Oh come on BBC Scotland, for heaven’s sake get
@mstewart_23
back on air. He’s bright, he’s engaging, he’s intelligent, he’s different. All he did was speak the truth, albeit passionately. Your radio and Sportscene coverage is much reduced without him.
How desperate must Jim Traynor be to produce this wafting resentment? On the fate of a 12 year old boy? And, believe me, it is Jim, from the tortured syntax and sheer ineptitude with punctuation.
So I sauntered into the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh this morning to enquire about a room. “How much is a one-night stop?” I ask.
Guy checks his screen. “We do have a room sir, it’s £925 per night.
“With breakfast?” I ask.
“No, without. With is £975.”
I went off to think about it.
What Rangers FC could do with a young, modern, creative PR guru instead of an old blowhard 40 years in the business harbouring deep-seated grudges against sections of the media. A disaster.
I bet I can speak for just about every football writer in Scotland when I say we’ve found Neil Lennon engaging, articulate, witty and self-deprecating over many years.
Imagine a poor moron filming Lennon drunk, and abusing and goading him.
The utter tragedy of social media today.
Many Rangers fans exercised and excited on here re this Celtic Boys Club tragedy. What a spectacle it is: the worst expression of transparent glee and oneupmanship I think I’ll ever see in football. Over child sex abuse.
Tomorrow’s back page in The Times.
Alastair Johnston believes any Celtic 2020 title triumph might require “an asterisk”.
If I was a Rangers director I think I’d keep mum on titles that require “an asterisk”...😂
I was at Celtic Park today. This guy is ruthless and all-conquering in Scotland. Rangers plan to put an untested under 18s coach up against him next season. The sheer idiocy of it. It is staggering.
“Tainted title suggests some sort of illegality, some kind of cheating going on. We’ve done nothing wrong.”
Celtic manager Neil Lennon has a sometimes cruel way of making his point.
Have to say I wasn’t in the slightest bit impressed with Scott Brown’s antics today. Provoking, goading, laughing at defeated players, acting like the all-round tit. There was nothing classy about it at all.
Dr Catherine Calderwood has been an inspirational Chief Medical Officer in Scotland. She has been utterly revolutionary in health care with her
#RealisticMedicine
thinking. She made a mistake this weekend but God help us if we are denied this brilliant talent at this time.
Rangers fans excitedly RTing any Celtic Boys Club sex abuse stories. Celtic fans countering with dug up stories of ex Rangers youth coaches and alleged child sex abuse.
What a nauseating charade.
The whole world can see the terrible wrong and hurt inflicted on Ukraine but, goodness me, Scotland fans are still entitled to dearly want their team to win at Hampden tomorrow. How on earth did this preposterous debate ever gain traction?
Hi
@NicolaSturgeon
and
@scotgov
... please, please, please ask local authorities to leave UNLOCKED their various Astro/all weather pitches at our (now closed) sports centres. Means our kids can keep playing football/other sports and remain active during this crisis.
The paranoia that has infected Rangers in recent years - the fans, the club itself - is truly frightening. And here’s Stevie Gerrard, two minutes in the door.
Quite a few of us - like me - who grew up supporting Rangers - passionate Rangers fans - reached a stage where the lingering stench of this shit became an utter embarrassment.
With so many newspaper reporters either banned, barred or out-priced from asking questions, “fan-media”who declare Steven Gerrard “my hero” and “my man-love” are currently grilling the Rangers manager about tonight’s fiasco against Malmö.
Utterly laughable.
That was a real tour de force from Nicola Sturgeon on
#bbcqt
. I don’t sign up to quite a few of her policies but she is a compelling political performer.👏
She’s still here. Still going strong in her 94th year, baking her scones, playing her Christian hymns on the piano. Exceptional ironer of longjohns. Born in 1929 and indisputably one of Hawick’s finest. My mum.👏🙏
Good grief…poor Ally McCoist now dragged into the begging and beseeching for human decency.
“Please, please, please…”
Clearly, a club that trusts its supporters.
Is there anything more desperate or barrel-scraping on Twitter than football fans keen to score points over something as tragic as child abuse? I’ve seen quite a bit of this today on here. What a world it is.
No question: one of the finest international managers operating in Europe right now.
Players want to play for him. Players are flourishing under him. He understands the task - the mental, the tactical - of each game. These are good times for Scotland.
Callum McGregor could play for any club in Britain. Days like these, no wonder this guy has never wanted to leave Celtic. What a finish.
•My podcast on Celtic’s contemptuous dismissal of Rangers - and the consequences - out at 8.30pm tonight.
What Kenny Miller appears to be arguing here is that if we didn’t have VAR - if we didn’t have the facility to look again and scrutinise and see the whole, clear picture - then we wouldn’t all know how bad John Lundstram’s tackle was. It’s VAR’s fault.🙈
Oh get on with it Celtic, for crying out loud. Aberdeen, Hibs, Hearts and everyone else regularly have to make the trek to Glasgow for these games. For once, go 40 miles the other way.
#BetfredCup
It’s routine now: Rangers enjoy success on the pitch and some of their supporters ruin it with their prejudice or racism.
Then the hoary old line - “it’s a societal issue” - is wheeled out.
Memo to Rangers: take on your bigots. Stop obfuscating about “society”. Grasp the nettle.
I thought Rangers were terrific today at Hampden: strong, skilful, carrying threat. I hear debate about ref Bobby Madden but this was a deserved win.
Off the pitch…my God, this Rangers songbook. How the hell do we drag these people into the 21st century? Embarrassing.
Statement from Craig Brown’s family:
“Craig died peacefully today after a short illness in University Hospital, Ayr, surrounded by close family members.
“The family wish to express their deep appreciation of the outstanding care and attention provided by hospital staff and the
I’ve gone out my way to cut Rangers fans some slack this weekend: years of pent-up anger and bitterness being released following a title win. But these reports of loutish behaviour in Glasgow last night are beyond defending. A thorough embarrassment.
Everywhere I’ve looked tonight - radio, TV, media debate - Rangers FC is being trashed. It’s quite something when a club’s own support turns what should have been a joyous event into a widely-condemned embarrassment.
“The Rangers problem” is deep rooted, I’m afraid. No easy fix.
There was a concern - not least from Rangers FC itself - about fan behaviour in Seville, but I have to say the Rangers fans in Spain came over as fun and warm and colourful. Very appealing: families, kids, lots of females among the fan-base. It looked terrific.
Needs to be said.
Tom Rogic scored one of the greatest and most dramatic goals in Scottish Cup final history. He was a supremely talented footballer for Celtic, and now bows out of the game for very touching family reasons. Celtic fans will remember.
The great Jock Stein couldn’t do it. Nor could Martin O’Neill. But Brendan Rodgers has just gone double-treble with Celtic. 6 trophies out of 6. It’s not bad.
My interview in The Times tomorrow.
“It has to stop. There are kids growing up who think religious abuse, gender abuse, homophobic abuse are all OK. Being called a ‘tarrier’ or a ‘Fenian’. It has to be called out. I won’t shy away from it.”
Ryan Porteous on football’s problem.
Did Rangers MD Stewart Robertson seriously claim tonight: “At no point did we talk about bullying and coercion by SPFL staff; we’ve not said that anywhere.”
Have a nap, Stewart. Been a long day.
They hand over £3m for their club’s new stand. They had already raised £4.5m for
@JamTarts
. They fund - in effect - 10 or 12 Hearts players’ annual salaries. By 2020 their total giving will be £10m. I remain amazed at the passion and momentum of 10,000 fans in
@The_FOH
. 👏👏👏
We're offering a free warm meal 4 days a week through our
#ParadisePitStop
project 🍀💚
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Celtic and their supporters were lampooned for this sort of stuff for decades. But now, if I understand this correctly, it is a perfectly sane and sentient position to adopt.
Laughable.
I spend half my day reading this
#Rangersdossier
, trying to give it due time and respect, and then MD Stewart Robertson comes out with this preposterous stuff on Radio Clyde tonight.
Which makes me think: what other spurious tosh is he capable of?
He has derailed Rangers’ case.
Brendan Rodgers actually shoves the security marshall out of the way - “get off him” - as he rescues a young Celtic pitch-invader and ushers him back to his seat.
And before it all starts as usual - “they’re against us, it’s bias, it’s an agenda, it’s a conspiracy” - let it be said that this has been coming for a while.
For God’s sake, Rangers. This is 2019. Take action to stop your supporters singing these bigoted songs.
Rangers ordered by Uefa to close part of Ibrox for Europa League meeting with Legia Warsaw following "racist behaviour - which includes sectarian singing".
For years people have spoken about the sheer squalor, filth and bigotry found on Follow Follow. Just how Stewart Robertson and Rangers have contrived to make this cesspit “an official media partner” of the club is utterly depressing.
Every day in my prayers I remember this precious little lady, born in 1929, now in her 91st year, living alone and locked away for days on end in solitude in Glasgow, playing hymns at her piano. Though I will add, my mum has such lovely, kindly neighbours, for which thanks.🙏
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a game quite like that Betfred Cup final today. Rangers could actually have won it 5-1. Fraser Forster surely played one of the games of his life.
Alfredo Morelos? 8 concrete chances and 8 misses.
Congrats to Celtic, 10 🏆 in a row, an amazing feat.👏
That is absolutely a red card - all day long. In the modern game, if you think John Lundstram should have stayed on the pitch, you’re living in the 1980s. Studs up, lunging at speed, potential ankle-breaker. No argument.
I’m a Steve Clarke fan. I think he’s a very good ⚽️ coach.
But the dissenting voice at these Euros deserves to be heard.
A Scotland totally impoverished in attack. 2 shots on target in 3 matches?
A dull, dour, unadventurous Scotland.
That is the dissenting voice.
#EURo2024
I’ve written before about this: that section of the Rangers support that feels culturally ‘left behind’ by modern Scotland. So their ‘celebration’ is exhibited in anger, bitterness, resentment, aggression. Yet another embarrassing example of it...
One of the great photos of Scottish football. Celtic’s Bertie Auld, suitably attired, having just sent Leeds United packing in the European Cup semi-final at Hampden in front of 136,000 fans. (Via
@Stephen4_2
)
While Stewart Robertson, the Rangers MD, bans or bars journalists galore from Ibrox - a hallmark of his time at the club - I am astounded he and Rangers have still not uttered a cheep of regret over historic child sex abuse. That SFA report was 5 days ago now. Sheer cowardice.
It has been an appalling mess - a political farce - but I personally warmly welcome this magnificent Scottish football institution back into the top flight. Worthy champions.
Brendan Rodgers on when he might be lured back to England: “I’ve got 3 years’ contract left at Celtic. Three plus seven equals 10. It’s a big thing for the supporters. I have a responsibility to 60,000 passionate fans.”
Via
@DickinsonTimes
@TimesSport
I know this horse has bolted but...
Scottish top-flight agrees return to training June 11.
Competitive games to start Aug 1.
Games could actually start July 9: a 4-week training loop.
I still refuse to believe top-flight season 2019-20 could not have been completed from July 9.
Exactly 40 years ago tonight John McGovern from Montrose lifted his second European Cup as winning captain, after Nottingham Forest’s 1-0 win over Hamburg.
Won 2 European Cups, 2 English Division One titles and 2 English League Cups.
But not good enough to earn a Scotland cap.
94 today. Born 2.8.1929 in Hawick. Still bright as a button (if slightly barking). We celebrated with Scotch Broth for lunch. Against all my protestations the ironing-board will be up by 4 o’clock. I love her. 🎂
Can either
@GrahamSpiers
or
@BBCTomEnglish
explain why it’s acceptable to have a banner that says “Fuck Trump” but it’s not acceptable to have one that says “Fuck the pope”?
There has been a very definite subtext among many Scottish clubs re the Rangers FC campaign - on fairness, governance, transparency, going by the rules, moral integrity and more - which has said: “No, sorry, from of all clubs, we’ll take no lectures from Rangers.”
#SPFL
A bagpipe lament at Tynecastle today before a Remembrance silence for The Fallen. No club in Britain knows more about Armistice than
@JamTarts
. The piper was 18 year old Charlie Forsyth.
Noted: even some Rangers fans despairing of the booming anti-Catholic chants coming out of Portugal tonight and worrying about Uefa consequences. Marred - yet again - a great night for the club.
Utterly baffling. Medieval behaviour.
I’m no cheer-leader for Neil Doncaster - never have been - but I must say he sounded lucid and confident and assured on Sportsound today, not least in clarifying the confusion over advanced payments to some clubs in 2016-17. Didn’t sound to me like a man headed for the gallows.
Neil Lennon later explained his exuberant celebration at Dens Park:
1. He felt total relief: a 96th minute winner
2. He desperately wants the title for Celtic
3. He felt real heat, replacing Brendan Rodgers at Celtic with 11 games to go.
He couldn’t have been more open about it.
I’m amazed this Scottish League Cup final is going ahead on Sunday: 50,000 people descending on Hampden in packed cars, buses and trains. It’s an
#Omicron
jamboree.
Never a foul. 😂😂😂
Never a penalty.😂😂😂
This is ludicrous refereeing from Bobby Madden.
All over Britain every weekend you see a yellow or straight red for such a dangerous, studs-high challenge.
Do the IFAB rules state: ‘But not for goalies.’?
My mum, Betty Spiers, pictured aged 17 in Hawick in 1946.
Found in a corner of my late father’s study this evening.
Now aged 90, she is downstairs playing hymns on her piano as I type.
An amazing generation.
I don’t care how pish Albania are. With the shambolic build-up, anything could have happened to Scotland tonight, and defeat would have resulted in public hangings. So well done indeed Alex McLeish, 4-0 is a terrific result. 👏
Derek McInnes’s
@AberdeenFC
have played Rangers three times in Glasgow this season and won three times.
The Dons against Rangers in total this season: P6, W3, D2, L1
What a faint-heart McInnes is. A hopeless manager.
Key part of Rangers’ accusatory statement of April 11: “bullying”.
That is a very serious allegation about
#SPFL
governance.
I’m wading through this RFC “dossier” trying to find evidence of “bullying” but haven’t found it yet. But give it time.
Now remember Stewart Robertson, Rangers MD.
Not a word. Not a cheep. No syllable of regret for the mayhem.
Yep, you make sure you keep your “fans” onside.
Pathetic cowardice.
1/ I’m understandably inundated with messages about y’day’s disgraceful scenes in Glasgow. Police still have a job to do, which restrains my comments to some extent - but to say I’m utterly disgusted by the Rangers fans who rampaged through the city would be an understatement...
There’s a real boldness about the Rangers board now that Uefa are hauling the club up over bigotry. I just wish Stewart Robertson and co had shown guts - and leadership - amid the week in, week out sectarian chanting instead of sitting with their fingers in their ears. Cowardice.
Utter humiliation for Rangers today at Hampden. Treated with contempt by Celtic. The root of it is not Graeme Murty’s fault: a youth coach placed in charge by an Ibrox board singularly incapable of giving their team and its supporters a manager. A straightforward incompetence.
What an utter joy to see this little lady again and be served her tea, cream cakes, puff pastries and cookies in her wee back garden in Glasgow.
My mother, Betty Spiers, 3 weeks short of her 91st birthday.
Made in Hawick. A remarkable generation.
Lucky Celtic, but they are through. Out-played for much of the night by a swift and classy RB Salzburg, but their feats over 6 games have heaved the Scottish champions into the last 32. And that was one tough group to get out of. 👏