spiers on murray

[bmck 117]

try not to get too animated, its what he wants

--

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/scotland/article5219609.ece?token=null&offset=12&page=1

 

Graeme Souness was right about one thing ââ?¬â? not a conclusion I reach often ââ?¬â? when he spoke about Sir David Murray. The chairman of Rangers, whatever else he has got wrong, ââ?¬Å?has gutsââ?¬Â, to quote Sounessââ?¬â?¢s famous testimony. In recent times, coinciding with his 20 years of owning Rangers, Murray has shown in various contexts that he will not go away quietly from Ibrox.

 

Last week there was a weird accord found between Murray and John Reid, the Celtic chairman, even though Murray was supposed to be attacking his Old Firm opposite number. Reid had recently attacked a section of Rangers fans for being ââ?¬Å?racistââ?¬Â and ââ?¬Å?bigotedââ?¬Â ââ?¬â? hardly fresh charges ââ?¬â? and Murray, while defending his clubââ?¬â?¢s honour, in part agreed with Reid.

 

To attack your own supporters ââ?¬â? now that does take courage. Yet when Murray told reporters that ââ?¬Å?so much is hard to defendââ?¬Â about this core of Ibrox diehards ââ?¬â? and this on top of his recent comment about the ââ?¬Å?bileââ?¬Â that comes from those same Rangers supporters ââ?¬â? it was clear that he is long past mincing his words.

 

A part of Murray is being brutally honest here. Yes, so many problems in Scottish football are being laid at the door of Rangers FC, and perhaps it has looked unfair. The club have provided so much that is good in Scottish life ââ?¬â? you almost forget that aspect. But when Murray scoffed at the so-called ââ?¬Å?bad PRââ?¬Â of Rangers, as if the rioting in Manchester or the undying embers of bigotry are easy to talk up, you knew that he was tired of having to explain away the intellectual and economic underclass that has attached itself to his club.

 

 

Murray then caused reporters to smile when he spoke about the sudden timidity of his severest critics at Rangers � in part, because we have all been there and met them. A small group of Rangers fans are going demented in their passion to have Murray flung out of the Ibrox door and are as brave as lions when posting their angry, sub-literate ramblings in glorious anonymity on the web.

 

ââ?¬Å?And you know what?ââ?¬Â Murray said. ââ?¬Å?I identified some of these guys and I went to meet them. And they were like mice.ââ?¬Â Well, you donââ?¬â?¢t say!

 

In this whole debate, it is unfair to tar any group of football fans with the same brush. Rangers, like any club, have a healthy cross-section of supporters who just love their club and want to see them do well. These men and women are not really into the vague, unrefined, theologically ignorant passion for a sort of dumbed-down Protestantism that some of the Rangers supporters� groups crave. And, more than anything, just like Murray, when you meet these latter groups of fans, you find they cannot really make their arguments stand up.

 

A few years ago I went down to Ibrox to meet, among others, some representatives of the Rangers Supporters Assembly and the Rangers Supporters Trust. In an alarming number of them it was obvious that, lurking beneath was a quest to preserve ââ?¬Å?the tradition of Rangersââ?¬Â, a phrase that always seems to elude more specific definition.

 

By this, of course, the real hardcore actually mean ââ?¬Å?a Protestant Rangersââ?¬Â, though they cannot quite articulate it as such. The more adept among them try to find more emollient phrases for this passion for ââ?¬Å?a Protestant Rangersââ?¬Â but, in this quest, vagueness and vacuity become their speciality. The truth is, it is hard trying to make the old ways sound acceptable in modern Britain.

 

These are the people that Murray tires of, the people that he feels embarrass Rangers and hold the club back. Mercifully, they are confined to the internet bunkers, and are not taken seriously by a wider constituency of Rangers fans, but they are still down there festering away.

 

In this context Rangers FC is ensnared between those (the majority, surely) who wish for a modern, progressive, liberal representation of their club, and those others who hanker hopelessly after the old days.

 

The irony is that, when Murray does eventually sell Rangers, the new owner or owners, if the club has any luck, will belong to the new, modern breed. Can you imagine a Roman Abramovich or an American investor, born of the modern age with modern values, coming in to Rangers and banging on about 1690, King Billy and the rest of it? The very idea is laughable.

 

Rangers FC is a great institution that does not deserve to be embarrassed or held back. And it won�t be. Thank goodness, even in sport, the tide of modern thinking is too strong.

 

And another thing...

 

The party should be over for Old Firm goalkeepers

 

Don�t you wonder what is going on with the Old Firm�s goalkeepers? From where I sit � and the view is sometimes obscured � Artur Boruc and Allan McGregor enjoy a party, preferably with beers to hand and a pretty girl on their lap.

 

Boruc was pictured last week in the tabs happily chomping away on some female friend back in Poland, a cigar close to hand.

 

Subsequently, the Pole shows up at Love Street to play St Mirren on Saturday and, not content with clattering Craig Dargo, goes around doing quite a bit of flapping at crosses and generally looking unconvincing.

 

We saw a similar fuzziness earlier this season in McGregor, a man whom Walter Smith euphemistically said had ââ?¬Å?lost his focusââ?¬Â.

 

Funnily enough, that focus also seemed to disappear while McGregor was living the high life. On that occasion, Smith, beginning to look like the general-secretary of the Temperance Society, decided to drop McGregor and ordered him to shape up.

 

Both Smith and Strachan, I belive, are uneasy about taking lectures in morality from anyone in the media � to be blunt, they know that we all like a bit of action ourselves

 

Strachan, indeed, was all the more determined to select Boruc on Saturday, having sat through such earnest inquiries as ââ?¬Å?dââ?¬â?¢you think Arturââ?¬â?¢s mind is fully focused on the job, Gordon?ââ?¬Â the previous day.

 

On such occasions I just think football managers have to play the Jim Baxter card. Slim Jim, it is widely attested, knew how to enjoy himself, but so long as he performed on the park, could anyone \ care?

 

Not easily embarrassed

 

I dare say that his critics would be hoping that ââ?¬Å?the poor crowdââ?¬Â at Hampden last Wednesday for the Scotland-Argentina game might be another stick with which to beat Gordon Smith, the SFA chief executive. But, like many of the so-called Smith failings, such criticism wouldnââ?¬â?¢t really stack up.

 

A Hampden crowd of 33,000 for the Argentina game maybe wasn�t quite what the SFA had hoped for, but can it really be called a failure? Actually, it seemed not a bad figure for wet, mid-November at the beginning of a recession. Perhaps the SFA suffered a slight loss on the deal, but it won�t have been enough to embarrass Smith, below. George Burley, too, was quite right to enjoy the occasion. With Holland looming in March, Scotland are much better facing Argentina than the usual Baltic dross.

[Frankie 8,552]

It is strange that Spiers is happy for Celtic to be a symbol of Catholicism but Rangers fans wanting any Protestant tradition are somehow holding the club back?

[bmck 117]

so much of the article is strange. such confused allegiances and horrible phrases.

[Bluedell 5,614]

Spiers talking a whole load of sh*t as usual.

[craig 5,199]

In almost every paragraph he makes a statement which either contradicts what he is saying elsewhere or is just simply hyperbolic pish !

 

"intellectual and economic underclass that has attached itself to his club" - what a ridiculous statement. Intellect and, indeed, economic circumstance is nothing to do with the ills of a club. Geez, just look at the sport he is reporting on - people like Hartson, Boruc and we have had our fair share too - who prove that economic position doesnt mean you arent a tit.

 

And funny Frankie - after reading it, your statement is the very first one I thought of myself. He revels in, and admires, Celtic for holding onto their "traditions" yet somehow we are cast as being stuck in the dark ages. His biased reporting knows no bounds.

 

As for his statement of "sub-literate" ramblings..... I would love to see Spiers go up against yourself, bmck, calscot, Bluedell - because each and every one of you would hands-down provide far more structured, intelligible, balanced reporting than he could ever wish for. And for all his posturing as some literary genius his use of the Queen's English isnt that great - he does, however, do particularly well at using extended verbage to say something he could take half the time typing.

 

Spiers is an egotistical, biased, bitter wee cretin (we all knew that anyway !!) of the highest order. But for some reason he still manages to get a job. He reminds me of Gerry McNee in that he recognises that by being outspoken it sells (so he is pimping his wares effectively) - the difference being, at least, that McNee was balanced in his babble whilst Spiers could never bring himself to call out Celtic for all their ills.

[Cotter 0]

I would love to see him write an article with similar undertones about Celtic. Do they not have an underclass festering away spewing out internet bile whilst clinging on to archaic traditions celebrating the murder of women and children?

 

Good old Spiers. Like Celtic, I love to hate him:flipa:

[26th of foot 6,063]

A dozen years past, I enquired of a friend who knew 'Spiersy', "where did he do his tertiary education"? The reply was a moderate surprise, "St Andrews". I was not aware that Scotland's oldest University offered degrees in Mendacity, Sycophancy, Useful Idiocy, Corduroy Fantasy, Homo-erotic Prose .........etc, so I enquired further, "what was his degree"? The reply was more of a surprise, "Divinity".

 

Graham canoot forgive that Rangers supporters chased him from his position at the Herald. Just because Graham spends a lot of his time on his knees, does not mean he is of a Christian sensitivity, although I have heard he is always more than anxious to 'turn the other cheek'.

[Frankie 8,552]

All the flowery language and verbosity in the world doesn't disguise the fact that the fella just doesn't have anything worthwhile to say.

 

It's the faux intellectual equivalent of playground name-calling.

 

While, Graham, sticks and stones may break my bones...

[pete 2,499]

Journalism is really quite easy. You make a template of a story and every week put the sentences in a different order. Simple!

[bmck 117]

Journalism is really quite easy.

 

that's why they're so uptight about the internet. the only difference between online writing and newspaper writing is power structures - they get first hand access to the 'news'. that's it.