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celticnoise · 7 years

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Richard Keys gave a long interview to The Daily Record today, where, amongst other things, he suggested that Scottish football fans boycott his former employer.

You know, the one that sacked “his mate” – a notorious bigot – for the most appalling sexism, and was on the verge of sacking him too before he resigned.

I’ve been racking my brain trying to work out what motive he could possibly have for wanting people to deprive them of money.

I can’t seriously think he gives a damn about Scottish football.

If he did, he would never have chosen to discuss it through that particular organ.

Because The Daily Record hates Scottish football, and it has for years.

Keys own disregard comes across pretty clearly in his puzzlement over what happened to Rangers.

Read this and try and get your heads around it.

“Scottish football has made some extraordinary decisions domestically which I didn’t understand but which have had a very detrimental effect on the game. And you know what I’m referring to. All these years on still no one can tell me what Rangers were guilty of when they were sent down to the bottom tier. The expectation was they would be found guilty but my understanding is they were never convicted of any wrong-doing. But I guess that’s another matter entirely.”

When he says he doesn’t understand, you better believe it. He should have stuck with that. Instead he gives us a glimpse of what little he does understand about it – that they were never convicted of wrong-doing – and reveals he knows even less than he thinks he does.

One of the reasons for his lack of comprehension is made immediately clear.

“The only reason I knew what was happening at Rangers in 2011 was because I started reading the Daily Record. And that’s when we started covering it properly …”

And suddenly it makes total sense.

If all I had to go on for an understanding of those events was Keith Jackson and Andy Gray, yeah I suspect I’d be woefully ignorant of them as well.

I’ve said this many, many, many times … the coverage of those events, in that paper in particular, has damaged the reputation of our game, south of the border, in ways that are unmeasurable. For one, it contributed to half of English football thinking this country was a sectarian anti-Rangers backwater which, for a spell, just went mad.

It bears no resemblance to the truth whatsoever. It is what we call the Victim Lie. It is pernicious, it is distorting and it is dangerous. It has raised the temperature of hate in this country to a staggering level. It is also an assault on the truth which can’t be ignored.

It is one of the reasons not a single Scottish football supporter with a fraction of a brain cell buys it or trusts a single word that is published in that paper. That rag, and those who write for it, wilfully distorted the facts and led a campaign whose end result would have been the collapse of any credibility our sport had left.

Had their call for Sevco to be put straight into the SPL been heeded tens of thousands of fans would have walked away never to return, the integrity of the sport here not simply compromised but utterly shredded.

Apart from that, the paper was the key proponent of the Armageddon Theory, and did as much, if not more, to talk it down and burn its commercial standing to ash, as even the SFA and the SPL leaders who virtually begged sponsors to walk away.

No Scottish football fan will ever forgive those people for that, or forget that they did it.

To read Keys absurd comments today, and to learn that his knowledge of that time comes from the things he read in the disreputable rag which promoted Whyte when many of us were calling him a crook and then blamed the rest of us for what happened to the club … it’s sickening.

So Keys limited his understand to The Daily Record version of events and anything else he wanted to know about the game up here I’m sure he got from his “mate” sitting next to him, who in between dismissive discussions of how women had no role in football except to look good for the men, I am certain shared with him tales of the “grand old days of yore.”

Gray spent one year at Ibrox, but was a boyhood fan, imbibed in all that supremacy guff, brought up to believe he was one of the Peepul.

Backward, intolerant, a complete muppet in short.

This is what happens when you take no interest whatsoever in a subject, but get occasional snippets of information from a couple of sources singing from the same hymn sheet, and normally I would have a big rant about this kind of thing, and try and give him an overview of it, filling him in on everything that went on but why should I? Why should any of us?

We know what happened and the truth can be found on many a blog and in at least one book and in at least some of the newspapers of the time, in between all the heart-rending for the down-on-its-luck Rangers, who spent their own way to oblivion and wanted the rest of us to pick up the tab. The club that cheated the rest of us for years.

When it came time, every club in Scotland knew what they were voting for and why.

If Keys is too lazy or too pig ignorant or just too stupid to get it, that’s his problem, not ours. Nobody asked him to “understand it”; he wasn’t part of the discussion and he isn’t now. He’s another in a long line of arrogant EPL obsessed tossers to come up here and lecture us, only this time he’s feigning sympathy instead of expressing contempt.

But it’s just another kind of contempt, that’s all, and all the more offensive because it contains within it a fully formed version of the Victim Lie.

His comments on Scottish football fans and Sky had merit; of course they did. His story about how Sky’s board took an executive decision not to promote Scottish football in any way, shape or form, even by acknowledging it existed at all, is chilling.

But that aside, not a thing he’s said was exactly original thinking.

If he’s interested in the well-being of our game he ought to learn about it. He ought to know who up here he can trust and who was filling his head with nonsense. He ought to speak to some of his colleagues south of the border, like Alex Thomson at Channel 4, or Mark Daly from the BBC.

They’ll put him right if he cares to learn at all.

There are still stories up here, real honest-to-God ones, which have been buried under an avalanche of lies and distortions … and some are still current today, with enormous potential for changing the landscape of the game. If he’s a serious journalist he could be on the cutting edge of breaking those wide open to an audience that simply won’t believe them.

Most Scottish football fans here would welcome that kind of scrutiny, the real kind, the kind that looks at the issues properly, and critically. Keys says he’s passionate about the sport here. If he is, he can prove it to all of us, easily.

But he ought to watch who he asks for information, and who he talks to afterwards.

Not everyone up here would be interested in telling him the truth.

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grassbreads · 8 months

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God Sha Po Lang would be so good if it weren't determined to be every kind of offensive at once.

I kept reading for a while last night and ended up getting really into it. The chapters set in the capital are good! The part right after Gu Yun leaves is great! Chang Geng's ongoing crisis about his feelings for and separation from Gu Yun are a lot of fun to read about. The unexpected self-harm angle tied to his curse is surprisingly compelling. I love that Chang Geng's teenage rebellion is to run away with a monk, and I love that it pisses off Gu Yun to such an insane degree.

But at the same time, almost every time the "barbarians" come up, the way they're written about is kind of disgusting. I'm genuinely shocked I haven't encountered more discussion about this. Northern asians are written as hulking, violent, animalistic monsters full of natural cruelty. The text calls them barbarians unironically. They're portrayed as wrong for resisting the people that violently conquered them. We're meant to be siding with the imperialists!

And besides that, every time Ge Pangxiao pops up, things get super fatphobic. He's consistently laughed at and/or treated as gross by the text for just, like, being a fat kid that exists. And somehow, despite this literally being a novel about gay people, Cao Niangzi's writing feels like a homophobic caricature. And also transphobic, for good measure. He's referred to as looking like a girl, but with something off in an unnerving way. And I think he's yet to display a single interest besides looking at attractive guys—a trait that everyone around him is put off by despite this. literally being a book about gay people.

So with all that, it's like, the fact that it's good in a lot of ways just makes it more aggravating! I've read things before that I thought were bad/and or offensive, but had a good enough plot or fun enough characters to be worth finishing. A guilty pleasure sort of "this is bad but makes good trashy entertainment" reaction is easy enough to parse, but SPL isn't that. SPL is a good book that is determined to make itself unreadably repulsive. And that's just, like frustrating.

#like it's not a GREAT book on any terms #it's definitely weaker than ts (my fav priest novel) in terms of characterization #and it has other problems #but if it weren't so gross it could be genuinely fun and good.#it could have been fun!!#also unfortunately I do really like cao niangzi #the way he's written feels. like. objectively offensive #but I'm so endeared by him regardless #andie reads spl #this is not the direction I was expecting this liveblog to go. rip me #self harm #self harm tw

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grassbreads · 9 months

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Apparently it's a universal requirement of priest novels that one of the main characters has to be The Most Annoying Man Alive

#tho spl is the first time I've found the most annoying man alive actually annoying #reading about xp driving everyone around him bonkers in ts is a blast #and watchjng fd drive lwz up the wall in md was also always a lot of fun #but GY in spl is legitimately frustrating me a bit #he's funny. but he's SO bad at dealing with others' feelings in a way that's a bit frustrating to read #you can't buy a freshly traumatized teenager's love with gifts dude #anyway I'm finishing vol 1 of spl since I paid for it #but it's uhhh. still gross tbh #at least they've stoped being actively heinously racist for a while (since there stopped being scenes with 'barbarians')#but it's also. like. REALLY fatphobic w how cg's friend is depicted #I find cg's setup as a character pretty compelling #young miserable disillusioned and burdened with the idea that he's cursed to go mad with bloodlust #I like that #and the xianxia mech thing is legitimately very cool #but those two points of investment and enjoyment are carrying me through a book that I otherwise find kinda gross in a lot of ways #andie reads spl

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grassbreads · 9 months

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Bit hesitant about spl so far given that it seems like a lot of it is going to hinge on dealing with a particularly racist/nationalistic kind of conflict, and the racial conflict in Shu was by far the worst-handled part of Tai Sui.

That said, I did really like the "Barbarians. You actually call us Barbarians." line in the scene with Chang Geng's mother, so maybe this book will handle the topic better? I hope?

#also hesitant about spl due to the uh. relationship between the mc and his eventual love interest #I'm assuming there's gotta be a time skip at some point #but I somehow didn't know about that particular detail going in #I tend to avoid learning anything about smth once I decide I want to read it #so I was fully unaware #also @ CG's mom:#I get that you've seemingly been in a tough spot #but maybe your son would have absorbed less hateful propaganda about 'barbarians' if you'd actually raised him?#instead of ignoring and/or trying to kill him?#andie reads spl

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grassbreads · 8 months

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Finished volume 1 of Sha Po Lang, and my one comment (aside from all my many previous comments) is that I think Chang Geng and Luo Binghe should unionize

#mixed race kid in a society that hates half of him suddenly discovering that he’s incredibly important and powerful #but in a way that he kinda hates #and he’s full of self loathing and finds himself disgusting #and is also being driven to madness and bloodlust largely by an external force #and also spends all of his teenage years having an extended crisis because he has a huge thing for the guy that’s basically raising him #but man at least Binghe doesn’t get Xin Mo ‘til he’s a bit older #and his crazy-maker is a sword that he can technically get rid of #poor Chang Geng is 15 and already has a curse in his head ready to flare up at any time and make him crave violence #I’m sure that’ll go great lmao #if only spl would go the scumvi route and show literally any understanding or grace toward the stigmatized side of its mc’s heritage #andie reads spl #I have one terrible meme to post and then I’m swearing off talking about this novel for a while

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grassbreads · 9 months

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I’m sorry, is the villain of Sha Po Lang the fucking pope???

#this is far and away the best thing about this novel so far #holy shit #I’m almost mad how delighted I am. given how disappointing the treatment of so much other stuff was #I don’t *want* to be given reasons to keep reading #andie reads spl

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grassbreads · 9 months

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Xianxia mechs????

#this is exciting #I knew there was some funky tech stuff going on #but. xianxia mechs??#I think I might have heard mention of this before #but I had fully forgotten that this is that novel #andie reads spl #not described

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grassbreads · 9 months

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Alright, well I figure there's a 50/50 shot between this character being incredibly gender or incredibly offensive

Place your bets now.

#either that or he'll be just some guy that happens to wear dresses #neither interesting nor offensive #but somehow that feels like the least likely option #anyway I started reading spl #andie reads spl #not described

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celticnoise · 7 years

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Last night, just before I chucked it for the evening to watch some TV, I had the distinct misfortune to read Matt Lindsay’s preview for the game in The Herald. It was ridiculous, and made me wonder if a line was being pushed out from somewhere.

Because it contained a highly suspect, assertion, which I’d already read twice that day on other outlets.

Lindsay’s article opened with this sterling piece of claptrap.

“The Ibrox club should certainly give a better account of themselves than they did the last time they travelled across the city to face their traditional rivals back in September. On that occasion, fielding Joey Barton, Niko Kranjcar and Philippe Senderos, three ageing signings whose distinct lack of match fitness meant they were unable to live up to their considerable reputations, proved utterly disastrous.”

Man oh man, where even to start?

Let’s start here; it was Celtic fans who called them “ageing signings” when the media was predicting that they’d be the driving force behind a Sevco title challenge. I love seeing how the media is now appropriating our analysis before the fact as their excuse after it.

There’s just one little problem with that as analysis; it’s total crap.

For one thing, only one of them had to play ninety minutes and he was the one who many hacks tipped as player of the year before a ball was kicked. Senderos was red carded and Kranjcar was taken off at half time, and the score was only 2-1 to Celtic when he was.

Whilst the former Arsenal man (chortle) might have lacked sharpness that’s an excuse that absolutely cannot be levelled at any of the other players. Barton was playing his 8th match of the season and Kranjcar was playing his 10th. I watched a Barcelona side in midweek with

This line of reasoning is pathetic. Their team was well prepared for that game. On the day they were well beaten, by a vastly superior team and don’t let anyone kid you the gap was closed over the course either. At Hampden we had a goal disallowed and would have run up a cricket score had it stood. At Ibrox we hit the post and the crossbar and still won the match after coming back from a goal down and dominated thoroughly.

Only sheer bitterness could possibly offer an explanation for how little credit we’ve been given for the season we’re putting together, and this idea that we still have something to prove in these game is ridiculous and offensive, but I have no doubt we will demonstrate that superiority again when tomorrow comes. Because we didn’t luck into those wins or catch them on a bad day. We’re just better, in every department.

If it’s not the wishful thinking and trying to find excuses, it’s the denial of reality which astounds.

Players will “have to prove themselves to the new manager” is one that’s doing the rounds. Oh yeah? Why’s that? There are nine league games to go before the season ends, and they still have a cup tie to play. The manager won’t judge them on a single game, and if he does he’s a moron. And even if he did, and found players wanting, so what? He can’t do anything about it until the end of the campaign, and he can’t afford to have them sitting on the bench.

Besides, since when does having a point to prove make you a better footballer? It might make you push yourself harder but it won’t elevate Andy Halliday to the level of Scott Brown and it won’t make Clint Hill any quicker or Martyn Waghorn any more composed in front of goal. These are limited players, and their limitations can’t be glossed over because they are trying to impress the new guy in the stand.

You ever tried so hard to impress someone you made a gigantic arse of yourself?

We’ve all done it, right?

I once approached an absolutely gob-smacking girl in a bar, whilst she was sitting a table with her pal. I leaned on the post beside the table and asked her what her name was, trying on my best smile and turning the charm dial up to nine. And she was quite responsive. Until I shifted my weight, the pint I was holding slipped out of my hand, hit her on the head (I still replay that moment in my mind; I swear I saw the glass bounce although it’s impossible) and soaked her.

Players in such circumstances tend to make rash challenges, over-complicate simple things and generally make a mess of everything. If you’re good, and you know it, you don’t have to try. You only have to play your natural game and it’ll come.

Unless your natural game is as bad as mine as described above.

(I also once knocked over a table of drinks pulling another girl up for a dance.)

“The form book goes out the window,” is another one. No-one’s ever offered evidence of this, or why this spectacular phenomenon only tends to apply to Glasgow derbies. It’s transparent rubbish, but you hear it over and over again.

If the form book went out the window, how come they didn’t beat us at Hampden? Or at Ibrox?

We were on form. They weren’t playing particularly well. How come the world wasn’t upturned for them to get the result? People point to individual games during the Celtic – Rangers years and say “well that proves it.” All it proves is that one team turned up on the day whilst the other took a holiday. It’s utter garbage. One off freak results happen … it has nothing to do with galactic symmetry and the need for a universe in perfect harmony.

But of all the media’s bizarre tactics before this one is the continuing need to talk us down.

The new line is that next season will provide the challenge, that it will be Brendan and this team’s true test, with a new manager at Ibrox (and maybe a different one than the poor hapless sod who flew in today and who has “patsy” written on his napper already) and blah blah blah.

As if no-one turned up this season.

As if this was just the rest of the SPL giving Brendan and the bhoys a free run at it because it was his first one.

Tomorrow we will stamp all over some of this idiocy.

Some of it will endure beyond that game.

I have stopped expecting them to give us credit.

All that’s left it is to pour on the pain.

I fully expect us to do just that.

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