Acceptable Violence

Over the last few days I have found my attention drawn to the Scottish print media, in particular the "Red tops" this in itself is somewhat of a surprise given that  I don't buy the papers and rarely find any of what they write in their "unbiased" "journalism" worthy of reading.

However in these latest instances I have found myself (not for the first time) not only miffed by the poor standard of people who hold the most prominent roles in the MSM in Scotland but by the trivialisation of what in any other circumstance would be treated as a very serious incident.

A man being knocked unconscious in the street, regardless of who he is should be unacceptable in any modern city. Glasgow is no different in this respect.

However, Scotlands most popular newspapers feel that the fact that Lukasz Zaluska wears a Celtic top to his day job means that it is acceptable to make his ordeal a laughing matter with headlines such as "bashed in lane" "goal keeker" "peek a bruise" and the like. I'm sure if a print journalist was beaten in the street you'd be hard pushed to find the headline "hack cracked" on the front page of any of these papers,though that is neither here nor there.

Whether or not this is an attempt to play to a target audience of these papers as I have seen suggested might find it funny that a Celtic player has been given a black eye,I don't know but the fact remains that this type of reporting is  completely devoid of respect or empathy and this is representative of our society as a whole not just a "target audience".

As I mentioned earlier this is clearly not a new thing yet people continue to buy these papers religiously. I understand that there may not many alternatives to paper readily available but the only way things will change is if people stop buying them.

Take a stand, Dont Buy The Record or The Sun.

Sack The Board?

It amazes me that in this year, the 20th anniversary of Fergus McCann rescuing Celtic from the brink, two decades since he had to prise the Club from the selfish hands of the Kelly regime that we have Celtic fans(albeit a minority) calling once more for the board to be sacked.

I am well aware that our current playing squad is in need of investment , this was proven by our recent games in qualifying for the Champions League against Legia Warsaw, if not in out 3-0 victory in the second leg (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) but if one thing can be learned from the demise of our former rivals it is surely that throwing countless millions at a playing squad in Scotland is just not sustainable. 

Surely then we should be grateful for the investment and prudent leadership at our club, not only during the McCann era but to the current day.

Peter Lawwell is currently a love/hate figure among our fans but as fans we must realise that in his job, being head of non-footballing activities at Celtic he has done a stellar job and to call for him to be sacked is nothing short of foolish when we look across at the comedy cavalcade of characters across Ibrox way in the last throws of the old club(1872) or in the 2 year struggles of the new club (2012) we need to be thankful for the people we have in charge of our club.

I'm sure the signings will arrive in the coming days and I'm sure our scouting team will unearth another gem or two as they have for the last few seasons.

And us, well we will continue to support the team. We will continue to be as fickle as all football fans and find someone to curse after every result but we will always be back, faithful through and through.

The Club, The Company... The Mythology.

My last blog concerned the claims of a "Celtic Newco" and my intention was to put that theory to bed, in this blog however I have no such illusions, since July 2012 the debate regarding Club & company and whether they are one and the same has raged pretty much non stop and I don't doubt they will continue to rage, emotions run too high on this subject to expect anything else. I merely intend to put forward some facts for consideration by people who would like to know the truth.

The source of the Screen Grabs in this blog will be the Memorandum and Incorporation Certificate of The Rangers Football Club (1899) a copy of which can be found at :
Rangers FC Memorandum & Incorporation Certificate

 
sent to me by @celticservant on Twitter who has been very supportive of my blog in helping it reach a far greater audience than it otherwise would have.

I'll start off with the kicker, the line which for me and for anyone of sound mind puts to bed the argument that Club and company are separate entities contained on page 8 of the said document: "The words 'Club' and 'Company' and also the words 'Member' and 'Share Holder' throughout the said Memorandum and Articles of Incorporation shall; where the context admits of it , be of synonymous meaning."  This is therefore to say that Club and Company are nearly or exactly the same.

I know some will find a way to wriggle around this statement which completely contradicts everything they have argued for over the last 2 years, but the fact remains that in black and white the people who ran "the club" and incorporated it as "the company" intended that they would indeed be one and the same, a single entity for all intents and purposes.

This notion that in modern football a "Club" can exist without a company or that a Company is somehow a disposable add on which has no effect on fabled "Club" is a non-sense.

Understandably some people have too much of an emotional investment in a football club to accept that club is simply no more but unfortunately for them, that is the case and what they have now is a cheap imitation run by money hungry businessmen who have no real interest in the success of the club but only the amount of profit they can squeeze before financial ruin approaches.

I best heard the position of a Rangers fan summed up by a friend in this anecdote: 

I had a jacket once, it was my favourite jacket. I wore it everywhere, I had my wallet with £50 in my jacket pocket. One day as I ripped my jacket when I was out, when I took it to be fixed I was told it was damaged beyond repair, I was devastated. The very next day I went to the shop where I bought my jacket and bought another. It was exactly the same: style, size, colour, identical. I took my old jacket and put it in the bin, took my wallet from the pocket and put it in my new jacket, I told everyone that it was the same jacket, my favourite jacket and most people believed me but deep down I knew that it wasn't the same. 

Lets be honest the vast majority of them know its a different club, they know its gone deep down. They are just to emotionally involved to admit it and to be honest it they would be fit for pity rather than ridicule........ if they weren't such pricks about it.

The Newco Debacle

In the last week or so I have come across several fans of a blue persuasion, for arguments sake we'll call them Rangers fans describe Celtic as a "Newco".

I know the vast majority of them are willing to believe that only because it is convenient and they aren't actually interested in the truth but for any who actually want to learn something here is why that isn't true: "Screen Grabs" provided are from Companies House, the Governments website which can be found easily through Google,

http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/ > Find Information >WebCHeck

CELTIC PLC
Incorporated: 12/04/1897
(Despite a name change: 15/12/1994 from The Celtic Football & Athletic Company Limited)
Company Number:SC003487

RFC 2012 P.L.C
Incorporated: 27/05/1899
(Despite a name change: 21/07/2012 from The Rangers Football Club PLC)
Company Number: SC004276
*COMPANY LIQUIDATED & THEREFORE CEASES TO EXIST*

THE RANGERS FOOTBALL CLUB LIMITED
 Incorporated: 29/05/2012
(Despite a name change: 31/07/2012 from Sevco Scotland Limited)
 Company Number: SC425159

The Company which incorporated in 1899 Liquidated and therefore no longer exists, The NEW COMPANY formed in 2012 runs things hence "NEWCO"

The Company which runs things at Celtic Park was incorporated in 1897, no liquidation, no new company, NO NEWCO.

Obsessed is spelled S-C-H-A-D-E-N-F-R-E-U-D-E

Schadenfreude, a loanword from the German language with the literal translation "harm-joy" or to be more specific pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others.  

Schadenfreude in a word sums up my interest in The Rangers International Football Club 2012. 

Who cares about them? Call them Rangers, Sevco, Newco whatever you will but to answer the question, I do. I should clarify that by care I don't mean I worry for their well-being but I am interested.

As I say new club or not the people who follow the team that currently play out of Ibrox stadium are the same people who followed the team who were our rivals or as I saw it elegantly put the other day, "same flies different sh*te". As a Celtic Fan growing up in the 90's I took my fair share of stick from them and it is now their misery from which I now derive pleasure.

So if I see a story about the "imminent demise" of this club or that they have been beaten by part-timers or spent almost £7million on footballing costs to win only third tier in Scottish football (a feat which cost Queen of the South only £650, 000 and they also won the Challenge cup) Yes, I will laugh and most likely share this story with other people who I think will laugh.

If this qualifies me as obsessed then guilty I am but to be honest I don't think it does and for me these stories are of interest to anyone who cares about Scottish football or who cares for the well being of any other club in Scotland because like it or not these people have a huge say in our game and will continue to do say while they last. Although that may not be long if they keep employing crooks and financial crack-pots as board members.

For people to comment on social media (mainly Facebook pages) "Who Cares?" on any post just because it is involves them is somewhat shallow and to be honest if I don't care about something I keep scrolling I don't take time out of my day to register my non-interest but I digress.

Regardless of this blog they will still call me obsessed, people will still ponder "Who cares?" on my posts and I, well I might have to stop and take a look at what I post but that of course would require that I stop laughing for long enough to notice.

Time for forgiveness.

Time for forgiveness.

Leigh Griffiths: Celtic Footballer, Scotland International, Hibs fan, Edinburgh Boy. Racist? Not for me. As I have said since these allegations surfaced, I don't think calling someone a refugee is a racial slur, derogatory: certainly, offensive: most likely but in my understanding of the term, not racist.

That however is neither here nor there in the point I aim to make via this blog. My point being even if what he said/ sung had been a racist slur, does that make him a racist? Again not in my eyes. Everyone has at points in their lives said things which are inappropriate, offensive and things which they wouldn't say under normal circumstances. This is not to say what they said has no meaning but it isn't necessarily who they are and there in lies my point.

I'm sure a lot of the people taking the moral high ground on this issue would not be so quick were they being challenged on statements they had made/ chants they had sung at the age of 23. Yes he is in the public eye and yes, perhaps he should know better but as we all know  well in the heat of a derby game atmosphere, the build up, the game, the aftermath it is all too easy to become swept up in it.

In my opinion that is what happened to Leigh Griffiths. No matter what team strip he pulls on for a game, he is and always will be a Hibs fan and I have the utmost respect for that. He in this instance for me was stupid, naive and gullible. He was swept up in atmosphere among a group of his own fans and acted foolishly (as we all have).

My main point in this blog is that weeks on from the incident, the charge, the investigations at a home game versus Inverness the Green Brigade unveil a banner emblazoned "A Man Must Be A Celt On & Off The Field, Otherwise He Is Of No Value To This Club". While I understand the frustration of these fans and others, and agree yes a Celtic player should act with more class off the field than Leigh has so far my problem is how is the Bhoy supposed to move on from this incident and learn from his mistake if it is going to be thrown in his face at every turn? How can he be expected to turn the corner if he is being blocked?

So I guess my main point is stated in the title it is time to give forgiveness a try, for if not forgiveness then what?

On the field I love the way Griffiths plays I think he has the ability to score goals for Celtic for years to come, the hunger and passion with which he chases every ball and his control is great and at only 23 I feel he will only get better and I think that is what we need to wait for off the field as well, just that little bit of maturity to come. He is going to be The Scottish medias favourite target for the foreseeable. He is for them the new Boruc or Lennon before him but it will be how he deals with it that is the making of the player. The test of the man.. and the bhoy.

Give him time and let him become the Celt he is on the field off the field. Back our player.

Let The People Sing?

"Let the people sing their stories and their songs
And the music of their native land "

These lyrics ring around Celtic Park just before kick off at every home game ....and so they should although, now the sentiments seem to have been lost. Every time I hear the song start up at paradise, I sing along of course but it sets me thinking.

"For those who are oppressed, in song you can protest...". Well apparently not if the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012 is anything to go by.

Don't get me wrong, I do understand that some songs are unacceptable and that they cannot be tolerated, having said that the wide scope and in some parts hypocritical nature of this bill is beyond belief. The fact Roll Of Honour is one of the song banned under this Act yet Flower Of Scotland which includes the lyrics "But we can still rise now, And be the nation again, That stood against him" is nothing short of laughable.

Again I run the risk of being misunderstood, I have nothing against the National anthem I am Scottish, and proudly so yet I am also proud of my Irish heritage and if the lyrics of each song are examined impartially think it is plain to see which come across as more inflammatory or provocative of violence. This is my point about the hypocritical nature of the Scottish Governments act.

Celtic Football Club should be looking at helping out the fans in this situation, have CLEAR lists put forward about which songs are acceptable and unacceptable and challenge the ruling when we don't agree, work with the fans to come to an agreement rather than allowing people to be banned from football of imprisoned for singing certain songs, otherwise Celtic show the same hypocrisy as the Government by playing Let The People Sing at matches.

This is not a blog in unadulterated support of The Green Brigade, I am talking above about Celtic fans as a whole. I do not think the Green Brigade have been treated completely fairly but that is for another time.

We need our fans to be able to sing and express themselves at football and for some people to know be fearing going to the football in case a song they sing lands them with a criminal record is unacceptable.

Let The People Sing.

Neil Lennon:The Perfect Hate Figure?

What is it about Neil Lennon that makes it so acceptable to hate him?  Is it his attitude, the way he carries himself, his temper even? Or is it simply that he is a Northern Irish Catholic man who is associated with Celtic Football Club.

My view is the later. The treatment of Neil Lennons over the last 13 years has been nothing short of despicable and it has been allowed to happen. Not only by the people who agree with it but also by those who write it off as "Banter".

Some people may think it excessive to include his association with Celtic as a "reason" or contributing factor to the treatment Neil Lennon receives but to me it is. Only today (1/2/14) Neil Lennon was verbally abused, spat at and had missiles thrown at him by Aberdeen fans at Tynecastle. Aberdeen fans who also no doubt idolise Niall McGinn, A Northern Irish Catholic man. McGinn of course also played for Celtic but not at the consistency of Lennon.

 This among other things is what leads me to believe that people in Scotland, not just Glasgow see Lennon individually as an acceptable target.

No other sports person in living memory has tolerated the level of threats, abuse, attacks, bombs, bullets, bigots or "banter" that Neil Lennon has in his time in Glasgow and the fact that he is still here speaks volumes of the man, of his love of football and his love of Celtic Football Club. Many would have turned their back on it all and for that alone he should be saluted.

For me something must be done and the SNP football bill is not the answer, bigotry is not a Glasgow problem or a West of Scotland problem, it is a national disgrace and this should be reflected in the policing of incidents such as today at Tynecastle, where were the FoCUS group so often on hand with their cameras and Handcuffs and Celtic park? Most likely kicking in a 13 year olds door for having a Green Brigade scarf in his bedroom, but in all seriousness this has gone on too long.

In Scotland in this day and age a man, regardless of nationality, religion, race or any other factor should be able to live his life and go about his business without fear of attack because of any of his beliefs. The individuals who are responsible for these attacks and other similar offences need to be dealt with severely. Maybe Police Scotland should adjust their focus (pun intended) and be more worried by this sort of thing rather than who is singing what song, just a thought.

I live in hope rather than expectation though.