THE CSA ARE WATCHING YOU

An Artical from the Scotsman on line Mon 25th April


Sadly, the songs remain the same


STEPHEN HALLIDAY




IF YOU wanted a social history lesson, then the east end of Glasgow was the place to be yesterday afternoon. Or, more specifically, a corner of the east end of Celtic Park.



The 7,000 Rangers supporters who gathered in the belated spring sunshine were there to see if their team could close the gap on Hearts in pursuit of possible Champions League football. Many of them were also determined to show that the songs which currently see their club being dragged through UEFA's judiciary system will not be easily silenced.


Those who had hoped recent events would temper the output of the hardcore Rangers away support, in the fixture which energises them more than any other, ought to have known better. In a predictable show of defiance, the Ibrox club's followers went through their full set list, their lusty renditions starting long before the teams even took the field.


John Connolly, the former St Johnstone manager, was the unfortunate SPL delegate to be handed this assignment. His match report may run to a few pages longer than normal if he manages to detail all of the songs with sectarian content as the delegates have now been instructed to do.


It was just after noon, almost half an hour before kick-off, when the first chorus of We Are Rangers, Super Rangers was struck up. If no-one likes it, they certainly don't care and the volume seemed to increase when they got to the line 'We hate Celtic, Fenian bastards'.


Derry's Walls was next, the message coming loud and clear that the standards they have sung for years and which, as UEFA's Control and Disciplinary Body concluded, have been tolerated by both the Scottish football and governmental authorities, are not going to suddenly disappear. The Celtic public address system did its best to drown out the Rangers fans, blasting out a selection of the home club's songs, but nothing was going to stop the visitors making themselves heard.


Supporters of both clubs had attempted to orchestrate an afternoon free of sectarian singing and just before kick-off, banners were unfurled at either end of the ground. In the Jock Stein Stand, named after a Protestant miner's son who scorned the religious divide in Glasgow and became Celtic's greatest manager, it read 'Jungle Bhoys Against Sectarianism and Racism'.


Among the Rangers fans in the Lisbon Lions Stand, came the complementary banner with the legend 'Blue Order and the Rangers Assembly say Racism and Sectarianism is out of order'.



Yet when Celtic then played Dirty Old Town, the song in which the late Jimmy Johnstone collaborated with Simple Minds frontman Jim Kerr, we were given another reminder of just how murky this problem in Glasgow is as a chorus of Billy Boys, the ditty which caused so much bewilderment to UEFA, went up from the Rangers fans.


As they then unleashed an impressive cascade of red, white and blue ticker tape onto the pitch, a hand-scrawled banner at the Celtic end was revealed which said 'Your Lies, Our Reality'. The concept of moral high ground in this issue is a dubious one, but Celtic certainly feel their own efforts to combat sectarianism have been far more effective than those of Rangers.



Less than ten minutes into a disappointing match which provided little to divert attention away from the conduct of the fans, No Pope of Rome and The Sash, the latter with 'F**k The Pope' added with relish at the end, had both been aired. The Celtic fans jeered initially but, as the afternoon progressed, appeared less and less concerned.


The home supporters were muted for much of the afternoon, in fact, restricting themselves largely to chants of 'Championees' and their anthem extolling the virtues of club legends such as Jimmy McGrory and Paul McStay. They cannot be completely absolved of sectarian content, however, as they gave Rangers manager Alex McLeish an Old Firm send-off with the song which told him to cheer up and instructed him that he is a "sad Orange bastard".



When the final whistle came, with Rangers having edged a point closer to Hearts in the battle for second place in the SPL, their players went over to applaud their supporters, both parties seeming content with the outcome of the afternoon.



Over the PA system, as the teams left the field, came the opening bars of the U2 anthem One and its opening line of 'Is it getting better, or do you feel the same?'. No-one needed three guesses to get the answer to that one right

SCOTSMAN ON LINE

SAT 15th April

SOME SENSE AT LAST FROM THE SCOTTISH PRESS

Celtic's critics are going too far with worst-case scenario
GLENN GIBBONS

NO TEAM ever wins a championship without generating a debate over their relative merits. The one that has accompanied Celtic during their run to the Premier league title this season, however, often seems to have lost its way, largely through straying into blind alleys.

A number of casual conversations among colleagues (as well as articles in print) has elicited a fairly widespread consensus that Gordon Strachan's side have produced a standard of football that is extremely unlikely to inspire poets.

This is not entirely surprising, since Celtic's success under Strachan has all been achieved in the domestic game. The manager himself has made no claims to greatness, preferring, as any sensible connoisseur would, to reserve judgement until his squad has been tested by greater powers.

But, in the course of belittling the Parkhead side as very moderate champions, several critics have noted what an exceptional season Hearts have enjoyed, how Rangers have done outstandingly well in Europe and the joyful experience of watching an exuberant young Hibernian side. They have even cited Kilmarnock as a suitable case for acclaim.

Some weeks ago, with Celtic already so far ahead of the pack that they were virtually assured of their ultimate triumph, one tabloid "commentator" offered the barely credible assertion that they would be "the worst champions in history".

This may have been deliberately provocative, as some people in the media business judge the quality of a piece of work by the number of letters it generates, even if every correspondent insists that the author is clearly a moron. But the absence of any sign of sarcasm suggested that the claim was quite serious.

It is also rather bizarre. The present Celtic side are, at the moment, 23 points ahead of the Rangers team who won the league as recently as last May. And that is an Ibrox squad which, the club's followers were assured, had been strengthened during the summer.

Of course, there is inevitably a certain element of artificiality in such a colossal lead, but the gap is too wide not to conclude that Strachan's side have made sufficient progress to have put clear daylight between themselves and the Old Firm teams who took the fight for supremacy 11 months ago all the way to the last day.

Any contest to determine the least formidable Scottish champions in history would have to range as far back as the late 19th century. But living memory is all that is required to argue persuasively that Neil Lennon and his fellow laureates are not even contenders.

The Old Firm sides of 1998 who staggered over the line almost as one - they were separated by two points on the final day - would be as poor as any two we have seen contesting the title in the past 25 years. Celtic, despite winning only two of their last five matches, prevailed over a Rangers team who lost two of their last four, one of them at home to Kilmarnock.

Wim Jansen's side's winning points total was 74, a mark this season's champions passed on 22 March, almost seven weeks and a full eight matches ahead of the schedule of eight years ago.

Before the work of Alex Ferguson at Aberdeen and Jim McLean at Dundee United began to raise standards again around 1980, there was a succession of unconvincing Old Firm champions from 1975. Even the domestic treble captured by Jock Wallace's Rangers in '76 was made to look counterfeit by their abject failure in Europe, losing to FC Zurich in the first round of the Champions Cup.

If the current Celtic team are low grade champions, the only chance for those who trailed in their wake to restore their own credibility will be to hire a propagandist who makes old Joe Goebbels look like a seeker of truth.

At the beginning of the season journalists where asked to predict the outcome of the SPL HERE ARE SOME INTERESTING COMMENTS

CHARLIE NICHOLAS--------(Needs to take a good look at himself in the mirror)

RANGERS for the league championship and I'm not basing that forecast on
Celtic's Euro humiliation in Bratislava. I made up my mind Alex McLeish
would get the better of his old Aberdeen and Scotland mate Gordon
Strachan to keep hold of the crown two weeks ago when I took time out
on
holiday to put the SPL in focus.

And the gap on prize-giving day could be several points. It will
certainly be more than the slender winning lead Celtic handed to
Rangers
on the final day of last season.
I still don't rate Big Eck's side as world-beaters, or capable of
making
a serious impact on Europe, but they will be too strong both mentally
and physically for Celtic.

Today, Gordon finds himself in the same position Alex was in only a few
months ago seemingly unwanted and pondering about his future.

And that's after only one game in charge of the Celts!

I have little doubt Alex would have been on his way if chairman David
Murray had persuaded Graeme Souness to return to Ibrox.

Alex appeared to be in an impossible position, with a stop-go,
patched-up side trying desperately to hang on to Celtic's coat-tails.

McLeish is made of stern stuff, though, and turned Rangers around
through sheer grit and determination. He was well rewarded.

Now I have been far more impressed with McLeish's signings when
compared
directly with the players Strachan has recruited for Celtic.

Huge question marks hang over every single new Celt, even Japanese Bhoy
Shunsuke Nakamura.

And, right now, the likes of Paul Telfer, Mo Camara, Jeremie Aliadiere
and Maciej Zurawski are not Celtic class. They may be in time, of
course, but on the other hand, they may not.

Zurawski rejoices in the nick-name of Magic and he showed in Bratislava
how he could disappear - just like that.

McLeish identified the players he wanted and went out and nailed them.

Frankly, I like the look of Rangers new boys Jose Pierre-Fanfan and
Federico Nieto, while Brahim Hemdani could be the perfect midfield
partner for new skipper Barry Ferguson.

And we all know the capabilities of Ian Murray, now he has left Easter
Road for Ibrox.

The Express: EXPRESS SPORT'S TOP TEAM MAKE THEIR PREDICTIONS Express,
The (London, England) July 29, 2005 ANDY McINNES CHAMPIONS: If Rangers
can steal the title by default from Celtic last time, then with the
same
luck and added quality they can wash the floor with them this season.

JIM McLEAN CHAMPIONS: Rangers will edge out Celtic. Alex McLeish's side
look better equipped in terms of quality of player, allied to more
strength in depth.

GARY KEOWN CHAMPIONS: Rangers. Ibrox boss Alex McLeish rebuilt the core
of his team last season and that element of continuity should give his
team the edge over Celtic.

GRAHAM CLARK CHAMPIONS: Rangers. The Ibrox side look for the first time
in ages to be the slightly better equipped of the Old Firm and new
signing Jose Pierre-Fanfan looks the part.

Evening Times: WHAT OUR EXPERTS SAY
Evening Times (Glasgow, Scotland)
July 30, 2005

ALAN DAVIDSON

Champions: Rangers Alex McLeish's side have the strength and experience
to retain the title, while Celtic's chemistry is yet to be established.

DARRELL KING

Champions: Rangers Eight of the players who won the title at Easter
Road
are likely to start tomorrow, so the spine is there and confidence can
only have grown.

MATTHEW LINDSAY

Champions: Rangers. New Celtic boss Gordon Strachan's summer
acquisitions look to fall some way below the high standard needed at
the
Parkhead club.

ALISON McCONNELL

Champions: Rangers There is actually very little between Celtic and
Rangers, but Celtic's tendency to selfdestruct could be costly.


BERT MITCHELL
Champions: Rangers Big Eck has utilised the Bosman market to bring
performers of proven Euro pedigree to Ibrox and, while that is no
guarantee
of success, it represents ace against king value when compared to
Coca-Cola
championship plundering.

Sun 3rd April

SFA Back Bigots

With Rangers in trouble with UEFA over their fans sectarian chanting, you would expect the SFA to at last wake up to the problem. Well, they have .......... maybe ........

But not really. As you'll see ..........

SFA Chief Executive David Taylor, who ironically also sits on the UEFA disciplinary committee, will thankfully not be allowed to sit in judgement on this case. Today he has made the astonishing claim that UEFA are interfering in a national problem and that the SFA have been working on this problem for some time.

Really??

Despite this revelation, Taylor goes on to admit that the SFA have not taken the approach of dealing with individual matches. Well, that is obvious from any visit to Ibrox or Tynecastle, but what that work has actually entailed he has not revealed.

Police will be given extra powers to eject those making sectarian remarks, but they can do this already and besides that is a matter for the Scottish Executive, not the SFA. And by the end of the year we will have an action plan.

Well that is somebody's objectives met so they can get their bonus!

But does this really take us any further forward? There is a temptation to look at this as action forced upon the SFA rather than a proactive campaign. UEFA has decided that if our Association won't tackle the problem that they will do it for them.

If the SFA really have been "working on this for some time", where is this work that has already been done? What new measures are they contemplating?

Taylor then holds up the Tartan Army as a shining example of how football fans should behave. They are welcomed and honoured in all parts of the world. Just like Celtic fans then, who have been honoured by UEFA and FIFA? Oops, forgot to mention that David.

Taylor, who I remind you again is a member of UEFA's disciplinary committee, is also urging Rangers to strongly defend themselves against UEFA's challenge - which is quite extraordinary when you consider that their action has brought the good name of Scottish football into serious disrepute. One could be tempted to wonder if perhaps the infamous sectarian singing which blighted Rangers' visit to Milan earlier in the season emenated from the SFA box itself, if Taylor condones this type of behaviour.

We want to work with our clubs, not against them he claims. No matter what they do?

And before you ask, Taylor reassures us that it would be entirely improper of him to try and influence colleagues on the panel. Of course it would.

I fear that this is getting perilously close to a resigning matter for Taylor. Surely he isnt prepared to put his career on the line to defend Rangers sectarianism? Or maybe he is ........... It would be akin to the chief of the Italian FA defending Paolo DiCanio's right to make fascist salutes or the rights of the Lazio fans to abuse black players. Doen't David Taylor realise what he's doing?

Does David Taylor really CARE??

It's worth noting, incidently, that this interview appeared in the Sunday People - and it was written by our old friend David Leggat, who's own column today suggests that Celtic owes a debt of gratitude to Graeme Souness, and that Rangers should be congratulated for their "progress" in appointing their first Catholic manager.

Which is rather like calling it progress when a cannibal eats with a knife and fork.

What next?? Applauding the Rangers' fans behaviour in Villareal because only a few dozen were arrested?? What a double standard we have in this country.

8TH Feb 06 Another apology

FOLLOWING allegations made on a Real Radio programme last month, the following statement was read out by presenter Ewen Cameron on Real Radio tonight.

"On the Real Football Phone-in programme broadcast by Real Radio on January 13th this year, I alleged that Peter Lawwell, in his role as chief executive of Celtic plc, and the board of Celtic plc had been untruthful to Celtic supporters and to the media in relation to player contracts.

"Real Radio and I acknowledge and accept that these allegations were completely without foundation, were unreasonable and ought not to have been broadcast. Real Radio and I wish to retract the allegations and to apologise unreservedly to both Mr Lawwell and the Celtic Board for the distress and damage caused by the broadcasting of the allegations."

Wednesday 25th January

The Scottish sporting press are at it again!! The Sun today published a full back-page article on John Hartson, claiming he is set to leave Celtic. This is the FOURTH such story that has run in the Scottish press this month, despite Celtic's denying the rumours on each seperate occasion. Hartson's agent issued a swift press statement in which the player says:

"I am extremely happy at Celtic, the club have always been first class with me and I have never thought about leaving," he revealed.

Obviously being 30 I have got to consider what I am going to do for the last few years of my career, but I have made a lot of friends in Scotland, really enjoy the football up here and couldn't be happier.

He added: "I want to make it clear to the Celtic fans that they and the club mean a great deal to me and I would be very happy to finish my career playing for one of Europe's greatest clubs"

This, of course, is similar to previous statements made both by Hartson and Gordon Strachan, so whether or not it is the final word on this matter remains to be seen. The Scottish footballing press can take any statement and put a negative spin on it, after all.

Their collective moto never changes. "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story."

Sunday 22nd January

David Leggat, yet again friends, has irked our ire today - this time over our very own Jungle Bhoys and their card display for the bold Keano. Leggat has long had it in for our Irishness, but today's rant was as nakedly provocative as it is possible to get as he wrapped himself in the Union Jack "of these Great British Isles and Northern Ireland." A very well calculated slap at our friends from the Six Counties. In fact, the gist of his whole page was a critique of Scottish politics and culture - complete with his customary blast at Glasgow City Council's Labour Group, which he seems to think is a New Celtic cabal.

This man has veered dangerously close to the edge of sectarianism again, something he professes to hate, but, it seems, only when it is wrapped in the tricolour, and is fast becoming the Gerry McNee of his rag. Or is he Richard Littlejohn in disguise?

Either way, more breathtaking nonsense from the poison pen of the People's resident comedy sketch artist.

Monday, 16th January 2006

Someone forwarded me an article from the Sun today which seems to be attempting to start yet another media avalanche over sectarianism. The article, which appeared as a sidebar, concerned the Dundee Utd game on the 28th of this month, at which the Tyrone Irish Gaelic football team will be parading the Sam Maguire cup.

Apparently) Sam Maguire was "head of IRA Operations in London" during the Easter Rising and up through the 1922 conflict. Did any of you know that? Because I certainly didn't and neither did my son or any of his friends. I wonder who had to look that one up for the "journalist"?

The article reads as follows:

"Celtic were blasted by a Glasgow MSP last night for allowing an Irish football cup named after an IRA legend to be paraded at Parkhead.

Tory Bill Aitken said it was "unfortunate" Irish champions Tyrone would do a lap of honour before the game with Dundee Utd on January 28th. He added, "Whilst I appreciate that Celtic have an Irish background, they are a Scottish club. I do not see what relevance the activities of Tyrone have. It is time all of this baggage was put behind us."

Sam Maguire was head of IRA operations in London at the time of the Easter Rising and is said to have ordered the 1922 murder of a Tory MP.

Celtic refused to comment on the controversy.

It comes just days after the club re-affirmed its anhorrence of sectarianism after stars John Hartson and Stephen Pearson were filmed at a supporters' event during which chants of "IRA" and "Sinn Fein" were made."

There is now, clearly, a concerted effort being made against this club by certain sections of the Scottish media. I wonder if this is because a certain Irish director of our club has been highly critical of the press of late? Or are there more sinister motivations behind these events?

I looked him up myself.

As it happens, Sam Maguire was an outstanding Gaelic footballer and former head of the Gaelic Athletics Association, who voted after his death to name the trophy after him in recognition of his tremendous contribution to the game. And yes, he was also a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood where he was an intelligence officer to Michael Collins.

By the way, he was also a Protestant and was for a long time the only Protestant to captain a team in a major Irish final. He is buried in the Protestant churchyard of Saint Mary's. He was honoured in Ireland for his sporting prowess as well as his contribution to the war of independance.

The Scottish press is a continuing disgrace.

Sunday 15th January 06

Mr McNee is at it again in todays News of the World, where he last week attacked the Association regarding its website depiction of Alex McLeish scrounging for spare change. (Not very funny if you are a Rangers fan who has just heard that the transfer window spending is over.)

Today's article centres on "Provogate" - the latest "scandal" involving Celtic players and alleged sectarianism. His criticism suggests that the club has conducted an enquiry only after being "backed into a corner" and wonders aloud at what the result of the club's official enquiry will be.

Forget for a second the arguments as to whether supporting the IRA is a political act or a sectarian one, forget the argument that Sinn Fein is a legitimate political party. Forget all that and think on these points:

Firstly, Celtic have ALREADY dealt with this matter. They have conducted a full investigation, even taking on board advice from forensic experts who have studied the tapes, and found that the players themselves were not responsible for doing anything wrong, and by proxy the club itself has done nothing wrong. Their statement on this matter, by the way, can be found on this website.

What more do these people want? Padlocks on the doors of Celtic Park? Maybe 20 points deducted in the league?

Secondly, the word around the Celtic campfire is that the tapes themselves were sent to the press via that wonderfully impartial paragon of virtue, the Follow Follow website. This, by the way, is the same organisation which once threatened to publish Mr McNee's home address because of his articles concerning a certain famous Number 8 for the boys in blue. The Glasgow scene is also buzzing with the word that at least one of these tapes was tampered with and another was an outright forgery - not difficult to do in the digital age, but seemingly too difficult for those responsible, who were soon rumbled. In fact, fellow Rangers fans urged their brethren to distance themselves from this forgery. The BBC, by the way, confirmed this story and sources inside Real Radio have likewise stated that they were send a forged tape.

Thirdly, a few wags have dared to ask some hypothetical questions, such as; Should the journalists who were in Milan for the Rangers game V Inter some months ago be held responsible for the sectarian singing that went on there? Should UEFA, as no doubt some of those doing the singing were there using UEFA comps? And this MUST be the case as there were no "real fans" present.

And fourth, and finally, the same people screaming for heads on sticks have been strangely silent on the hitherto unknown to the public internet tape of Nacho Novo and other Rangers players on the team bus coming back from Easter Road on Black Sunday - a tape which has been doing the rounds on Celtic sites for months now. It is hard to believe that no-one has sent a copy of this tape to media outlets, but as yet we've not seen it on Scotland Today.

One other point: if the press wants to conduct witch-hunts against players who engage in sectarian behaviour, hadn't they better stop lauding Graeme Roberts and referring to his "choir conducting" in the infamous Celtic-Rangers tie of the late eighties, which saw players in court, as if it were a joke? One tabloid rag last week had a picture of Roberts from that day beside a canonisation article and actually made light of the incident - only days after putting Celtic's two players on their front page.

The fun never stops with the Scottish media...........

11th January 2006

The Daily Record have today printed another apology in a matter concerning a Celtic player.Hidden away somewhere in the middle pages, they apologised for a story regarding Chris Sutton on his departure from Celtic.This newspaper is time and time again showing themselves up and this is another reason why Celtic supporters should take the CSA advise and not buy it. The apology is printed below.



"On January 6 Record Sport reported that Chris Sutton was furious after having been left on the bench for a game against Inverness last month. Mr Sutton has asked us to clarify that he did not leave Celtic Park under a cloud and he has no problems with anyone at Parkhead. We are happy to clarify the matter for him.

Sunday 4th December

Once again, those two old (and I mean VERY old)hats are at it again, Gerry McNee and David Leggat, engaged in their favourite pass-time - having not so subtle digs at Celtic. McNee's was fairly tame in comparison to his usual nonsense, this time slagging our commercial section for releasing a DVD of our two wins over Rangers.

McNee suggests he'd rather see a DVD of the Hibs v Rangers match along with Dunfermline's win over ourselves, as our wins against Rangers were not great examples of "silky football." At the risk of sounding like a bad loser, is he seriously trying to tell us that Dunfermline played US off the park last weekend, or is this just another excuse for a shot at Peter Lawell?

Funny, McNee has never passed comment on some of the more - ahem - ridiculous behaviour over at the Ibrox commercial department, like a Best Of DVD about Peter Lovenkrands a few years ago featuring his top ten goals - at a time when he had scored barely a dozen. Or how about the "buy a brick" marketing ploy of a few years ago?

Honestly - "Football Club Tries To Make Money!" I'm surprised the headlines weren't splashed across the world!

Over at The People, Leggat is at it again............

This time he appears to have taken offense to our minutes applause for George Best. Not quite sure what his problem with it is, he doesn't say, but his annoyance is made clear in his closing paragraph where he suggests that we'd have been better had we thought of this gesture before we booed the minutes silence for the Queen Mother.

Excuse me??? Can this be the self same guy who PRAISED the supporters of Hearts for booing the one minute's silence for the late Pope John Paul II, saying that the Hearts fans had no alliegance to him, therefore they were merely exercising their "freedom of speech"??

Freedom of speech! Everyone's in favour of that, it seems, as long as it does not apply to what songs we're allowed to sing or what flags we're allowed to wave or what we can and cannot boo - and then the accussations come out. Honestly, if those rules were applied across the board a good number of our sports journalists would have to hang up their pens. Not because they cause undue offense - but because they talk absolute nonsense.

Friday 25th November

Whilst watching a re-run of the recent Old Firm on Celtic TV, I couldn't help but notice a rather dour faced guy behind Gordon Strachan when the third goal went in. On closer inspection it turned out to be none other than the famous Scottish footballing broadcaster and alleged St Mirren fan, Chick Young.

He was SICK. Perhaps he'd eaten a bad pie or something. Perhaps he'd realised he'd double parked his motor. Perhaps it was something to do with the trouble his pal Alex McLeish had found himself in. Or perhaps it had something to with what was going on on the park............

If you haven't yet watched it, you should. Not just for the goals, but for THAT look on wee Chick's face.........

Priceless!

On another note...............

Graham Spiers, the man Rangers fans love to hate, printed the following article in his Herald Sports Diary yesterday, commenting on the now-defunct "Rangers" fans website Follow Follow. These people really have NO place in football.

"I can't say it surprised me when BBC Scotland chose to do a news item earlier this week on one particular Rangers supporters' website which had become infamous for two recurring traits: its sub-literacy and its bigotry.

The website, which had become lampooned and ridiculed in media circles for its botched attempts at structured English, was finally suspended from service by its parent company on Tuesday following one helping too many from its regular diet of bile and bigotry.

If I may provide you with just a flavour of this cesspit of debate: the words "taig", "Fenian bastard" and "Timmy scum" regularly dripped from its pages. Not only this, but a former chairman of the Rangers Supporters Trust, of all people, was regularly found posting paranoid items about the media amid this dross.

Reading some of this stuff was not just an embarrassment to the legions of decent Rangers supporters, but also a reminder of David Murray's famous lament of some among the Rangers faithful. "There is a section of our supporters who are a constant embarrassment to the club, but what can we do about them?" said Murray.

I agreed with the sentiments of Donald Gorrie, the MSP who helped develop Scotland's recent anti-bigotry legislation, when he told the BBC last week that the illiterate ramblings of a few unfortunates shouldn't be exaggerated, and that, so long as they are a minority, we should just learn to live with them.

First, though, how small a minority are we talking about? And, second, the problem with this particular website this week was that it carried a death-threat to Neil Lennon, which seems to be a regular pastime of certain cranks invading its space. Apparently, I've been the subject of not a few unsavoury ditties myself in its forums.

Of the website's famously mangled literacy, I could be here all day relaying certain items which some of my media colleagues regularly sent me in jest. My two favourites would have to be one essay which was titled "To All Though's Who Think Alex McLeish Is A Disgrase", and another story which asked, "Shoud McLeish Be Saked?"

No wonder the editor of this website took cold feet this week when Radio Scotland invited him to debate his website on air. Imagine actually trying to defend this pap."

Celtic supporters sites, like Celtic Quick News and Cybertims, have been keeping one eye on Follow Follow for a long time. Good thing for its editors that defamation lawyers, as well as the Procurator Fiscal, weren't doing the same. When the site was taken off-line temporarily a week or so ago for running a cartoon of a hanging Neil Lennon, doubtless its editors were warned to watch their step. That they continued their sectarian ranting is proof, if ever it was needed, that these neanderthals are the their own, and their club's, worst enemy.

Sunday 13th November 2005

Gerry McNee's article today highlights the Celtic share issue and advises the supporters who have shares to vote against the motion going before them which would see Dermott Desmond exempt from a ruling legally forcing him to make a takeover bid in the aftermath of Celtic's new share issue. Should the fans vote against this exemption Dermott Desmond would be unable to underwrite the issue without being legally bound to make an offer for every other share, based on his majority position - something that would probably see him decide to walk away rather than contribute in the way he has vowed to do.

Doubtless, this would give the press further fodder to go after the Club, and in fact McNee makes no real secret of his aim by sarcastically suggesting that we would at last get to see how deep Desmond's convictions were.

What he neglects to mention, of course, is that it would leave the onus on the fans to pay the full fifteen million if the share issue is to be a success. Doubtless, this too would sell a lot of papers.

Meanwhile, David Leggat is at it again in his own column, this time criticising the police chief who dared to suggest that more Rangers fans than Celtic fans were engaged in sectarian behaviour at Wednesday's Old Firm cup game. He points to the Celtic fans signing about McLeish being a "sad Orange b******" and then goes on to ask, for the hundreth or so time this year, why the Celtic fan who hit Fernando Ricksen with a lighter has not yet been arrested. This, from the man who famously suggested Celtic should be made to play games behind closed doors last season, highlighing three incidents in 20-odd years to make his case.

He then goes on to criticise an un-named journalist who allegedly turned up at the after-match press conference wearing a Celtic scarf!!

Aye, right.......................

But to be fair to him, slagging Celtic only gets a sidebar this week. His main column was focussed on praising the dignity and integrity of Alex McLeish as well as slagging certain sections of the press who he thinks are involved in a witch-hunt, although he does not ascribe a motive for this disgraceful behaviour. Perhaps his Celtic supporting journalist jibe is linked to this, or maybe he, like McNee, is just working off old scores?