to put a team on the park that has continuity, maybes RD is flexing his muscles and we may get some semblance of a team that he wants.
HH
Re wingers, I always thought they played from the halfway line upwards, fullbacks from defence and got light headed going by the halfway line.
It’s all reversed now, maybe why I don’t play my bhoys ps4 :)
Cardiff City are poised to sign Charlton striker Tony Watt on loan, according to reports.
Joe Filippis Haircut on 29th January 2016 6:33 pm
We got big Fraser after a couple of loans ,so you never know.
Till later all,
Saint Stivs on 29th January 2016 6:54 pm
Watched the Roberts videos.
Playing style very very like Stuart slater.
Send him bsck
======================
lol.
Only an astonishing performance by Andy Goram stopped Stuart Slater becoming a Celtic legend. Fine line.
Distance equals speed x time
We now know that the optimum run for a winger is 10 seconds
If a fitba player can do 100m in 15sec then he runs at 6.7m/s
Hence: Distance is 10×6.7 equals 67m.
This I around 100 yards which is the length of a football pitch.
Maybe James F is trying to run for 10 seconds but as he starts at halfway, he has to vector 50% of the distance around the pitch.
I think he stands up well to the 10s rule ;-)
BSR
Someone posted he was going to Blackburn earlier
Patrick Joseph Roberts
BT
Same ole Tony always signing
SS-VG
Sandman
I really liked Stuart Slater but the fact he had to shoot from range and give Goram a decent chance at a save was due to the lack of quality around him and the terrible tactics.
Couldn’t fault those guys for effort in dominating games vs them though.
A bit more of that backbone would make this current team a really good one IMHO
glendalystonsils,
we were very lucky Pardew wasn’t a good judge of talent
HH
gsu
Latest from the HERALD:
Check the name – Barclay McBain
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CZ6AnMVWIAEAPAu.jpg
1933-2016
CONEYBHOY on 29TH JANUARY 2016 7:01 PM
I remember reading that John Hughes was the fastest of the Lisbon Lions over 100 yards.
Wee Bobby was the fastest off his mark.
That`s what mattered.
Patrick Joseph.
Great name.
That’s three clubs for watt in the space of 6 months, no? A man for who the word itinerant was created. And isn’t that illegal?
I can’t help thinking of the captain sensible song when I read his name
Well done. Andy Murray and Ronny got Man City to do the deal he wanted for the youth. Lets hope it’s not at the expense of promoting some of our young players.
Barclay McBain…………….
…………….B-A-R-C-L-A-Y………………McBain.
Boyd Tunnock, eat yer heart oot.
Not a mention of 12 million Paddy Rab signing for the Hoops !!
Now if he was an Acrington Stanley Wonderkid
Oooooffffttttt !!
Hope the NUJ Uk wide back Angela Haggarty and Graeme Speirs and put pressure on the Herald to say sorry and print a retraction for denying the Truth and Facts !!
Ps Do you think BB Park sanctioned the signing of King Billy sorry Billy King !
Soon find out if this new revenue opportunity results in the ex Jambo face super imposed on yon Dutch chap who sits on the white pony lol .
Would make billions eh ?
”The Rangers football club does not exist, it is an idea in people’s minds, a myth of continuity. No-one knows
what the Rangers football club is, but it has no legal personality.”
Alan Dewar QC, representing Charles Green at the Inner House of the Court of Session
Macjay
My mate from EK is the fastest in the world to get to the pub toilet, from a standing, start in the world – when it is his round!
The rangers were last seen in the usual suspects line up next to kayser soze
BT from 7:01
So now im just a somebody. .. used to be a mate
praecepta…
In other words…the mickys will hunt you down.