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I have a new request underway relating to referrals to the Compliance Officer by the BBC. In no way can it be interpreted as relating to BBC output. Of course they may not have referred anyone from last season but if the art, literature, journalism argument is used then I will appeal that.

Simply put dB BBC Scotland sports department is out of control. They are biased and unreasonable and do not allocate the money Rangers fans give them in a way that fairly reflects our interests. As you can see from exchanges the BBC is largely unaccountable to the public. However London does ultimately control BBC Scotland and complaints are made to London. People there (I hope) will start to question people here, but only if we keep complaining. Don't let them think we don’t know what is going on. Their reputation is sinking and their listeners are falling. This will continue with their low budget Scottish channel. Don’t let them off the hook.

Firstly apologies for the length of the text below but some interesting observations may be drawn from the lack of accountability of the BBC and the use of their interpretation of journalistic freedom. Anyone using the FOI route in the BBC should be interested and this may help you decide how to approach the BBC. The BBC rejected my request and I appealed to the Information Commissioner. We all know the answer to the question I asked but it’s important to keep highlighting to London the dissatisfaction with their service. Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA)Your FOIA request to the BBC I am writing from the Information Commissioner’s Office to explain the Commissioner’s preliminary conclusion with respect to your complaint. The Commissioner is satisfied that the BBC has correctly handled your request for information under the FOIA. Summary of the correspondence You made a request for the following information: "Please can you advise me how much of BBC Scotland budget was allocated to cover ‘away matches’ in the group stage Europa League matches involving Celtic and Rangers in football season 2018/19? For example how much money was spent on fees to subcontracted staff, hotel and travel expenses including subsistence, overtime, additional broadcasting costs for technical and operational necessities, hiring of equipment or facilities. I do not need the figure broken down by expense type but an overall total sum of money or budget allocated to those matches will suffice.”On 8 March 2019 the BBC responded to your request. The BBC explained that it did not believe that the information was caught by FOIA because it was held for the purposes of ‘art, journalism or literature’. Some key principles about the operation of FOIA Although the BBC is listed as a public authority in the FOIA it applies to the BBC only to a limited extent. The BBC is a public authority for the purposes of the FOIA – “in respect of information held for purposes other than those of journalism, art or literature.” This is known as the Schedule 1 derogation. This means that information held for the purposes of journalism, art or literature is not covered by the FOIA but is derogated. The Commissioner can only consider concerns within the scope of the FOIA. The Commissioner is unable to compel the public authority to provide information outside its obligations under FOIA. The operation of the derogation is explained in more detail below. How the derogation works Since the FOIA came into force, the issue on derogation has created considerable litigation about what this means. The High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court have explained their views about when the derogation will apply and their decisions are binding on the Commissioner. In summary, if the information is held and relates to ‘output’ then it falls outside FOIA. In 2012, the Supreme Court in Sugar (Deceased) v British Broadcasting Corporation and another [2012] UKSC 4 gave a clear definition of what the phrase ‘journalism, art or literature’ means in FOIA and what types of information it will cover; the Supreme Court found that, “…the composite expression ‘journalism, art or literature’ seems to be intended to cover the whole of the BBC’s output in its mission (under article 5 of its Royal Charter) to inform, educate and entertain the public. On that comprehensive approach the purposes of journalism, art or literature would be, quite simply, the purposes of the BBC’s entire output to the public.” (Lord Walker at para 70). In relation to journalism the Supreme Court accepted the Information Tribunal’s definition of journalism as comprising three elements: • The first is the collecting or gathering, writing and verifying of materials for publication. • The second is editorial. This involves the exercise of judgement on issues such as: * the selection, prioritisation and timing of matters for broadcast or publication; * the analysis of, and review of individual programmes; and * the provision of context and background to such programmes. • The third element is the maintenance and enhancement of the standards and quality of journalism (particularly with respect to accuracy, balance and completeness). This may involve the training and development of individual journalists, the mentoring of less experienced journalists by more experienced colleagues, professional supervision and guidance, and reviews of the standards and quality of particular areas of programme making.” Also the Supreme Court found (in a 4:1 majority) that if the information is held by the BBC to any significant degree for the relevant purposes (i.e. journalism, art, literature) it is exempt from production under FOIA, even if the information is also held for other purposes[1]. Therefore provided there is a relationship between the information and one of the purposes listed in Part VI of Schedule 1 – which are to be read to mean ‘output’ – then the information is derogated. The information relevant to the request need not be journalistic, artistic or literary material itself. All that must be evidenced is that the information requested has a relationship with the BBC’s output. Is there a relationship between the information requested and ‘output’? The information you have requested, relating to the budget for coverage of away matches is information held for the purpose of 'journalism, art or literature'. This is because this information is linked to the BBC’s output, in particular its decisions regarding how much of its budget to allocate to cover away matches and therefore what information is broadcast in this area. As a result I am satisfied that in this case the Commissioner has no jurisdiction in this matter and therefore no statutory power to order disclosure. You may wish to read some decision notices regarding the application of the derogation at the link below by selecting the BBC under the ‘Authority’ tab: http://search.ico.org.uk/ico/search/decisionnotice The Commissioner’s preliminary conclusion in this case As a preliminary conclusion, the Commissioner is satisfied that the requested information is derogated and therefore the BBC is not obliged to comply with Parts I to V of the FOIA with respect to this request. Progression of this case and actions required Please consider the following options: 1. It may be case that you are prepared to withdraw this complaint at this point given the information above. This does not mean that you are satisfied with the situation, but that you understand that any decision notice you will receive will be highly likely to uphold the position of the BBC and find against you. Should you agree to withdraw your complaint without a decision notice you would not then be able to appeal this case to the First-tier Tribunal (Information Rights).2. The alternative is that you want to proceed to a decision notice and as explained above it is highly likely to uphold the position of the BBC and find against you. Both parties will however have a right of appeal at the First-tier Tribunal (Information Rights) where there are grounds to do so. If you require a decision notice I would ask you to provide your arguments about why you disagree with the preliminary view that is outlined above and encourage you to read through the material that I have referenced.

The hurt in their voice tonight is quite something to listen to. I try not to pay too much attention to them but ECL qualification would have brought silly money to them and allowed them to pull away from us again, it’s a big bonus.

They'll be frantically checking the oppostition team sheet for ineligible players as we speak!

It gets better for the Rangers. Our Colts won 0-2 at Stair Park, and ra green'n'grey youngsters lost out on penalties at Falkirk. It's the caramel on my wafer.

Given Kent has removed all his Liverpool pictures from his Instagram account, it seems clear that's where his comments are aimed.

It's a clanging bell and tumble weed in the PQ Gang Hut. Tom English is distraught. The turnips will be playing Swedes next to qualify for the Europa Cup. Conceding four goals at home, Neil has got ra green'n'grey going in the right direction. What about the coefficient?

A dark day for the coefficient. Titter.

Well that's a rather pleasant turn up for the books.

Tom says to Pat in the Gang Hut, "Celtic are so good creatively". Hey Tom, the final result in your own midden is FC Cludgie 3 FC Cluj 4.

Anybody else expecting the tims to put in a bid for him, especially as they need a distraction after their humiliation tonight..?

Let’s not forget they managed to get pumped by League 1 Falkirk in the Challenge Cup as well ? Getting knocked out of 2 Cups in one night. Surely a record??

I can see your argument too Gonzo and I sympathise with your anger and frustration. We have been treated terribly by BBC Scotland and we should not have to put up with it. However before Gerrard arrived there was not a cat in hell's chance of that changing because nobody gave a fuck about Murty or Pedro beyond the Scottish media. Gerrard is different. If he leads Rangers to 55 then I think the BBC can't ignore it even if the pygmies at PQ want to. Happy to agree to disagree.

A few years ago in Lambhill Cemetery in Glasgow we managed to locate the final resting place of Rangers President George Goudie, unfortunately the stone marking the plot was off it’s plinth.Subsequently our team re-erected the stone and blast cleaned it. As a token of our gratitude, thanks and respect we at the Restoration of Rangers Graves Project thought that it would be fitting to mark Mr Goudies plot with a plaque, this was put in place last week. This is today’s generation of Rangers supporters saying thank you to Mr George Goudie. President 1882 – 1883 - Vice President 1883 – 1885. George Goudie was a Paisley “Buddie”, born at 2, Hamilton Street in the town on 9 April, 1859 to Humphrey, an engine-fitter (although later records would state he was a marine engineer), and his wife Anne. It would appear young George spent his formative years overseas. There is no trace of the family in the census of 1861 or in that of 1871. They do appear in the 1881 census. By then the family home was at 14 Union Street in Leith. The census records twenty-one year-old George had three siblings. Eighteen year-old Matthew and sixteen year-old William had been born in Greece. The youngest of the four sons, fourteen year-old Henry, had been born in Turkey. George’s occupation was given as “clerk”. Research has, as yet, failed to reveal how the young clerk from Leith became, within a year, vice-president of Rangers Football Club! Goudie’s first appearance in the Glasgow PO directory was not until 1886/87. We do know, though, that he was an accomplished athlete, being successful at distances ranging from 100 yards to 880 yards. It is not an unfair assumption that George became friends with Tom Vallace on the athletics circuit and he was brought into the Rangers’ circle through Tom. When Archie Harkness died so tragically young in November, 1882, Vice-president George Goudie assumed the presidency of the club. These were not good times for the Rangers. There had been no attempt to build up the club membership. The club was in such financial straits, the committee approached President Goudie requesting he provide a loan of £30 (just under £3,000 in today’s terms). This he did. Would Rangers Football Club have survived if Goudie had not agreed to provide the loan? We have to assume that without it, the end may have been nigh. By the summer of 1883, the club was £100 in debt. George served just a matter of months as president. He stood down at the annual general meeting in May, 1883, held at the Athole Hotel. Tom Vallance became president. George served as his vice-president for the next two years. The fact the committee felt they could approach George Goudie for a loan would suggest he had already established his business as a produce merchant with some success. George married Jane Currie on 14 April, 1887 at her family home at 20 Kelvingrove Street. George had been living at 89 Grant Street, a short distance from Rangers’ old Burnbank ground. The first marital home would appear to have been at Sandyford Street. By 1891, the family, now augmented by George, Jnr had moved to 20 Kelvingrove Street. George had had offices in Waterloo Street and York Street. Such was the success of his business, the family could afford to employ a domestic servant. By the time of the 1901 census, George, Jnr had been joined by sister Jane and brothers Alexander and James. Five years later, the Goudies had moved to Pollokshields, the family home being “Dunard” at 14 Leslie Street. George had retained his sporting competitive spirit, turning his hand to bowls. He had been a member of the St Vincent Club, then, on moving south of the river, Titwood Bowling Club. His final business address was in Howard Street. George suffered from heart disease for the last eighteen months or so of his life. He died, aged only fifty-one, on 24 February, 1911. His funeral took place at the Western Necropolis, attended by his “wide circle of friends”. The funeral directors were James Henderson and Co. Yes, the same James Henderson who, too, became president of Rangers and at the time of George’s death, was chairman of Rangers Football Club Limited. We do not have a great record of George Goudie’s time on the Rangers committee. That one act, however, the granting of a loan of £30, will ensure his place in our history will live for ever.

Do managers ever get drugs tested?

Ah well assuming we and them reach group stages they won't have advantage of applying pressure by possibly winning on Saturdays as they will be playing same day as we are.

I could have sworn that, just the other week, various mhedia ran with the assertion that a club like rasellik "Shouldn't have to qualify for the Champions' League". I thought it nonsense then, and, by God, I think it nonsense now.

Okay, let's get a wee bit serious, stop the laughing at the back. It is ten past ten, twenty minutes after the game finished at Sellik Park, and that's after the Ref allowed six minutes of injury time. BBC Scotland just stopped broadcasting. The PQ Gang Hut has decanted to the the Admiral Bar in Waterloo Street. What a shower of thin skinned cnuts?

I'm reading between the lines here @26th of foot but I'm getting a feeling you're enjoying listening to the BBC this evening ?

Tom English says, "Celtic scored three goals, they should have scored more". Pat Bonner says, "The Champions League is a game". Emerald Isle philosophy negates to inform us that the champions league is a game of Clujo, and ra Sellik are out.

I'm never interested in individual results for that lot, but this is hugely significant because their entire business model is based on them reaching the group stages. Having now failed to do that again it puts a huge dent in their finances. It'll now be interesting to see how much of Tierney's £25m gets invested. They can't afford it and yet they can't afford not to. Anyway, that's enough about them. Let's get back to Rangers. Have we signed Kent yet?!?

Now that's a shame and about £35m down the swanny

?? Champions league money goes down the drain.

Which would be a fair reflection of their output, hence my desire to make it more widely known. Again, that's exactly what I want to happen. I don't think your point of view is wrong. It's reasonable enough. But I think the time for diplomacy has come to an end.

There's no way Ryan Kent is worth £5m to Rangers.

They should never, ever, be welcome back to Ibrox! I don't get why Rangers FC should ever feel the need to? we don't need them!.

What happened to Polster? Wasn’t he already Tav’s replacement?

Not sure the Europa was that bad. Yes the location was awful, but there were 5 goals, 2 good goals by Hazard and Iwobi, a penalty and some good saves. There have been plenty of boring 0-0 Europa/Uefa cup finals.

Thanks guys, i'll enjoy being a 15 year old for a while

Fantastic work Walterbear, your perseverance and tenacity will hopefully reap positive results. As you say, we have to continually keep at them and highlight BBC Scotland bias to London. What London don’t understand is that the rats at BBC Scotland will happily sink the ship, so long as they can damage us while it’s sinking. They are bitter, twisted and sectarian bigots.

Our issue is unique to our section as the access is slightly unusual. The cards do work but not for the turnstiles we want them to.

Never had any issues thankfully...

The smartcards for our section wouldn't work in our traditional turnstiles, and when I raised this with Susan Hannah at the ticket office, she has responded promptly and is arranging for new cards to be issued and for reprogramming to be done, so kudos to her and the other people who are dealing with this problem. I'm very impressed.

Last night in highlighting the impressive goal tallies of them and Rangers so far this season we had the commentary from 6 or 7 Celtic goals and one Rangers goal.

Its going to ruin games and I can see it being scrapped eventually. Should just be kept for goal line decisions. The West Ham v Man City game was a joke, Andy Gray torn it apart straight after the game and showed how one goal should have stood and another ruled out.

Ah, a man who espouses Victoria's values...... https://www.victoriassecret.com/

These guys have the same view I do, that this team Gerrard has built is better than even we think it is. The reluctance to accept that despite the fact the evidence is right in front of us stems from recent history. Some current stats. There has only really been one blip if it could be described as that which was the game at Killie but the improvement is such that an away win at a side we couldn't beat in the league last season is still considered a blip. I had such thoughts at the time but now think it evidence that this team will continue battling and being capable of scoring right to the very last minute in any circumstances. They did it again against Hibs despite the fact it wasn't even needed. They have been playing some incredible football for sustained periods across pretty much every match aside from maybe Progres away. But that was a dead rubber no one was really caring about. As was said at the time we had one team who didn't need to for it and didn't while the other did need to go for it and wouldn't. Both sat back and just played it out. Then in the next Euro game we hit 4 goals away to Midtjylland who beforehand were judged to be strong in defence not known for shipping many goals. But then people are surprised when we hit Hibs for 6 on our own patch? They weren't beaten because they went down to 10 men they were beaten because they had been outplayed from the start a brief purplish patch aside. Maybe Stevie G will prove to be a better manager than anyone gives him credit for. If he can convince this side that they can beat anybody and send them out there expecting to win against even superior opposition then that's a valuable managerial quality all on it's own. He was known as the type of player who would just never give in while he played most of his career in relatively weak Liverpool sides during a period when the traditional and financial balance of power in England had shifted and he still excelled dragging that less than top quality side all the way to ultimate glory in the Champions league. yesterday I felt this team were always going to score again even if there had been no red card. Even as the minutes ticked down before Defoe hit the clinching 3rd I was still always confident they would score again. The avalanche in the last few minutes also made me wonder if they are fitter than other sides due to this developing habit of scoring late goals. We still need to see this form carried on over weeks but I believe all the signs are there indicating this is indeed a new era when we can start truly believing we will win every game.

The video is 27 minutes long for subscribers https://rangers.co.uk/tv/view.php?it=17582&c=archive&act=watch

Utter morons talking shite!!!!!

Great video, wish it was longer though

Murphy, Hastie and even Dorrans wherever he is would strengthen other teams in the league. They certainly could do with strengthening!

I was a bit disappointed that we didn't go with Edmundson and Halliday to be honest (if Barisic is out of the picture). Home games where we are in possession and trying to build attacks don't suit Flanagan or Katic, they are both very basic and jittery on the ball. All they do is nervous sideways and backwards passes. It slows things down so much on the left. I have found Edmundson's abence from the team very confusing. And although Katic is peerless in a defensive dual, his general defensive play isn't brilliant, he's made big errors in every game recently so rotating him shouldn't be out of the question. Maybe after such a comfortbale win Gerrard will decide he can afford to rotate more players at a time than he'd normally risk.

Excellent bit of our history

From today's Times, a matter not unadjacent; https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/scotland/strathclyde-university-opens-inquiry-into-sexual-abuse-of-male-students-9wdwb2lg0 Strathclyde University opens inquiry into sexual abuse of male students Mike Wade August 9 2019, 12:01am, The Times Education A Scottish university has opened an independent inquiry into its failure to inform police about sexual abuse allegations made about an academic who preyed on young male students. The principal of Strathclyde has appointed a QC to investigate why the university failed to take action against Kevin O’Gorman, who was convicted this week of sexual offences against eight young men, and later supplied the references that helped to prolong his offending at Heriot-Watt University. Strathclyde suspended O’Gorman in October 2011 after a young male student made an allegation of abuse to David Hillier, then vice-dean of its business school. After an internal investigation no report was passed to the police. O’Gorman, who had been associate dean, left Strathclyde with “the standard confidentially agreement” in February 2012, his trial was told. He was made a professor at Heriot-Watt University, his credentials vouched for in references by senior Strathclyde staff. Police were eventually alerted after a complaint to senior management at Heriot-Watt, in September 2017. On Wednesday O’Gorman was found guilty at Edinburgh sheriff court of 14 offences against eight young men, carried out over 11 years, including whipping and humiliating them. He will be sentenced next month. Among his convictions was an offence against the man, then 20, who made the initial complaint to Strathclyde, as well as offences against four other male students from the university. Joan McAlpine, SNP MSP for South Scotland, said that she was appalled by Strathclyde’s inaction. “The university failed these students and put other young men at risk,” she said. “It beggars belief that despite serious allegations O’Gorman was given references by Strathclyde that allowed him to move to another senior academic position, where he found more victims.” Annie Wells, Scottish Conservative MSP for Glasgow, said the university’s failure to take appropriate action had caused “untold harm” to victims. Detective Chief Inspector Martin MacLean, who led the investigation, called O’Gorman “a well-respected and celebrated professor” who “used this to leverage the men he targeted and to keep his offences hidden”. He praised the “decisive action taken by staff at Heriot-Watt University” but did not mention Strathclyde. O’Gorman, 45, lives with his mother in Milngavie near Glasgow and until recently had a senior position with the Scouts. The former student who reported O’Gorman at Strathclyde described an “invasive” conversation on Facebook messenger. O’Gorman asked whether he wanted an “arse-whipping”, and told him to reveal secrets. The student, who had failed a third-year course, said he felt pressured to comply. He showed the chat log to his parents who complained to Mr Hillier, now associate principal and executive dean. A spokesman for Strathclyde said: “We are shocked and appalled by what has emerged during this trial. The principal of the university has initiated a QC-led inquiry to establish what we knew at the time, what we ought to have known, and what should have been in place to expose such predatory and manipulative behaviour. “The university will accept the findings of the independent inquiry and will adopt the recommendations that emerge. The safety and wellbeing of our students is our first concern, and the university is determined to learn from this case.”