Fortunately very few of us will have to go through what Paul McBride endured as a consequence of being a Celtic fan. Bullets and bombs in the post, with the inevitable stresses, are not part of a civilised society, but he coped without shirking. Instead of playing to the gallery, he carried an uncompromising message to some in the Celtic support, making a few more enemies but many more admirers.
His loss will be felt most by his loved ones, who are in our thoughts at this time, but without his insight, the years ahead will be poorer for us all.
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Quonno. Exactly where would we walk away to ?we would need to have an invitation to join another league and to the best of my knowledge we dont have such a thing.Celtic imo should stand firm and take the lead in reforming scottish football.H.H.
Will the administrators be representing Rangers at the SPL “Financial Fairplay Summit” (FFS), and would this be the reason for no press conference.
FFS would surely take precedence, FFS may be late in happening but FFS but late than never.
Warning…what follows is utter pash and readers may experience feelings of anger..
Integrity is name of our game
By jim Traynor on Mar 5, 12 07:30 AM in
The main currency, in fact the only currency any of us in the newspaper game should have in our moral banks must be integrity.
Without it we, as journalists, are of no use to anyone. We have no value. None at all.
Without integrity we fail our readers, our papers and our employers. But just as importantly we fail ourselves.
Integrity, honesty and the desire to call it out no matter the consequences is what defines us. Thankfully it’s also what sets us apart, especially from all those ‘brave’ keyboard thumpers out there in the world of social networking sites and football forums.
They aren’t governed by the laws which must be observed by newspapers like this one and are allowed to bash out the most insane, insulting, illogical and confused messages.
I shouldn’t complain, though, because it all demonstrates their lack of intellect and common decency.
Which might explain why they prefer to hide behind anonymity or childish pseudonyms.
But sadly there are some high-profile football people using this gift as conduits for their own propaganda and if you’ve looked at some of these sites you’ll know just how easy it is to influence and stir unrest.
There is certainly a lack of integrity in cyberspace but it’s honesty that persuades the editors at the Daily Record and Sunday Mail to employ their journalists in the first place. It’s why they trust us to make best use of the platforms given to us.
And it’s because of that integrity we stand by our story which revealed Celtic did not fulfil a ticket agreement with Rangers.
Last week (Tuesday, February 28) while working on Rangers’ financial meltdown, information was received that Celtic had decided not to pay in advance for their ticket allocation for the Old Firm match at Ibrox on March 25. Rangers believed there was a verbal agreement in place for Celtic to do so.
I along with Keith Jackson ran the story on our back page and that morning Celtic reacted strongly, insisting no such assurance had been given.
Then they said there was an agreement but later added it was dependent on Rangers not being in administration. Which, of course, they are today.
But at no time in my conversation with Celtic on the day the story appeared was it stated the agreement was dependent on Rangers’ remaining solvent. That caveat was never mentioned.
However, it was admitted there was some agreement and that confirmed what was written in our paper. Not that we required further proof.
The agreement which Rangers insist was in place and which Celtic continue to protest didn’t exist was the result of the Parkhead club demanding payment up front from Rangers for their allocation of tickets for the Old Firm game at Celtic Park on December 28.
It should be stressed most of us agreed that it was wise for Celtic to have asked to see the money first because of the fragile state of Rangers’ finances.
But our information says that both clubs agreed Celtic would also pay in advance for this month’s match.
Indeed, on January 21 Rangers requested payment ahead of the tickets being issued in a message which stated it had been agreed. About 50 minutes later Celtic responded by thanking Rangers for their invoice and added it would be passed on to finance for payment to be made as soon as.
Perhaps it would also help jog memories if it is pointed out that five days earlier Ali Russell, who was Rangers’ chief operations manager at the time, told his ticket office staff that Celtic had agreed they would pay in advance.
Celtic didn’t pay and no matter how much they jump up and down in protest that is the way it is. Rangers paid up front, Celtic didn’t.
Incidentally, it’s easy to understand why Celtic would have been reluctant to pay in advance. Any business would be extremely worried about handing over money to Rangers at this time but the Ibrox club have no doubt they had a deal.
So, too, do Rangers’ administrators Duff and Phelps who said through a spokesman: ‘It is regrettable that an apparent initial agreement was unfulfilled.’ Celtic might have been concerned also that they were being blamed for costing jobs at Ibrox and Murray Park but no one here suggested that. Let’s be absolutely clear on this, Rangers and Rangers alone are to blame for their decline into administration and any job losses.
None of this is the fault of Celtic or anyone at that club.
But our evidence and the content of conversations with Rangers and Celtic made it clear an agreement was in place.
Celtic, though, want to underline that if it hadn’t been made obvious the agreement was dependent on Rangers avoiding administration then it should have been.
Rangers say they are unaware of any condition attached to the arrangement but it changes nothing.
Let’s just say, for the sake of argument you understand, that the deal was conditional on Rangers remaining out of the administrators’ hands. Even if it was, the agreement must still have been broken because Rangers were not in administration when Celtic were asked to pay up.
The request for the cash was made 24 days before Rangers were tipped over. Of course we’d all been expecting Rangers to go under but the fact is they were still running under their own steam when they asked for the ticket money in advance.
Therefore, even allowing for the caveat that Celtic insist would have been part of the deal, they chose not to proceed with the arrangement.
That is all we ever said. And that is the truth of the matter.
Can anyone spot the deliberate mistakes in this exemplar of Awe Nawism:
Scots billionaire Craig Whyte set to buy Rangers for £30m
Nov 18 2010 Exclusive by James Traynor
Walter Smith will be handed a massive January cheque book if Scots billionaire Craig Whyte succeeds in his £30million bid to buy Rangers.
The lifelong Light Blues fan is heading up a consortium that includes Andrew Ellis and emerged last night as the man who could restore the Ibrox club’s fortunes on and off the pitch.
Talks are at an advanced stage and if a deal is closed cash-strapped Smith will be able to strengthen the threadbare squad in his bid to capture three titles in a row.
Smith is growing increasingly concerned about the limited number of players at his disposal as he tries to bow out on a high.
But if 39-year-old Whyte rides to the rescue Rangers fans can look forward to a January signing spree – provided the deal is concluded quickly.
And sources in London last night were adamant Whyte and his group would press home their interest.
As a supporter, Whyte knows how important it is to strengthen the squad to stave off Celtic’s challenge. The tycoon – Whyte became the youngest self-made Scottish millionaire in the 90s – is based in London and Grantown-on-Spey where he has been restoring Grant Castle at a cost of millions.
Born and brought up in Motherwell, he lived in Monaco as his wealth started to increase but returned to Britain in 1997 and is eager to buy out Sir David Murray’s majority interest and take Rangers forward. He is being backed by a group of wealthy individuals which includes London-based property developer Ellis – who tried earlier this year to launch a buyout bid of his own – but Whyte is the major player.
He has always made his own decisions and so far the man who left school to pursue his dream of becoming an entrepreneur has been on the money.
He started to make his fortune through a host of companies with interests in retail, construction, heavy plant hire, security services and industrial and office cleaning. And now Rangers fans will be hoping Whyte will succeed where Ellis previously failed. Ellis came close before but now he is involved with the billionaire it is believed Rangers’ owner is so far happy with what the consortium have to offer.
The ‘team’s’ a man down……..
Awe Naw
Awe Naw need not apply in this case! No need! Job done!
Duff And Duffer have asked the Rea-rangers players to play for free, this means that was not sufficient funds to hold the game on Saturday, are these guys just being allowed to re-write the rules to suit themselves? If there is not enough money the game should be awarded to Hearts.
Don’t axe the squad or no-one may buy us. They are acting (or should be) for the creditors not the rea-rangers new board. Hunbelievable.
Celtic Mac
I think its a bloody cheek that Traynor and Jackson have plagiarised me !!
Hail HAil
“Former boss Smith agrees with Murray’s assessment. Last night he said: “I pointed out at theend of last season the squad needed a level of investment as we had only brought in one player in Jelavic and even then we had to sell two to bring him in.”
Belter from Myth. This, my good friends in Celtic, is how they truly view the past. This, when all is said and done, is why they do not comprehend their own culpability, their shortcoming, their failings, the very destruction that they themselves wrought on their club:
Walter Smith, far from only bringing in ‘one player in Jelavic’, actually brought in Jelavic, Beattie, Healy, Diouf, Kerkar, Weiss, Bartley and Foster.
Regarding the article as a whole – what the writer does not state, and what Murray and Smith certainly do not appear to grasp, is that despite having the crop of players they currently have, and whilst they are still flailing and ailing in a somewhat poor SPL, they are also haemorrhaging money at a truly astonishing rate. Yet they would keep such failure at the club and would spend more in the summer on it.
So yes, go on, retain all of those players; retain your particular current brand of mediocrity. But please, do pay your bills on time. And spare us the notion that you actually know what you’re doing; clearly you do not.
Not much sign of integrity with Traynor when he allowed himself to be tricked into writing about a “Motherwell Born Billionaire” who would deliver a warchest. Even as late as last summer he was still spouting on about a warchest.
Integrity and Traynor in the same sentence is like Whyte and Billionaire in the same sentence.
Mort
Carry on!
It’s easy to fight when everything’s right,
And you’re mad with the thrill and the glory;
It’s easy to cheer when victory’s near,
And wallow in fields that are gory.
It’s a different song when everything’s wrong.
When you’re feeling infernally mortal;
When it’s ten against one, and hope there is none,
Buck up, little soldier, and chortle;
Carry on! Carry on!
There isn’t much punch in your blow.
You’re glaring and staring and hitting out blind;
You’re muddy and bloody, but never you mind.
Carry on! Carry on!
You haven’t the ghost of a show.
It’s looking like death, but while you’ve a breath,
Carry on, my son! Carry on!
And so in the strife of the battle of life
It’s easy to fight when you’re winning;
It’s easy to slave, and starve and be brave,
When the dawn of success is beginning.
But the man who can meet despair and defeat
With a cheer, there’s the man of God’s choosing;
The man who can fight to Heaven’s own height
Is the man who can fight when he’s losing.
Carry on! Carry on!
Things never were looking so black.
But show that you haven’t a cowardly streak,
And though you’re unlucky you never are weak.
Carry on! Carry on!
Brace up for another attack.
It’s looking like hell, but — you never can tell:
Carry on, old man! Carry on!
There are some who drift out in the deserts of doubt,
And some who in brutishness wallow;
There are others, I know, who in piety go
Because of a Heaven to follow.
But to labour with zest, and to give of your best,
For the sweetness and joy of the giving;
To help folks along with a hand and a song;
Why, there’s the real sunshine of living.
Carry on! Carry on!
Fight the good fight and true;
Believe in your mission, greet life with a cheer;
There’s big work to do, and that’s why you are here.
Carry on! Carry on!
Let the world be better for you;
And at last when you die, let this be your cry:
Carry on, my soul! Carry on!
Robert Service
Awe_Naw_No_Annoni_Oan_Anaw_Noo on 5 March, 2012 at 11:51 said:
Celtic Mac
I think its a bloody cheek that Traynor and Jackson have plagiarised me !!
————
That is outrageous A strongly worded complaint is in order!
My boss is Peter Principle – I hope more comes out about the 2nd contracts and illegally registered players. I think this will also help opposition of Newco Sweetheart deal.
If I am being greedy, Campbell Oligive out the SFA and Rangers stripped of 9 in a row.
Thanks for clearing that reilly1926!
For any of you gamblers out there, I see Betfair is still offering 180/1 for Ragers to win the league this season.
Just sayin’ … ;-)
FF
There’s not one Celtic fan I know that hasn’t at one point in their life (usually in our teens) said: I’d love to buy Rangers and run them into the ground.
Wouldn’t it be great if Craig Whyte was actually Carraig Bán, the Carfin Born Billionaire…
I think the administrators at Rangers should be carefull Fat Sleekit Ally and thug McCulluch offering to work for nothing this does not seem good value to me, those two should be paying Rangers to help save there beloved club after all there both millionaires.H.H.
From what i hear Yorkston has been getting pelters from some Pars fans. He and Leishman with their pro-Rangers drivel is hard to figure. Piss on me I don’t mind seems to sum them up.
Mind you what Yorkston says isn’t always what he does.
The prospect of Dunfermline (once the place of peaceful RC Pilgrimage) becoming a Hun Mecca must be alarming to most businesses in the Old Grey Toon.
Dunfermline is the first (apart from Celtic ) to break the (“Scottish Football Needs a strong FoD”) ranks.
His statement about the prospect of the FoD not automatically gaining re-entry to SPL is of course driven by Dunfermline’s self interest.
Yorkston will no doubt find that the vote will be taken AFTER the Pars are relegated .
This would then exclude Yorkston bringing any such radical views to the discussion .
The Onlooker
“They (websites) aren’t governed by the laws which must be observed by newspapers like this one and are allowed to bash out the most insane, insulting, illogical and confused messages.” – Jabba.
Would phone-hacking be part of the laws these pillars of integrity observe? Or paying policemen for stories?
Jabba, your profession is in the crapper like it has never been before and you choose now to sing its praises? As someone once said, “Please dont speak again, you are essentially, an oxygen thief.”
Surely a coincidence that rangers administrators pay the Pars after their chairman’s comments this morning…..
buying votes for a newco?
optimistic little soldier on 5 March, 2012 at 11:56 said:
There’s not one Celtic fan I know that hasn’t at one point in their life (usually in our teens) said: I’d love to buy Rangers and run them into the ground.
———————————-
I do it everytime i play Championship manager .I have being doing the Craigy W for years. Become manager sells all their better players for next to nothing and buy players from 3rd div english teams and leave them in ruins before being sacked. It just never gets boring.
obonfanti1888 at 12:01
Surely a coincidence that rangers administrators pay the Pars after their chairman’s comments this morning…..
No but D&P could be in trouble for settling with one creditor in preference to others. All should be treated in the same way. HMRC not going to like that.
Mort
AWE NAW @ 11 31 ——
The last thing Rangers want /need is ” defending ”
They desperately want /need Liquidation . The current manoeuvring is all about trying to ensure that the Phoenix has enough going for it to enable it to fly. The Vultures are OK about the Club doing time in an Open Prison. It will give them time to prepare for a future in the future.
In his “Ditty Vacant” apology for those who sang the famine song he told those of us who objected:-
“So, to all those, of any religion or race, who think Scotland is such a bad, twisted place full of bigots and racists there is only one thing to say.
Go.
Go on, just gather up your prejudices, take your suspicions and pack your loathing of Scotland.
Go find a better place to live and leave us to get on with the job of making something good of this country.”
Paul McBride,..Rest in Peace.
You were a very special talent who stood up for your club when you were called upon.
Many thanks.
———–
As a Celtic supporter, I can only apologise to Scotland’s gargantuan eating & bleating champion for the way my club has disappointed him by refusing to throw our hard-earned money into the bottomless pit that our drowning neighbours have dug for themselves.
I am sure all decent Celtic men appreciate his well-meaning chastisement.
His sense of honour & righteousness does him great credit.
Mort – Particularly if they have paid Dunfermline 100p in the £…..
Very sad news about the sudden death of Paul McBride. He will be sadly missed by his country ,by the Celtic community and most of all by his family and friends. In his short life, he fought the good fight and we owe it to him to continue that fight , particularly for justice and integrity at the heart of Scottish football. May he rest in peace!
oglach 12.05
One of my favourite pastimes.
It’s even better on Handheld as they rarely sack you until relegation is confirmed.
seventyxseven ‘gelee et glace’ on 5 March, 2012 at 12:00 said:
“They (websites) aren’t governed by the laws which must be observed by newspapers like this one and are allowed to bash out the most insane, insulting, illogical and confused messages.” – Jabba.
He is right, of course.
Some websites did bash out tales of billionaires with wealth off the radar and carrying huge war chests.
He is right, of course.
Those were insane, insulting, illogical and confusing messages.
One wonders where those websites get their information.
Kilbowie Kelt .I think the words youe were looking for was his Dignity.H.H. ; – )
The Onlooker 11.59
If Rangers are liquidated in mid season then relegation is suspended making his views valid after all.
That’s according to current SPL rules.
James Traynor, the man who called The Famine Song The Ditty Vacant and tried to justify it. I bet he had to look up the meaning of the word.
http://celticparanoia.blogspot.com/2010/01/james-traynor-more-hot-air-and.html
iki
He is also, evidently, an expert at ‘bashing one out.’
Big Nan on 5 March, 2012 at 12:07 said:
Check the above link.
Paul Murray: “Lee McCulloch epitomises everything that Rangers Football Club is about.”
Yip, totally agree Paul.
WARNING:
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES ATTEMPT TO READ JIM TRAYNOR’S BLOG ON THE DAILY RECORD WEB SITE WHILE EATING YOUR LUNCH, THIS WILL ALMOST CERTAINLY RESULT IN YOU CHOCKING ON YOUR SANDWICH WITH DISBELIEF AT WHAT YOU ARE READING.
I FEAR THE SAME RESULT OCCURS WITH NON-SANDWICH LUNCHEON ITEMS AS WELL.
ONCE YOU HAVE FINISHED YOUR LUNCH HOWEVER, GIVE IT A READ, MUCH HILARITY WILL THEN FOLLOW.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
How shockingly biased was BBC Scotland last night ?
Showed the Aberdeen win under Tony Mowbary and as soon as Pat Fenlon did not toe the hun media line the question that was put to him was all about undermining him.
HAil HAil