The Silence Of The Succulent Lambs

[D'Artagnan 173]

“Let Graham explain – he was actually there, after all: “Succulent lamb journalism means a culture – and I hold my hand up here too – a culture of sycophantic, unquestioning, puff journalism that went on around Rangers generally and Sir David Murray particularly.”

 

Of course you’ll see it to some degree across sport, across football. But it was, many Glasgow journalists say, more damaging here.

 

“Look,” says Graham “Selective Amnesia” Spiers, “you are making a pact with the devil if you like. You get thrown the best scraps. You get something for the back page or whatever. But there’s a tacit deal. You don’t dig too deep. You don’t cause any trouble.”

 

(Alex Thomson Saturday 24 Mar 2012)

 

It seems like the succulent lamb has moved fields. I doubt there would be many Rangers supporters who, after what has transpired over the last three years, who would suggest some of the articles written about our club were merely “puff journalism”.

 

Of course they didn’t have to dig too deep – after all the Rangers Tax Case Blog and BBC Scotland’s “The Men who Sold the Jerseys” had done all the work for them - all our media had to do was apply their own opinions to the information which was readily available – despite the questionable source and interpretation of that information. And apply their opinion they did, as we all know. Time and time again. They drooled, they dribbled, they salivated over questionable events surrounding our club. But what they didn’t do was dig.

 

No small wonder then that Thomson is also on record as saying :

 

For years too much football ‘journalism’ in Glasgow had been too lazy, sycophantic and incapable of asking awkward questions.”

 

And you know what ? He is right.

 

It finally dawned on me when Lord Nimmo Smith’s SPL Commission report contained the startling revelation that the material used by BBC Scotland in the aforementioned documentary was actually evidence which had been stolen from the Rangers Tax Case.

 

And the response from our media ? Not even a murmur.

 

The fact that the evidence in a case they had milked, salivated, opinionated, discussed in such minute detail had been stolen, appears not to even have raised an eyebrow of curiosity.

 

Imagine for a moment the OJ Simpson trial – and it was discovered the infamous glove had been stolen from the evidence cabinet and the media hadn’t raised a murmur ? Nope – I can’t imagine it either.. But of course this is Scotland land of lazy, sycophantic and incapable of asking awkward questions journalism.

 

Perhaps no-one in the Scottish media wants to ask questions of their own – the journalists at BBC Scotland who received and retained the stolen evidence – a kind of “closing ranks” if you like. Or could it be that for a Scottish Print media in dire trouble, evidenced by the recent voluntary redundancies at The Scotsman, the occasional appearance on BBC Sportsound is a nice little earner in uncertain times ?

 

When the Rangers Tax Case received the Orwellian Award it was hailed as :-

“Displaying focused contempt for those who evade difficult truths, and beating almost every Scottish football journalist to the real story”

 

It seems history may be on the verge of repeating itself.

 

As the blogger behind Football Tax Havens, ably assisted by the tenacious PZJ, asks searching questions of land deals between Glasgow City Council and Celtic FC, one could be forgiven for thinking that this topic appears to be “off limits” for the Scottish media. Perhaps in the near future another blogger will win an award hailed as ““Displaying focused contempt for those who evade difficult truths, and beating almost every Scottish football journalist to the real story”

 

And if he does – you can bet your bottom dollar there will be even more voluntary redundancies within the Scottish Print media.

[aweebluesoandso 290]

The press and Mhedia outlets like the BBC have gone from succulent Lamb in the Murray era, to a diet of Bullshit in the Liewells era.

[bossy 0]

Have Celtic and/or the various public bodies, councils, banks, etc. actually engaged in illegal behaviour? Because a formal criminal complaint and court case will probably be needed to force the media to break cover.

[D'Artagnan 173]

Have Celtic and/or the various public bodies, councils, banks, etc. actually engaged in illegal behaviour? Because a formal criminal complaint and court case will probably be needed to force the media to break cover.

 

The various anomalies in this case Bossy are in the public domain - I thought our law enforcers were supposed to be pro-active these days. Or does that just cover naughty words on footie forums ?

[RANGERRAB 3,757]

The press and Mhedia outlets like the BBC have gone from succulent Lamb in the Murray era, to a diet of Bullshit in the Liewells era.

 

They haven't really you know. Liewell has such an iron grip on the media in this cesspit of a country that the media simply will not report anything negative about Celt@c .Anyone who dares to do this will find themselves banned from the Co-op dome as Keevins found out.

One of the factors which will determine how successful our new CEO is will be his dealings with the mhedia in this country.He must fight fire with fire and go after those who seek to spread lies and rumours about us whilst ignoring damaging stories about them.

[bossy 0]

The various anomalies in this case Bossy are in the public domain - I thought our law enforcers were supposed to be pro-active these days. Or does that just cover naughty words on footie forums ?

 

If no laws have been broken then how can they be pro-active? Have you or anybody else lodged a formal criminal complaint?

[RANGERRAB 3,757]

If no laws have been broken then how can they be pro-active? Have you or anybody else lodged a formal criminal complaint?

 

Handing out personal tax details isn't breaking the law ? At the very least a confidentiality agreement will have been broken I'd have thought.

Regards Whyte I'm sure when he lost his Ticketus appeal before Christmas it was 'fraudulent misrepresentation' as I recall. Up here the case concerns how he got Rangers in the first place I'd have thought I.e. Was SDM was into selling and why

[andy steel 0]

'On that trip, and on others, I learned to identify the professional gloater, someone smirking in the background or nodding assent as he waded in to me. Sycophancy in the reign of terror was rife. It was imperative I came to terms with it without being seen to be enslaved, as some clearly were. I knew that he would virtually dictate the copy that certain writers put out. In a way it was a tribute to the man's immensely powerful presence that in such a short space of time he had almost all the media by the short and curlies. If you wanted your share of the goodies from him you had to play ball. He, of course, had a lot to offer. If you missed out you were obviously in trouble.'

 

Not Spiers latest rubbish, rehashing the SDM era, but Archie MacPherson, writing in 1992, about the great Mr Stein. Presumably Graham is too young to remember this period, but then, he's too young to remember a lot about Rangers and that doesn't stop him bleating on about it. The point is, anyone who imagines it was anything but 'ever thus' is an idiot; anyone who thinks it will ever change, depending on who is at the top of the tree is an idiot; and anyone who uses the example of about a decade ago to describe the current day (and, entirely coincidentally I am sure, avoid examining the present day) is either an idiot, a Tim, or Graham Spiers.

[D'Artagnan 173]

If no laws have been broken then how can they be pro-active? Have you or anybody else lodged a formal criminal complaint?

 

PJZ has reported his findings to a variety of authorities - who he is in regular contact with as he provides them constant updates on his findings - whether any of these agencies are Police Scotland - you would have to ask him yourself.

 

It should be borne in mind however his main thrust to date has been to prove allegations of State Aid. At some point, should those allegations be upheld then the mechanism used to provide that State Aid, I think that will be the time to consider criminal accountability. Though if evidence of criminal conduct was identitfied in the documentation he has made public - I would imagine that would take priority for the Police Service.

[bluebear54 0]

While most Rangers fans are naturally interested in seeing these issues being progressed, in the interests of proving the underhanded nature of Celtic and it's high profile supporters, the issues also scream out to be progressed by those who have something to gain politically by publicly ridiculing the Labour Party and pointing out their corruption.

It may well be that it would be simpler to attack the matter from the opposite angle. It would also be simpler to get press coverage were it more of a mainstream issue rather than an anti-Celtic one.

However, I'm sure that PJZ will have given this ample consideration.