Scottish Press Bowing Down to Threats of Violence

Scottish soccer history stretches back almost 150 years beginning with the formation of Queen’s Park FC in 1867.

At the time Queen Victoria was celebrating her 30^th year on the throne, the Reconstruction era following the Civil War was in its second year, and Bismarck would wait another four years to see his plans for the unification of Germany come to fruition.

Considering such a long span of time (in sporting terms at least) any attempt to trace that history would inevitably focus on a number of momentous turning-points which has brought the game in Scotland to the present moment.

If soccer in Scotland should continue for another 150 years though, surely none of them would match for sheer scale and drama the demise of the nation’s most successful club, Rangers FC, earlier this year.

None of the previous turning-points – such as the appointment of Bill Struth as Rangers manager in 1920; the return to Celtic of Jock Stein in 1965; Aberdeen’s appointment of Alex Ferguson in 1978; the arrival of Graeme Souness at Rangers in 1986 which revolutionised (and not for the better) the Scottish game – can come close to matching the change in Scottish soccer wrought by the death of one half of the “Old Firm,” the duopoly which lorded it over Scottish soccer for 120 years or more.

You would think then that the story of Rangers’ downfall would be something the Scottish media would cover as thoroughly and as widely as possible.

You would be wrong to think that.

Journalist Phil Mac Giolla Bhain, who brought the full extent of Rangers’ financial plight to the attention of the mainstream media, has written a book on the subject.

Downfall: How Rangers FC Self Destructed is at the time of writing at number 44 on the Amazon UK bestseller list, despite not yet having been released.

Last weekend, The Scottish Sun newspaper announced that it was to run a serialization of the book, and ran a story on Mac Giolla Bhain, outlining the stories he had broken regarding the Rangers crisis and the threats he received from Rangers fans for his trouble.

The news of the intended serialisation of the book sparked a furious response from Rangers supporters, who threatened to boycott the newspaper if the serialisation went ahead.

It also led to pressure from The Rangers FC, who threatened to ban Scottish Sun journalists from Ibrox Stadium if the serialization was not stopped.

The story was quickly taken down from The Scottish Sun’s website and the planned serialization cancelled.

Remarkably, the greatest story ever told in Scottish soccer will not be told in Scotland’s biggest selling tabloid newspaper.

The Scottish Sun has bowed to the mob and self-censored, amidst allegations that physical threats were made to the journalist who interviewed Mac Giolla Bhain for the original story.

Former Rangers FC owner Sir David Murray, expended huge amounts of time and energy on cultivating the support and favour of the Scottish soccer press pack.

So successful was Murray in this endeavour that a new phrase has entered the Scottish soccer lexicon – “succulent lamb journalism.”

The phrase originates from a now infamous article written by Daily Record Sports Editor James Traynor in 1998, following Celtic’s title triumph which prevented Rangers winning a tenth league title in a row.

It contained the following, rather cringeworthy excerpt:

If the past 10 years have taught Murray, who is one of Britain's wealthiest individuals, anything it is how to win and he believes Rangers will continue to grow and prosper.

"I look upon these last 10 years as having been a great era, but it is over and Rangers are about to head on into a new era," he said over a glass of the finest red.

He was about to take in another mouthful of the most succulent lamb – anyone who knows Murray shouldn't be surprised to learn he is a full-blooded, unashamed red meat eater – when he put down his knife and fork.

It was like a statement of intent and looking directly across the table to make sure I hadn't yet succumbed to the wine, he said:

"Bring on the next 10 years, there's more to come for Rangers.”

Murray controlled the Scottish press pack with promises of access and exclusives in return for favourable press – a task to which Scottish soccer journalists applied themselves with gusto.

It appears that old habits die hard and the Scottish soccer press are now doing the bidding of Rangers’ Division 3 successor club.

Succulent lamb journalism has for long prevented negative stories concerning Rangers being published and allowed them and their huge fan-base to sleep-walk into oblivion.

So what did The Scottish Sun have to say about its decision to pull the book serialization?

Surely they did not decide against the serialization of the book because it would have been unpopular with Rangers supporters?

In an editorial Monday it said:

“We pride ourselves on having the finest journalists in the country who are totally and unequivocally impartial.

But Phil Mac Giolla Bhain is not one of our journalists and his blog undermines the entire industry.

THAT is why we have decided not to carry the serialisation of the book.

NOT because of the social media backlash.

NOT because of the internet bullies.

But because the author — previously unbeknown to us — is tarred with a sickening sectarian brush.”

This is an astonishing statement, and one that appears to have since been taken down from The Scottish Sun’s website – just as the original article on Mac Giolla Bhain has disappeared.

The Scottish Sun has decided not to serialize the book not because of the content of the book, but because of an opinion they have formed of the author of the book, based on a satirical article on his blog.

The “offending” blog can be found here.

To provide some context, it was published on April 20, as Bill Miller launched an ill-fated takeover of Rangers FC.

Miller’s bid involved creating an, “incubator,” company to buy the business and assets of Rangers FC (exactly as Sevco Scotland did a few months later), while Rangers FC continued to be administered by Duff & Phelps, to be reunited with its assets at an unspecified, later date once it’s, “toxicity,” had been dealt with.

This was Miller’s convoluted (and some might say fantastical) way of assuring Rangers fans that their club could live on after he bought the business and assets.

Charles Green has come up with a much simpler solution – he tells them that “the club” and “the company” are separate and only the company is to be liquidated.

Total fiction of course, but the Rangers support has bought it.

Mac Giolla Bhain’s Incubator blog then was a satirical take on the spin surrounding Miller’s proposed takeover.

It named no living person and its target was not a religious, ethnic or racial group. Rather it was a parody on the kind of behaviour displayed by Rangers fans on their various adventures through, Barcelona, Pamplona, Manchester and Romania.

Certain Rangers supporters though have taken offence and decided this blog is evidence of Mac Giolla Bhain being an anti-Protestant bigot.

The Scottish Sun appears be in agreement, although it has been suggested that that was merely a convenient excuse to drop the serialization and keep the Rangers masses onside.

Regular reader’s of his blog will be fully aware that Mac Giolla Bhain is in fact a confirmed atheist and has blogged extensively on the abuse scandals in the Catholic Church in Ireland, condemning the response of the Church hierarchy.

This is hardly the stuff of which anti-Protestant bigots are made.

In reality, it is merely further evidence that Rangers supporters have a chronic inability to either laugh at themselves, or accept criticism.

Of course there are many, many Rangers supporters who are capable of both, but the culture surrounding Rangers militates against it on a collective level.

It is in the nature of the soccer fan to take the greatest of pleasure from the travails of their rivals.

It is in the nature of the soccer fan to poke fun at their rivals.

It is in the nature of the soccer fan to make up derogatory names for their rivals.

A pattern has developed in recent years whereby Rangers fans have attempted to silence any criticism of themselves or their club by painting it as “sectarian” or “bigoted.”

For decades, Rangers and their fans have been known to fans of other Scottish clubs as “Huns;” A derogatory reference to the culture of violence and aggression which is perceived to surround their support.

Rangers supporters very successfully campaigned to have this word redefined as a derogatory reference to Protestants, despite the fact that large numbers of those fans are presumably Protestant themselves (if they hold to any faith at all).

Similarly in recent months, in an allusion to Sevco Scotland’s re-animation of Rangers FC’s corpse, Scottish soccer fans have taken to referring to The Rangers FC as “Zombies.”

Fans of The Rangers FC affected outrage at the beginning of the season over a banner displayed by Celtic fans of a Zombie emerging from a grave being shot. This was claimed to be a sectarian reference to shooting Protestants.

It is this context that The Scottish Sun decided to pull the serialisation of Phil Mac Giolla Bhain’s book not because they did not believe in the authenticity of the book, but because in their words, the author is, “tarred with a sickening sectarian brush.”

In reality, there is one reason and one reason alone why The Scottish Sun decided to pull the serialization – cold, hard cash.

As Roy Greenslade, media commentator and Professor of Journalism at City University London, suggests, with newspaper sales in Scotland dropping alarmingly, The Scottish Sun cannot afford for fans of the now defunct Rangers FC to boycott the paper on a large scale.

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it and the continuing ability of “Rangers” and their supporters to silence criticism is a major worry to all those who wish to see a level playing field in Scottish soccer and transparency in its governance.

History tells us that a “Rangers” free from proper scrutiny from an impartial press will bring no good to the game.