What’s Going on in Scottish Football?
At the moment, I’m listening to the last match in the Glasgow Premier League at Celtic Park. It is usually on one of the main Sky channels, but today it is on Sky Sports 4. Are those of us who get our Sky through BT Vision being censored? Or do they expect it will be too red-blooded for English tastes? Especially, as from what I can gather from the commentary, the Celtic crowd have been giving the Rangers fans a warm and very bigoted welcome. I think that if say some of the banners unfurled by the home fans, appeared at say an Ipswich against Norwich fixture, they would certainly be confiscated.
All of this is a minor battle compared to what happens in the next few weeks. Rangers will probably loose a lot of their best players and the transfer embargo they are under will mean they won’t be able to sign any more.
What puzzles me about Rangers, is that the Inland Revenue didn’t fully investigate the non-payment of tax by the club a couple of years earlier? After all, if this forces the club into liquidation, then it will be the English at fault. Could it be, that Prudence didn’t want it to happen under his watch?
As a taxpayer, I have a right to know, about all the tax and contract mandering that happened in Scotland in the last days of the worst government we’ve had since Lord North.
The Fight of the Week Is Warming Up
I’m watching the latest instalment in the Glasgow Premier League.
Rangers have scored a goal and Celtic have had a player sent off.
I wouldn’t like to be the referee for the next few weeks.
Rangers in a Pickle
Glasgow Rangers went into administration yesterday and it looks more than your average mess, if you read this article on the BBC.
If you read the comments in the BBC article, they are blaming everybody.
I suppose that as it’s the HMRC that has caused the club to go into aministration, then the UK government will get the blame.
Is the Glasgow Premier League Going to Get Smaller?
It has been reported this afternoon that Glasgow Rangers may be going into Administration, so if they did, it would affectively leave Glasgow Celtic as the only major club in Glasgow.
So does this mean the end for Rangers?
The major creditor is reported to be HMRC, who lately have demanded their money.
But whatever happens they’ll get a ten-point deduction, just as Portsmouth will in England, who’ve also gone into administration.
It is also been reported that Celtic’s Chief Executive is not worried if Rangers folds. That in my view is not a very charitable altitude.
Rangers Get Off Lightly
Rangers have been given a suspended fine and some fairly weak sanctions, after they were accused of sectarian chanting in the matches against PSV Eindhoven. This is the report from the Guardian. But Rangers are unrepentant and blaming others for their problems.
But Martin Bain, the Rangers chief executive, still aimed his fire towards the Football Against Racism in Europe group (Fare), which he feels was heavily influential in this affair after it provided evidence to Uefa. Bain said: “We have had serious concerns about the integrity of the evidence compiled by the Fare organisation and that remains the case.
“We are also of the opinion that Fare has been influenced by people who make it their business to damage our club in any way they can. We are committed to the eradication of sectarianism and believe it would have been more constructive for Fare to work with our club rather than against it. Instead, they submitted evidence to Uefa with a clear objective in mind and have shown a complete lack of transparency or accountability when asked for clarification on various aspects of that evidence.”
English football had its problems in the past, and it was only cured by draconian action by the authorities, in both the UK and Europe.
Someone has got to take the lead to stop the sectarian songs, the drinking and the violence. Without strong action, nothing will get any better.
Phil Mac Giolla Bhain
With all of the death threats and bombs in Glasgow over the last few days and the statement from Paul McBride, I decided to search the Internet to learn more. After all, anybody who is less than a hundred bricks short of a full load, would want the problems to be sorted and be stopped for ever.
I found this excellent web site from Phil Mac Giolla Bhain. Read this post about a tax demand from HMRC and note some of the associated comments.
Tomorrow is another battle in the Glasgow Premier League. It will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 5 Live. Rumour has it that Jeremy Bowen has been asked to commentate.
Scottish Football Gets Uglier
And now there are parcel bombs to Neil Lennon and two fans. There is also this story on the BBC about a Facebook page threatening the Celtic manager.
I can understand why Scottish football is in so much trouble. We certainly don’t want Rangers and Celtic in the English leagues.
As I said before they should form their own Glasgow Premier League and perhaps play behind closed doors. But would that make the domestic violence linked to the games as reported here, better or worse. Certainly that report in the Glasgow Herald, paints a grim picture of the matches.
And then there’s the sectarian songs, that have got Rangers in trouble with UEFA after the match against PSV EIndhoven.
UEFA were soft on Rangers and they should have banned them from Europe.
A Letter in The Times on the Glasgow Premier League
A letter in The Times entitled Firm Opinion states the obvious about Rangers and Celtic rivalry; religious bigotry.
But it’s just not politically correct to say so.
After all, I’ve supported Ipswich for many years and lived in Liverpool for several years and now live close to The Emirates. So how can Ipswich and Norwich, Liverpool and Everton and Arsenal and Tottenham keep their rivalry within sensible bounds and Rangers and Celtic can’t? I repeat what the letter writer said; religious bigotry.
I should also say, that in this awful weather, I’ve worn my Ipswich hat all over the country and although I’ve had comments, none would have offended anybody with the most sensitive of dispositions.
So grow up Glasgow!
Football fans all over the country (and probably the rest of Scotland too!) are getting fed-up with your childish and bigotted antics.
The Glasgow Premier League Has a Long Way to Go
Celtic and Rangers may have played an ill-tempered match this week, but apparently there is a report of a match in Argentina where 36 red cards were shown.
The Glasgow Premier League
Who’d be a real football fan in Scotland, as the system is such, that unless you’re Celtic or Rangers no-one else gets a look in.
They will play each other seven times this year and if the other matches are like last night’s ill-tempered affair, how long will it be, before Scottish football fans turn to other sports or the television set in even greater numbers.
But then Rangers against Celtic is not about football. I live close to the Emirates and do we see any trouble, except for a bit of traffic congestion on match days. So peaceful, well-attended matches can be arranged without either an overwhelming police presence or trouble in the UK. So a few clubs do cause the odd problems, but the troublemakers are usually measured in hundreds at the most. And we rarely get matches in England with three players sent off.
One thing I object to is that the BBC, give Rangers/Celtic matches a lot of coverage on both TV and radio, when often there is a more important match or another sport that would be preferred by most people in the UK. If I want to see a fight, then I’d prefer to watch a decent boxing match.
The Anonymous Widower 