Login Form
| Complicit Through Compliance |
 |
 |
 |
| Written by Paul G |
| Saturday, 12 March 2011 16:23 |
|
On the face of it this may sound like a rash over reaction in much the same vein as the hysterical outcry following rangers indiscipline at Celtic Park in the Scottish Cup game. However, for me this really was the tipping point. Amazingly, when you look through Scottish football history and assess the sheer level of institutionalised bias [cheating] against our club by organisations, administrators and officials, season 2010/2011 has been unprecedented for many reasons which we are all acutely aware and have been documented by those much more eloquent than me:
From a Celtic supporter’s point of view, during this season I have read the websites and forums with all their talk of unleashing Reid on them, supposed smoking guns of paperwork - amended and fabricated, sackings, statements, facts and supposition. All of this leading to what I thought was the inevitable outcome, that at last, Celtic would stand as one and tell people how it really is in Scotland, in 2011. That the club, its history, its supporters and all we stand for is hated to a level where it consumes those even in high office to such a degree that they will do anything within their power to keep us down.
We had evidence, we had paperwork, we had TV pictures, we had e-mails and we had them on the ropes, defenceless just hoping that the knockout blow would not be delivered. And I watched, hoped, prayed [in an all inclusive Celtic family way of course] and waited and............... Nothing. Last Wednesday the rangers football team and management imploded in a clear manifestation of the wider issues surrounding their club. Currently, Celtic own them on and off the field and they despise it. To clarify, I am not saying we are streets ahead as a football team although we are marginally better. Rangers demise has coincided with our board hoodwinking us into a catastrophic downsizing, shopping in the bargain bins of the lower leagues in England. For Celtic this is a massive fall from grace and a tragedy. So as rangers imploded, lost their discipline and tried to kick and fight us out of Celtic Park, again I thought now is the time, come out of the green corner strong and strike the knockout blow, put this lot out of their misery, put clear ground between us and kill this ‘Old Firm’ tag once and for all. They came to our place and started the fight. As Roy Walker used to say on Catchphrase: ‘say what you see’. Nothing. The SNP guy Salmond, head of an organisation with close ‘historic’ links to the Church of Scotland and the Orange Order called for a Summit. Again I thought, right, this is our time, turn up, fine but stand our ground, we are not the bad ghuys here. They are the bigots, the hooligans, the establishment club and they are guilty of gross misconduct on the football pitch on Wednesday. DON’T LET THEM TARNISH US. Give it to them Pete!! So Mr Lawwell comes into the press conference and sits next to the bloke from the hot part of Scotland and he sits there, as a spokesman for Celtic fans all over the world and he kills us all. After all that has gone on, after what we have been through throughout history and this season specifically we are there again, represented by Pete and he sits with his six point ‘Old Firm’ plan. Jesus God!!! Do Celtic as a club and an institution have no idea? I am guessing not. All Pete and his idiotic plan have done is once again making us guilty by association and shame on him and the club for doing it. Not only that but the plan and the comments also bring an end to us challenging authorities for fair play and to be treated as equals. The media will have a field day the first time Celtic question a decision, we will have players, scared to be committed in case they a pilloried by the governing bodies. We had the chance to set ourselves apart, to end the endless one is as bad as the other dirge which is continually trotted out. We had a chance to be Celtic Football Club and our board failed us. You killed us Pete, you handed them the get out of jail free card and you condemned us to be forever linked to THEM and for that I am truly disgusted. So whenever you are drinking your Tennents or buying club merchandise with the Tennents logo, considering buying a car from Glasgow Audi, booking your holidays through Thomas Cook remember this – We are the same as THEM because our board have made it so. RIP |
Comments
the media would have had a far bigger field day if we did not attend this summit
Rangers would be the team trying to fix the problem and Celtic would be the team refusing to do anything about it
most people see this summit as a smokescreen, a voters grab and a joke but digging our heels would have been seen far far worse
the 'old firm' tag will not go away as long as both teams exist
Standing up for the club? John Reid made one of the strongest statements i've heard from the club against the SFA at this years AGM but I really must comment on your reading of Lawwells attendance at the summit.
Like you my initial reaction was to tell Salmond to stick it but as the week went on and the dialogue escalated I realised that would be a disaster for our club. Non attendance would have turned whatever sympathetic media was left against us. It would have allowed Rangers to take the high moral ground and led to us being roundly condemned by all. Moreover in the run up Lennon got death threats and a bomb threat. The Club needed to let matters calm down.
Perhaps I'm fortunate but I know that a lot of behind the scenes dialogue has been going on. With everything that was going on (the usual knuckle draggers violence, police trying to justify no budget cuts, a forthcoming election, Rangers imploding etc etc) the club were in a no win. I certainly felt that Lawwell came across much better than Bain after the event.
Paul - by attending Lawwell just did the lesser of a few evils
And if 'Your' club died because of that, then your support must be very fragile and quite frankly i doubt your commitment to the hoops, sorry.
I think as the season has gone on, and the propaganda war has been stepped up, the club have actually performed quite well.
I also believe that after this season (whatever the outcome) we will actually see less association with our less glamorous rivals. Ofcourse this is only a hunch - maybe Harry and the rest of the bhoys would comment on this?
His statement at the press conference summed up our position, players well behaved, Lennon apologized to the board for his reaction to being provoked and as far as he's concerned the matter has been dealt with.
What more can he do?
As soon as the Tories and the Lib Dems starting their hand wringing and mouthing their pious nonsense he had to respond in some way. This pressure was heightened by the voices of the Polis who are more concerned about how the governments cuts will affect their overtime than in finding any real solution to the problems facing the West of Scotland.
As someone who actually follows a Scottish Club, (unlike Annabel Goldie who, if memory serves me turned up at a game in recent seasons, and still could not see the wood for the trees) Salmond probably has a better insight into how things really are than most other politicos, and he milked the opportunity for what it was worth, but he would have been crucified if he had been seen to do nothing.
RSS feed for comments to this post.