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Dempsey

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http://www.independent.ie/opinion/c...ut-rangers-to-hate-theyd-be-lost-3044565.html

A GREAT wailing and gnashing of teeth went up all over Ireland when news broke this week that Glasgow Rangers Football Club might go into liquidation. The Scottish giants are already in administration, which was painful enough for their legion of fans here, but liquidation would mean their ejection from the Scottish Premier League (SPL). The very thought has been deeply distressing and not at all hilariously funny for football supporters in every corner of the island.

OK, OK, the above is of course irony, and not particularly subtle irony either, but you get my point. News that the 'Gers could be wiped off the map has caused a collective belly laugh to shake the country.

But should we really be laughing?

Well, on one level of course we should. I don't wish to generalise about a club that probably has its good points but I'll go ahead and do so anyway: Rangers are a disgrace to football. A large part of their raison d'etre - virtually all of it, it sometimes seems - is to taunt, abuse and, whenever possible, physically attack rival fans. So if they're booted out of the SPL then many will say good riddance.

You'd have to go a long way to find another club in world football that's as sick with sectarianism. In fact, you'd have to go about ... hang on, let me check on Google maps ... four miles east, to Celtic Park.

I realise of course that every time anyone suggests such a thing, Celtic fans immediately jump up and down shouting "we're nowhere near as bad". They say "we're pious and peaceable, and anyway, Rangers started it".
But everyone knows how similar the two clubs are. In some ways Celtic might be slightly less bad - they seem to have more songs, for starters - but in other ways they're actually worse. Consider their self-pity, the crackpot conspiracy theories their fans come out with when their team loses (eg that Scottish referees are freemasons out to get them), and, most annoyingly of all, the way they try to take the moral high ground. For example, they claim that the chant "Ooh, ah, up the 'RA" in fact refers to the people who fought for Irish freedom 100 years ago, rather than the guys who blew up Enniskillen.

Come on, who are they kidding? The Rangers faithful may be unpleasant but at least when they sing, "we're up to our necks in * blood" they don't turn round afterwards and say, "actually, our song is one of gratitude to those members of the Roman Catholic community who donated the blood we needed for a transfusion when we were involved in an unfortunate workplace accident".

Celtic's sanctimony fools nobody, certainly not anyone who has ever been in Dublin city centre after an Old Firm Derby. If you think Celtic fans are peace-loving poets, you only need to go onto O'Connell Street on one of those days. Your illusions won't last long. If you can't decipher what the Bhoys are singing, just look at the tattoos on their necks.
Of course we find Rangers' chanting about the famine offensive, and we're right to. But many Scottish people find it equally offensive when Celtic fans chant Provo slogans during the minute's silence on Remembrance Day. Face it - both sets of supporters are as loathsome as each other.
It's true that if Rangers fans disappear, then Celtic fans might grow up. Without rivals who are equally childish, the Hoops supporters might be shamed into behaving like adults. But where would Scottish football be without the Old Firm?

Far better off, some say, arguing that the dominance of the Glasgow teams makes the SPL a lopsided joke. There's some truth to this: no team other than Rangers and Celtic has ever won the SPL in its present form. There have been occasions when every team other than the Old Firm has had a negative goal difference (you perhaps have to be a football nut AND a maths junkie to understand the significance of this but take it from me - it's a freakish statistic).

But actually, without Rangers, the whole house of cards could collapse. Celtic would be the hardest hit. What would point of them if their fans had no pantomime villain to boo?

What, come to think of it, would be the point of Scottish football?

Discuss.
Click to expand...

Anyone know a sure fire way of getting the clubs attention about this article? Journalists like this need the Pistol Pete treatment.

Dempsey, Mar 8, 2012

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Tir Na Glas

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I read this a while ago and have no idea who this Lowry clown is

The piece is riddled with factual errors so I'd imagine its just some west brit rant by someone that obviously doesnt have a clue

Tir Na Glas, Mar 8, 2012

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Markybhoy

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Those are the writings of an ignoramus.

Markybhoy, Mar 8, 2012

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JosiahBartlet

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Why does it matter if somebody has a negative opinion of our club? Fact is, a lot of people in Ireland feel that way about Celtic. Big deal.

JosiahBartlet, Mar 8, 2012

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Efe

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Pretty bullshit article...

I don't care what people say, we are not as bad as the huns.

Efe, Mar 8, 2012

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TheBatPencil

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I'm going to put £5 on Man Utd fan.

the crackpot conspiracy theories their fans come out with
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I know, next they'll be telling us that they'd have won every League championship from 1998 onwards but for Rangers gaining an illegal advantage through a fraud that members of the governing body must have been aware of. Or that referees would take part in a conspiracy to cover up their poor decision making then try to discredit the Celtic manager by going on strike. Or that the Scottish media would go to the extent of printing "stories" written by the PR firm of Rangers' new owner. Or that a national campaign would be undertaken to try and convince the world that three people targeted in a terror campaign sort of really deserved it. Aren't they just silly?

Oh, wait... those are all real things that actually really happened...

TheBatPencil, Mar 8, 2012

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Dempsey

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JosiahBartlet said: ↑

Why does it matter if somebody has a negative opinion of our club? Fact is, a lot of people in Ireland feel that way about Celtic. Big deal.
Click to expand...

Journalists should be held to account for inept journalism

Dempsey, Mar 8, 2012

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TESLA Gold Member Gold Member

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:56: Wonder if I should go to O'Connell street and make a massive show of myself at the end of the month.

* hate Irish Journalists who love sticking the boot into Celtic.

TESLA, Mar 8, 2012

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rory_90

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JosiahBartlet said: ↑

Why does it matter if somebody has a negative opinion of our club? Fact is, a lot of people in Ireland feel that way about Celtic. Big deal.
Click to expand...

It's slander not only towards the club, but the fans as well. I, for one, am certainly not happy when any media outlet comes out making such comments about us with any hard evidence to back it up. The whole article is the ramblings of a complete madcap.

rory_90, Mar 8, 2012

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Sean Daleer Show Israel the Red Card Gold Member

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Utter guff.

Sean Daleer, Mar 8, 2012

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Efe

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Sean Daleer said: ↑

Utter guff.
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Like most of the journalism on us.

Efe, Mar 8, 2012

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odonno

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he writes this

You'd have to go a long way to find another club in world football that's as sick with sectarianism. In fact, you'd have to go about ... hang on, let me check on Google maps ... four miles east, to Celtic Park.
Click to expand...

then gives no example of sectarian behaviour just another clueless * wouldn't bother giving the * attention

odonno, Mar 8, 2012

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og1

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The indo is a west brit paper, i wouldnt pay much head to it.

og1, Mar 8, 2012

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Tir Na Glas

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Donal-ctn said: ↑

:56: Wonder if I should go to O'Connell street and make a massive show of myself at the end of the month.

* hate Irish Journalists who love sticking the boot into Celtic.
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He is most likely an embittered league of Ireland fan

If he ever rights an article on the Gaa I'd imagine that it would be similar reading

Tir Na Glas, Mar 8, 2012

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Seosamh Máirtín

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West-Brit *, nothing more.
Seosamh Máirtín, Mar 8, 2012

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Slaw

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*. Don't give him the time of day

Slaw, Mar 8, 2012

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thailandceltic From Immigration to Domination

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:blahblah1:blahblah1:blahblah1

Just another self righteous * who has more than likely never set foot in Glasgow never mind Celtic Park. It always seems to be Celtic fans who get * in the Irish press, ya never hear journos slating English clubs fans behavior which goes on week in week out at games but never makes the Press. Celtic are an easy target for lazy journos in Ireland, but unfortunately it is an image we have here with a lot of people!!!

thailandceltic, Mar 8, 2012

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Markybhoy

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Articles like this annoy me more when they are written in Irish newspapers. I expect this sort of ill informed rambling from the Scottish media but not from the Irish press.

I guess there are * poor journalists wherever you go.

Markybhoy, Mar 8, 2012

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CelticBhoyDavid

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I'm not picky.

* typical - the huns are teetering on the edge of liquidation and what does this clown do? Try and poke holes in Celtic and the fans by saying that we are as bad as that lot and no better.

This article of just full of bitterness and nothing more.

Hopefully the club will have news on this and will say something about it.

CelticBhoyDavid, Mar 8, 2012

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Tir Na Glas

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thailandceltic said: ↑

:blahblah1:blahblah1:blahblah1

Just another self righteous * who has more than likely never set foot in Glasgow never mind Celtic Park. It always seems to be Celtic fans who get * in the Irish press, ya never hear journos slating English clubs fans behavior which goes on week in week out at games but never makes the Press. Celtic are an easy target for lazy journos in Ireland, but unfortunately it is an image we have here with a lot of people!!!
Click to expand...

It never ceases to amaze me how offended these west brits get about Irish people supporting Celtic but it doesnt raise a flutter with them to see our bars and streets full of dickheads in man utd jerseys

Its much more preferable to me to be in a bar at home and have the person next to me singing "the Fields" and wearing a Celtic top than to listen to clowns chanting at each other in faux english accents and referring to themselves as "mancs" or " scousers"

Tir Na Glas, Mar 8, 2012

#20

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