Thirty pieces of silver
A Rangers supporting acquaintance said to me this week, ‘I suppose you’ll be buying Craig Whyte’s new book, all you Tims are obsessed with Rangers.’ I told him I wouldn’t as it was unlikely to contain anything we don’t already know and if it did it would be all over the tabloids anyway. He did have something of a point though as some Celtic websites seem to talk more about Rangers than their own club at times. That being said, the demise of Rangers in 2012 and the inept handling of the whole saga by the Scottish footballing authorities has given Celtic supporters plenty to talk about.
The actions of the media during and after the event make for interesting reading too. They initially reported fairly accurately on what liquidation actually meant for Rangers and the implications for the new entity attempting to join the league. The febrile summer of 2012 saw all sorts of machinations from the SFA and SPL to shoehorn Rangers into the top league but individual clubs saw their fans in open revolt about this prospect. There were threats of boycott and not renewing season tickets if this came to pass and the basic unfairness of a club going bankrupt in the manner Rangers did and expecting the Phoenix club to be admitted at the top of the game hit home. There was great suspicion from Celtic fans that the footballing authorities were bending over backwards to accommodate a new club which succeeded one which had basically cheated. The idea that the SFA were up to something underhanded was bolstered when the late Turnbull Hutton, Chairman of Raith Rovers at the time stood on the steps of Hampden and said...
We are being bullied, railroaded and lied to. We are being lied to by the Scottish FA and the SPL. We are being threatened and bullied. It is not football as I know it. It was a ridiculous document which came out last week whereby the threat was there that if you don’t vote for an acceptance into the First Division, a breakaway SPL2 will come along and those who didn’t vote wouldn’t be invited. What kind of game are we running here? It is corrupt.’
The SFA and SPL are member organisations and are honour bound to look after the interests of the game in this country but their obsession with tv contracts and money above sporting integrity and fairness caused a huge rift in the Scottish game which has yet to heal. Of course this being Scotland, some saw Masonic conspiracies at work while other saw the old pals act coming into play. When elements of the Rangers support started intimidating officials and even reporters it only confused the situation more. Again Tunbull Hutton spoke with a blunt honesty sadly lacking from those running the game when it was mooted the new Rangers be allowed to join the second tier of Scottish football...
This is the same Rangers whose supporters threatened to torch our stadium and whose manager demanded one of our directors was named over his involvement with an SFA judicial panel. That resulted in TV cameras camping outside his door and threats being made by various outlandish factions. We also had Sandy Jardine publicly calling for repercussions for those clubs who have not supported Rangers. Given that, how could I be expected to roll over and have my tummy tickled by some inducement to allow Rangers to come into the First Division. I gave my opinion to the board on Monday night and the board had a position which was not in any way different from my own. That does not mean a vote will go the way we want it to go. I imagine some clubs will see some short-term advantage. But if long-term you cheese off your season ticket-holders and supporters and backers is it worth it? Do you sell your position for 30 pieces of silver for some short-term advantage or take the moral high ground?”
Some of the quotes released from Craig Whyte’s book, intended to stir up controversy and boost sales, are hardly telling us anything new. He described the SFA in those days with at least some modicum of honesty...
‘They struck me as being completely clueless. They were complete clowns. They had a lot to say about me at the time, but did they say anything about the EBT case? A club effectively cheated the game for years and no sanctions were taken against any of the individuals responsible.’
That remains the biggest scandal of the EBT years, the fact that a member club paid players under the table in complete contradiction of the laws governing the game and did so on an industrial scale for years while the governing body did nothing. It’s all history now but it leaves a bitter legacy as many feel the laws of the game were not applied fairly in the case of the old Rangers who should have had any trophy won whilst fielding improperly registered players, for that is what it was, expunged from the record.
Those of you reading this who follow the Ibrox club and think these words are written by just another hater of Rangers ask yourselves this; what would you be saying if Celtic behaved in that manner? If you’re being honest with yourself you’ll know the truth of what occurred in those years. However, truth is in short supply in Scottish football where media outlets flip-flop on the reporting of the demise of Rangers, pundits are forced off tv for giving an honest opinion and the ‘succulent lamb’ reporting of a decade ago lives on. To often the debate around what happened in 2012 is mired in lies, obfuscation and self interest.
Oh for a man like Turnbull Hutton who called them out on their unprincipled actions without fear or favour.
Craig Whyte may have been a convenient patsy in the demise of Rangers and already the sycophants in the press are sharpening their knives to deflect from some of the things he is saying. We all know those responsible for the whole debacle walked away with barely a word of criticism from the media. That is to the eternal shame of much of the sporting press in Scotland and a decade on they don’t look as if they have learned much from the experience.
At the end of the day it is all about money or as Turnbull Hutton called it, ‘thirty pieces of silver.’
‘They struck me as being completely clueless. They were complete clowns. They had a lot to say about me at the time, but did they say anything about the EBT case? A club effectively cheated the game for years and no sanctions were taken against any of the individuals responsible.’
That remains the biggest scandal of the EBT years, the fact that a member club paid players under the table in complete contradiction of the laws governing the game and did so on an industrial scale for years while the governing body did nothing. It’s all history now but it leaves a bitter legacy as many feel the laws of the game were not applied fairly in the case of the old Rangers who should have had any trophy won whilst fielding improperly registered players, for that is what it was, expunged from the record.
Those of you reading this who follow the Ibrox club and think these words are written by just another hater of Rangers ask yourselves this; what would you be saying if Celtic behaved in that manner? If you’re being honest with yourself you’ll know the truth of what occurred in those years. However, truth is in short supply in Scottish football where media outlets flip-flop on the reporting of the demise of Rangers, pundits are forced off tv for giving an honest opinion and the ‘succulent lamb’ reporting of a decade ago lives on. To often the debate around what happened in 2012 is mired in lies, obfuscation and self interest.
Oh for a man like Turnbull Hutton who called them out on their unprincipled actions without fear or favour.
Craig Whyte may have been a convenient patsy in the demise of Rangers and already the sycophants in the press are sharpening their knives to deflect from some of the things he is saying. We all know those responsible for the whole debacle walked away with barely a word of criticism from the media. That is to the eternal shame of much of the sporting press in Scotland and a decade on they don’t look as if they have learned much from the experience.
At the end of the day it is all about money or as Turnbull Hutton called it, ‘thirty pieces of silver.’
Today this day Scottish Footballs corrupt to the core..It's all to keep the new club at Skunkmountain..Shame on the lot of them..
ReplyDeleteHow true, but people are often in denial about this.
ReplyDeleteI am part of the Tralee CSC in Kerry in Ireland and there are a fair few Glaswegians amongst our support who have settled over here. It's funny when I talk to them about the corruption in the game in Scotland, because most of us Irish supporters are completely bemused by it and how it continues, but the ex-pats just laugh it off as if to say, that's just the way it is over there and it's never going to change. There's a resignation there that's that's just the way it is.
ReplyDeleteFor all of us in the Tralee CSC, we all admit this season is as big as stopping the 10 in '98. We watch every game now like it's a cup final and up to this point, when maybe 5 or 6 of us would come out to watch a midweek game, there's now maybe 30 odd of us at every midweek game.
I can honestly say the loss to Sevco on the 29th of December hit us all hard and gave us a taste of the possibility that we might lose this title to them. Some of the ex-pats say that they'll throw their hat at supporting the team if it happens. To me it will be a year zero event, everything I have supported for the last 30+ years will all seem like it was for nothing if we let this title slip out of our grasp.
What I cannot get my head around is how much corruption there is involved in trying to stop this happening. As an Irishman, I know as a race, we are loved and respected the world over, the Stamford CSC in Connecticut really showed me how much when I lived in the U.S.I was there when we stopped the 10 in 98. I find it so hard to understand how we are so hated in Scotland, it makes no sense to me when I see how well we are treated everywhere else we go.
But this season of all seasons means to me and the Tralee CSC that we can exorcise all the demons of the 90's and that all the horrible events of that decade and that we can do it by winning fairly and squarely. I know I will cry with relief when this title is won, just like I did in '98. I hope against hope that we can do it against all the corruption and hatred that is currently conspiring to try and stop us. Because if a financially doped 'Rangers' takes this title from us and we have to see the headlines of them winning their '55th' title, knowing that it is a complete and utter fabrication, then there is no hope left for the game in Scotland.
Today the people of Ireland voted for huge change in our government because we are sick to death of the what has gone on in this country try over the last 20 years. I just hope that if the current board oversees this title going to Sevco, then we the fans will vote for the change required at the club to take it forward.
The Kelly's will appear like Saints compared to them if that happens. Surely Peter Lawell and the board know they will go down in infamy if they preside over something like that happening???