Blockers and Removing Obstacles – James Dornan and searching for Justice in the Celtic Boys Club Scandal

The blocking function is a part of life on Twitter. There can be a tone of tweet that merits it or there are some views that people just don’t want to hear, rightly or wrongly. It’s personal choice how you run your account. There is a grey area though, where the accounts aren’t personal accounts and represent something else and have a duty to be open to different views.

For example, my opinion is that employees of the BBC, where their account reflects or trades on that position, should be left open. They represent a public service and as a license fee payer I’d expect that channel of communication to be left open to me. Now, whether they ever choose to respond is a different matter, but a block just feels disrespectful.

The same goes for MPs/MSPs, especially when you form part of their constituency. They are paid to represent you and it is their duty to do so. Points of view, believes, background, agendas may vary greatly. Exchanges may get heated. But so long as things are kept reasonable (if not polite, then not abusive, harassing or aggressive) then that communication line needs to be left open. Consider it an extension to their surgery.

With this in mind, there was a whole new level of disrespect uncovered when considering the actions of James Dornan MSP. Mr Dornan is known as something of a blockhead and his political forays into many subjects have long been the stuff of ridicule. It’s not unfair to say that SNP voters in Glasgow Cathcart appear to be least discerning voting block anywhere in the world. He is a frequent pest to Rangers FC and its supporters and seems to spend most of his days dreaming up ever more inane ways to stir up controversy against that demographic. However, when he declared that he was willing to pick up the plight of the victims fighting for justice in the Celtic Boys Club scandal then it had to be taken at face value. It seemed noble enough and it was the helping hand that they needed to lift them from Scotlands sea of disinterest.

One of Celtics victims, Gordon Woods, had been in contact with Mr Dornan about how to progress the cause of the victims, with the goal of obtaining the long overdue full public enquiry into scandal at Celtic FC. To summarize, this is a scandal which saw predators infiltrate Celtic FC and then proceed to set-up a boy’s club network with the blessing and support of the club’s board. This would lead to a trail of abuse which would continue for decades, that would welcome numerous abusers into its fold, would overlap with other notorious predator networks, would span many countries and ultimately adversely affect the lives of literally hundreds of boys and young men. The scale and audacity is in itself astounding, but another hallmark of Celtic scandal is the cover-up that’s accompanied it. An orchestrated programme that has out-lived the network of abuse and many of the victims and is still very actively protecting Celtic FC (and other parties) and preventing them from receiving proper penalty for their actions. This cover up is something which must be viewed as a cultural failing, a national shame, and a crime (or series of crimes) in its own right.

Mr Dornan recently blocked Gordon Woods on twitter.

Gordon Woods presented a series of exchanges between the two where Mr Dornan had certainly suggested that he wanted to pursue a full public enquiry.

Dornan’s provision was that it is easier to get things done after an election (April 2021) doesn’t reflect well with hindsight. It makes the whole episode look like a sop to win a few floating votes to help secure another term and/or simply lip-service to waste even more time.

Dornan threw up the block after feigning offence at a dig Gordon made on the back of an accusation that Dornan was aware of abuse at the time that his son attended CBC. Dornan had confirmed he was aware of rumours about CBC so the dig isn’t that unjustified.

This seems thin-skinned in the extreme, especially considering the nature of the scandal he was professing to support. A convenient out, if you will. I guess the actions that follow will show what Dornan’s real intentions were. The hope is that he’ll continue to push vociferously for justice. I really hope he’ll prove me wrong and deliver that public inquiry. I just cant see it happening though.

We have seen this type of thing a hundred times before. All manner of dirty tricks and stalling tactics have been played to protect Celtic FC. Journalists have sporadically stood up and ran with the story (parts of the story) only to never mention it again. Politicians have spoke out questioning progress, then silence. The media has interviewed the victims for comment and the content is never aired. Celtic FC has claimed they’re carrying out internal investigations but they never find anything, they don’t even bother talking to the victims and no-one asks about it. Individuals are hand-picked to run investigations for the SFA, take a prolonged period of time, omit many facts and testimonies and serve up what amounts to a whitewash. These aren’t accidents. None of this is normal. Public discussion and comment falls short, every single time.

The question mark over the likes of Dornan is whether he has followed the cause or whether the cause chose him. Some background – Dornan is a Celtic fan, not a problem in itself. He has a history of attending events of an Irish Republican nature, which many would describe as extremist. He has a history of being very selective when calling out sectarianism in the West of Scotland – Selectarianism. And much of his recent activity seems revolve around crowbarring the terms anti-Irish and anti-Catholic into any situation, whether merited or not. We are very much seeing a picture of a tribal foot-soldier. Someone whose arbitrary identities mean more to him than the greater good. His malicious targeting of innocent Rangers players over a faked video showed that for him the end justifies any means. His slanderous accusations against Lothian buses (seemingly part of some detached political game) showed a level of ham-fisted, blundering thoughtlessness.

His actions are those of a man that has been tasked with creating a storm around anti-Irish and anti-Catholic rhetoric but without him possessing the nous to carry it through. How others would use this storm will surely become apparent soon enough. This is what I referred to by asking if the cause chose him?

Another trait of the Celtic FC cover-up has been people in the right places to identify and quash any threat to Celtic FC before it develops, or equally effective, to just do nothing when they should do something. It seems likely that Jack McGinn’s unwritten remit at the SFA was to do just that. No doubt others have since maintained watch on that front, how else can the lack of comment or action possibly be explained? It’s highly likely that key positions and decisions in the Scottish media follow the same credo. A kind of tactical fouling, with just enough been done from different positions without it becoming too obvious.. Politicians, of course, serve these same masters. This latent menace would explain why Celtic FC have not received one single punishment in what is a scandal of global proportions.

And as this network of destroyers have played their part in protecting Celtic FC, so it follows that that they have used their positions and power to go on the offensive for their cause. I have no doubt that much of political scaffolding that today supports the likes of Dornan was put together in a scramble to cover the crimes of those at Celtic FC (and elsewhere) and help mitigate any backlash.

This is both a strength and weakness. There exists an unscrupulous, autonomous network which spans multiple sectors. But the whole thing is built on sand. It is underpinned by the unforgivable offence of perverting the course of justice, of choosing to protect bad men and a football club over the rights of the hundreds of children that were wronged.

In my opinion, this is the weak point which any opposition should look to exploit. A strategically and targeted press at the right places and ask the right questions to insist on a full public enquiry. Whoever breaks cover to stop you has only done so for a few possible reasons. Shining a light on them may be enough to make them think twice about throwing away a reputation or career for an enabling football club. The force of righteousness should be enough to move them aside and continue towards a full public enquiry and the truth beneath.

Today in 2021, a large number of men like Gordon Woods are struggling to get above the first few steps in their pursuit of justice. It should suit many to stand beside them and help them. Why? Because politically it should suit to clip the wings of people like James Dornan or Humza Yousaf, because the SNPs state-media pets can be shamed and exposed, but more so, and because it’s the right thing to do.

Please write to your MSPs about this. Please ask them to help. Together they could make a real difference if they stick together and work towards a public enquiry.

Unfinished Business

Sometime back in 2011 and David Murray sits at a boardroom table. There’s a sinking feeling as the weight of the world presses on his shoulders and his ribs rattle and chill from the draft created by his recently vacated soul. A heavy fatigue is visible around his face and presumably sleep has evaded him as his mind struggled to solve the equations that he could once figure out with ease. The world of finance had taken a turn and it has duly turned his world upside down. His business empire is in trouble, all of it. But most importantly, so is the institution that is Rangers. The football club that he once dared declare he was worthy and capable of owning and protecting. He took some bad advice. He was errant and absent. He doubled down on gamble after reckless gamble. He put the house on it in time for that eternally spinning wheel to stop turning for him. And, as is always the case, so follows that moment of empty, crushing isolation when you realise you’ve lost big. It’s never worth the highs. And it’s brought him here to this moment. Tired, shamed, pitiful. Hunched in his trademark blue shirt, limply holding his best pen. Sitting at somebody else’s table as his vulturous business associates prepare to wet their beaks.

It won’t be a negotiation, he knows that, but maybe he’ll escape with something to hold on to. A life after Rangers, that’ll be his crumb. A buyer is brought forward, Craig Whyte. And with this shabby, repellent grifter is sold a hope – a story to peddle to placate the support. Whyte will take the club and he has a scheme to side-step both the club’s debt and the foreboding HMRC. It’s believable enough that when there is absolutely nothing else there then hope makes it believable. A trick of confidence.

At that time, I wanted to believe this too. A strange mix of celebration and gnawing dread as title 54 was delivered. Whyte got time and space from the support because people wanted to believe that it was possible. The paper talk was of pre-pack admins and loopholes which would see the club slip through the jaws of the closing trap unscathed and maybe even in better shape than before. It’s an easy sell. More fool us.

That’s the story from one side, the outside. The other side would have a different feel. Whyte was a small-time, scruffy piece of shit. Whyte never got to that table on his own. Whyte couldn’t have reached that agreement with Ticketus or even LloydsTSB on his own. Whyte didn’t sanitise his past himself. Whyte was never going anywhere but administration. Whyte stopped paying PAYE as soon as he could and the HMRC gave him unheard levels of grace over it – this sum would later allow HMRC the final word on any CVA. Whyte got his Valentine’s day 2012 administration alongside with some undesirables going under the Duff and Phelps banner, which would proceed on to liquidation and a pre-determined sale to Charles Green. It felt staged and iffy at the time and it looks even more so now.

So why am I dredging this up now? The spark for this article was some of contentious contributions in a podcast by The Athletic – The Fall and Rise of Rangers. Someone saw fit to leave in a few un-Rangers digs in the podcast. It’s a sad fact that the much of the story still builds around the narrative and machinations of the Rangers Tax Case and many aspects have been discoloured by the poison that seeped from that source. As a further timely reminder Chris McLaughlin and BBC Scotland thought it appropriate to interview Craig Whyte instead of seeking to repair the bridges he’d burnt down with title-winning Rangers.

This isn’t about pretending nothing happened or whitewashing history; it’s about asking what actually happen and presenting that as part of the whole story. This is something that had a huge bearing on Rangers for the best part of a decade and The Athletics’ podcast served as a reminder that there are massive omissions and inconsistencies in the story. These are huge question marks just floating around and no-one seems to want to see them resolved.

The podcast mentioned that Rangers were alone and isolated through all of this – true. That the club weren’t well liked outside our support – not untrue, although not really relevant. And yet somehow there’s the lazy inference that this justifies any subsequent actions that were then set upon the club?

Leaving the predictable sevco/strip the titles rubbish to one side for now, a comment by respected football finance commentator Kieran Price really stood out, “nothing is as it seems when it comes to Scotland, and money, and football, it does seem that HMRC certainly went for Rangers” (Approx. 8mins into Part 1). This is from a neutral and respected voice on the game, who is based in England. This is a massive statement, that Rangers were unfairly treated or treated differently from other clubs.

I’ve wrote about elements of this several times before. For example, at some point in 2019 the HMRC took the unusual stance of sticking their head above the parapet and going on the offensive against Rangers. It felt like bluster and deflection at the time and probably was.

Fundamental to the whole story, we know that there was a collective of minds scheming and planning against Rangers for a long time. The Rangers Tax Case blog. These guys clearly had a good understating of tax, business and the media. This is where the questions should begin. When did they get together, how much did they plan and how much actually succeeded? History suggests that it was very successful and most aims were achieved. And as part of this grand scheme, actions from certain quarters had to be induced or managed to allow the eventual chain of events around Rangers to unfold. For any Rangers fan, there’s been no real closure on this. Barely an acknowledgement that it happened, it did, never mind discussing how it was allowed to happen?

Where did RTC get all of their information? A leak at an HMRC department? That sounds like something that the HMRC would want to be seen to publicly stamp down on or apologise for. Its occurrence validates the suggestion that information and influence flowed in both directions between RTC and HMRC. In all likelihood, an amenable inside man, perhaps contributor to RTC, acted upon their interpretation of the information. Including choosing to not act upon Whyte’s PAYE hiatus?

The infamous EBT side-letters. Leaked to RTC – by lawyers, admin, someone within Rangers, hacked? Back even further, would RTC have had contact with Murrays advisor – Baxendale-Walker? It would certainly suit the RTC cause if Murray was daft enough to take the bad medicine and continue to hoist his own petard. Another layer to the conspiracy? Regardless, the RTC had their information, they built their plan but that’s still a long way from what then followed.

So along with their case for the prosecution came the running commentary. The script to accompany the show trial. And it was all served up on a silver platter for the media, very convenient. A tasty story with the outcomes all prepared for them, with guilt and punishment thrown in as seasoning. Similar to HMRC it makes sense that several of RTC are in the media, probably still active in affairs concerning Rangers.

This narrative coupled to the movements now stirring within HMRC, the script prepared by RTC and the media provided the wave for events to surge forward on. It likely that this swell was used in many ways – it influenced, was used to influence, or was used as an excuse for the actions of others. As planned, a synthetic hysteria ensued. Let me give you demonstrate the power of this by offering a contrast. The media’s refusal to discuss or demand action on the celtic abuse scandal. Barely a ripple makes it across the water and no-one in authority is under any pressure to act on anything. And yet there they were, our noble press, tripping over themselves to take free hits at Rangers.

How much influencing or pressure was required on the key components is up for debate. The SFA, for instance, we know that in 2010 Celtic were heavy agitating to get their lawyers into Hampden. It’s impossible to know if the media pressure was a catalyst or cover for the SFAs later actions involving Rangers, but it is inconceivable that the RTCs tentacles didn’t reach into the SFA/SPL in some form.

My views have chopped and changed on many aspects of this over the years. I have no doubt that someone like John Reid was strongly involved in looking after Celtics interests in all of this – it may have even been the chief reason that he went to Celtic at that time. He was arguably the most powerful man in Scotland for a while – his resume would back this up. This is a man that would lead major nations into unlawful wars and see many tens of thousands slaughtered, I doubt that hurting the feelings of Rangers fans would prick his conscience. In fact, it would probably help him sleep at night.

My initial theories were too simplistic – Reid arrived, he’d then go to work and move the pieces into place to execute the plan. And yet, any time I’ve asked about this to people in the media I’ve been told this wasn’t really the perception. This confused me until realising that a simpler explanation exists – the pieces are already in place, and largely working autonomously, he (or others) just have to find the right pieces to use and leave them to it – providing assistance and support as required and occasionally synchronising watches. And for Reid this makes any external direction all the more subtle and simpler. A quirk of tribalism is that the same forces which would willingly leak legal documents to harm a rival club are the same forces that close ranks to cover any trace of the crimes. A tribal diode of morality, if you will.

Let me tell you something about the West of Scotland. Prejudices exist and are well-engrained in many – if you can’t see this or won’t concede this then you are either deluded or have been lied to. Our society has been set-up to indoctrinate specific differences and at some point, under certain stress or triggers, these will activate and push people into their prescribed pigeonholes – because that’s how it’s been designed. This property of the societal substrate allowed the RTC plan to not just exist but thrive. Celtic fans will tell you they deplore sectarianism and discrimination, what they really mean is they deplore it against them.

Much of the plan involved media conditioning. Paint something as bad and it’s easier to denounce and hate. Paint an action as a crime and it’s easier to rally retaliation or punishment. Paint the situation as an injustice against others and that’s all the fuel that’s needed for retribution to be sparked into action. This a key component and success of RTC plan and the media bought right into it.

And still in 2021 a football magazine like The Athletic seems content to peddle the line that Rangers not being universally liked was a valid excuse for much that followed. It completely ignores the source and agenda of the accusations. It ignores the questions around HMRC, in protocol and procedures, in the media (where basic professionalism took a sabbatical) and onto major failings in Scottish footballs governing bodies. Letting rival fans decide the fate of a member club? Lads, please!

What I’ve mentioned here barely scratches the surface. I notice there’s more stories in the press today concerning the creditors BDO (07/06/2021). About things being sold off cheap and things not sold that should’ve been. There’s been malicious prosecutions and public money wasted from various sources. Also today there was an apology from Sturgeons bitch James Wolffe QC to the pondlife that is Green and Ahmad. I wont pretend to understand what’s happening there but the outcome could be another tranche of public money going to undeserving people. Shit still rumbles through the courts with Mike Ashley. It never ends.

I’d like to hear each component broken down and explained objectively. The options and decisions available at various junctures. The moves that turned into a benefit, as well as the many negatives. The choices, the pressures, what had to happen and what was made to happen. Because I know that this wouldn’t have happened to any club apart from Rangers and that’s too big a story to overlook.

The Political Football – An Opinion of a Rangers Fan

‘I don’t let the club I support dictate who I vote for’.

Totally correct, a nice thought and in an ideal world it would be a universal truth.

Here’s some more opinions:

  • A regular independence referendum, for any nation, should be a healthy thing. The Union by its very nature is a benefit to all parties involved, but should one party be neglected or misused then the option to leave should always exist.
  • The same applies to the EU.
  • The presence of such a vote should keep up standards and keep everyone honest.
  • Any referendum cannot be too regular or there’d be a constant state of destabilisation and chaos.
  • For me, it cannot be a simple 50/50 vote either, that’s too indecisive for such a weighty question. A two-thirds majority carries with it an indisputability that even the most grudging adherent has to yield to.

Had the SNP worked with a proficiency and quality that was undeniable then it would make their argument stronger – irresistible even – to anyone basing their vote on what’s truly best for the nation.

But I do not see that at all with the current SNP. I see a party that needs a serious wake-up call to up their game. SNP2021 is a party that’s played every dirty, divisive trick in the book and deliberately trod over many Scots to get what they want. I’d be expecting people who truly want the best for Scotland to hold a similar view and be worried by what they see.

But then I would never vote for the SNP and this goes back to the opening comment. I don’t let my football club dictate who I vote for, however, I absolutely do consider a party’s treatment of my football club in my decision.

Scotland 2021 is far from an ideal world. On many levels it’s no different from 100 years ago, or even 100 years before that – everything has the under-current of tribalism. Some people may refute that but I can only conclude that they’re choosing not to see it.

Football is meant to be a release from politics and real-life, any yet politics has too readily wandered into the realm of football. Rangers has been used as a political football for the past two decades. An easy dog to beat that can’t always bite back.

Politically, I first became aware of this with the sectarianism debate. The narrative was that Rangers were bad, had a problem and were fair game. Like any good lie, it will work best wrapped around a truth. Scotland has a sectarianism problem, it’s a divided country, in many, many ways. It’s not wrong to say that Rangers are part of that and that any solution could be provided by involving Rangers. It is wrong to think that attacking Rangers alone would fix anything. The big push and clamour primarily came from, you’ve guessed it, the other side of the divide.

Now here’s the clever part of targeting a football club. All fans are normal people, most will agree that sectarianism is bad and that ending it is a good thing. They’ll recognise that it happens within the support but probably not consider themselves to be part of the equation. And so they’ll go along with (or at least submit to) the push.

After a period of time, you realise that it was all a bit of a tribal ruse to attack the club and deplatform the support from this and other debates. How can I say this with any certainty? Most of the major players, in the press and in Holyrood, have since shown their hand and loyalties. There were no good intentions, just political and footballing mileage from attacking a rival.

Politically, Rangers were hung out to dry in 2011. This coldness and isolation was undoubtedly built on the decade of sectarian oxidising performed by the detractors. But it was more than a passive disinterest by many in Holyrood, this was a political play. Nicola Sturgeon has represented the Glasgow Southside constituency since its creation in 2011 election. She was previously an MSP Glasgow Govan between 2007 and 2011. Rangers are a big employer in that area and are without question the most renowned and famous symbol for that region (and indeed in Scotland). Why would you overlook that and not help out? There were not even a few choice words to placate a genuinely worried support.

Rangers fans had collectively switched off the connection between football and politics, but had also neglected the politics aspect in its own right. Others hadn’t.

Of course, prior to this Labour had hardly been Rangers friendly and certain MSPs were trying their best to out-celtic each other. There’s a certain level of immaturity and insensitivity required to wear a celtic top around Holyrood whilst representing people of all backgrounds.

Amidst Rangers dark days it was Indy 2014 that was now on the horizon, and so too was the Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014. Rangers being dumped out of the way and neutered would certainly not hinder the Indy drive. Whereas CW2014 had somehow turned into a competition to win to ‘the Catholic vote’. Labour and SNP MSPs threw everything at Celtic FC through the medium of the CW2014. An extensive upgrade to the stadium and surroundings, top-billing and more-free PR than even their Chief Exec could imagine possible. Many Celtic fans were impressed and duly rewarded the SNP with their backing – so it was decided that Scottish Nationalism would join Irish Republicanism as their hobbies.

From memory, the SNP had grew 10% or so over this period of Rangers-bashing / Celtic-courting. As a Rangers fan I have to admit I found this type of independence uncomfortable. I am also at a loss as to how any Independence-supporting Rangers fan could look past this? Amongst a seemingly inexhaustible list:

  • We’ve seen our club regularly dragged over the coals in Holyrood.
  • We’ve seen countless SNP MSPs take pot-shots at Rangers from twitter and other social media.
  • We’ve seen the First Minister stand up and salute Neil Lennon’s dignity (sic).
  • We’ve seen silence in Holyrood as the Hibs cup final celebrations took a dangerous turn.
  • We’ve never seen the sectarianism directed against Rangers supporters or other clubs raised as a concern.
  • We’ve seen the Justice Secretary and others completely ignore the victims of CSA in Scotland, based on club and party allegiance.
  • We’ve had that Justice Secretary take to twitter to brand anyone in a Rangers top as right-wing.
  • We’ve recently seen distinguished lawyer and SNP party member Aamer Anwar follow up his work in support of Glen Kamara by knowingly and incorrectly tweeting that the tragic murder of a man in Glasgow was a Rangers vs Celtic thing.

I may not vote based on my football team but I can’t overlook parties playing politics with my football team. It is part of my identity and an important part of my life. It’s not something to attack for cheap votes or to feed the MSPs own prejudices and bigotry. Rangers will continue to exist and flourish in the Union as they would in an Independent Scotland.

I want the best for Scotland. I don’t want brazen bigots polluting Holyrood and dragging every subject to the gutter, syphoning funds to themselves and their friends, whilst using Rangers as a diversion.

There’s also the uncomfortable principle that any independent country should largely be of one mind, going in the same direction, all focused on a shared and common goal. We are one million miles away from that. Scotland needs to be honest about its history, its tribalism, its politics and its mistakes. Until that day I could never in good conscience as a Rangers fan vote for this SNP or support an SNP led independence any time soon.

The Rest of the Iceberg – The New Jersey Incident

To my knowledge, Celtic FCs separate entity defence first made an appearance at some point before 2010. The football club were certainly becoming hyper-political and legally-assertive in the preceding years. Also, around this time the Catholic Church was still deep in the midst of revelations and scandals about its seemingly bottomless pit of national and global abuse shame. Their sporting progeny Celtic FC are nothing if not astute when it comes to protecting their own interests and, knowing the scale of their own abuse shame more than anyone, it was to be expected that they’d pursue measures to put distance between events and any consequences. Later, in 2018, perhaps on-the-surface a minor or trivial thing but the epitome of this distancing would be having the Celtic Boys Club renamed.

Let’s start with some obvious conclusions. The reason for the separate entity stance is to protect Celtic FC to the maximum degree possible. Simple as that. And in its own way, to even pursue this path is an admission that some very bad stuff has occurred at the Celtic Boys Clubs and that it could be/should be very damaging – otherwise why bother?

We’re now starting to see and hear more about the real levels of abuse that occurred across Celtic’s Boys Club network thanks to many of the survivors standing up and calling out the parent club. And not just in Glasgow.

For example, Neil Strachan at Celtic Boys Club East. Strachan had already been convicted for indecency in 1985 before being allowed to join the Celtic Boys Club family. In 1997 he received a three-year prison sentence for abusing a child. In 2007 he was convicted for nine offences and received a minimum 9-year jail sentence for his part in one of Scotland’s worst paedophile rings.

We’ve seen the court-cases and convictions of predators chalk up gradually through the years. And thanks to the commentary and insight from the survivors we can now also see the lengths to which the Celtic community has gone to cover this up. This includes people of influence in the press (where there’s a distorted vacuum of discussion and exposure to a story of this scale), at the governing bodies (where they sit on their hands and hope this goes away) and, of course Holyrood (Scotland’s parliament). Justice Secretary and Celtic fan Humza Yousaf wants nothing to do with it or the survivors, presumably because he knows how damaging it should be to Celtic and neither he nor his backers want that. We know that Nicola Sturgeon has rejected calls for the Scottish inquiry into historical child sexual abuse to be widened to include football clubs and religious institutions. We’ll never know what goes on in political horse-trading behind closed doors but can only surmise when these horses are later turned out in public.

And very importantly, the recent SFA report on historical abuse stopped short on many fronts, and alongside a questionable author and troubling selectivity, it was also notably quiet on incidents outwith Scotland.

An excerpt from the SFA report states  “there are a small number of individuals who spoke to the Review about alleged abusive experiences that occurred outside of Scottish football (either in relation to football in England or in relation to another non-football institution or organisation) and these fall outside of the Terms of Reference for the purposes of the Review”

More selectivity and a another important point – the abuse doesn’t stop at arbitrary boundaries. A holiday for a predator doesn’t mean they take a break from being a predator. In fact, if away trips are part of the abusers modus operandi then it’s very likely that abuse will occur on away trips – be it, in Scotland, in England or in the United States.

Kearny, New Jersey

In the 80s the Celtic Boys Club visit to the US had become an annual tradition, and this has been clearly catalogued and illustrated over the years in the Celtic View. And from Celtic FCs own official newspaper we know the yearly trips were organised to Kearny (a district in New Jersey) for up to 20 years. We know that trips would include up to 20 youth players of typically u16 level and would last for 2-3 weeks in the summer months. We know that Kearny would be the base with tournaments and games arranged against other youth clubs from Philadelphia and Boston. We know that players would be hosted at the houses of the Kearny team and staff. Trips would be paid for with fundraising on both sides of the Atlantic, although thanks is also given to Jim Torbett and the Celtic directors, presumably for cash contributions and support. We know that some future first-team players attended the trips (Paul McStay), Celtic directors would visit (Kevin Kelly), as would ex-players (Jimmy Johnstone). All good and wholesome so far.

We know that the Boys Club Coach (who cannot be named at the moment) was heavily involved in most, if not all, of these trips. Indeed, in 1990 the Boys Club Coach was awarded Honorary Life Members of the Philadelphia Old Timers Soccer Association. A number of the hosts and supporters’ clubs involved in the trips and tournaments were Glasgow ex-pats. Also present on various trips were some other notorious names like Jim Torbett, Gerry King and Jim McCafferty. These guys were neither strangers to each other nor unaware of the other’s secrets. To paraphrase Keith Jackson of the Daily Record “the sexual abuse taking place for many years inside Celtic Boys’ Club was systemic and perpetrated by an established, organised ring of paedophiles. This was not a case of bad luck, it was a network of unconscionably bad men preying upon children almost in plain sight.”

As a collective they had been an efficient, evasive, industry of abuse and they were able to abuse relatively undetected over decades. That should probably read undisturbed more than undetected, as there were plenty of victims, witnesses, and rumours, but the cloak of Celtic and the connected community allowed them the shelter to continue.

I cannot list previous crimes due to ongoing legal proceedings in the UK; however, it is known the Celtic paedophile ring has been convicted on a minimum of 28 counts (from many more charges), resulting in a minimum combined sentences of 19 years in jail between the dates of 1965 – 1996.

Those court-proven charges against each of these men show a clear, consistent pattern of behaviour over a period of time. It’s worth considering a reality of this, this will almost certainly not be an exhaustive list of their crimes, far from it. It’s not easy for survivors to come forward – many are confused or ashamed over what’s occurred and try to deny or forget. Many don’t want to relive any incidents through the discomfort of investigations and court. Many will see it as futile to report the abuse – they may have seen the club deal with similar incidents in-house and then nothing happen e.g. police not notified, offender not punished and possibly even the youth themselves cut loose from the club. We can tell from Celtic FCs numerous internal investigations over the years that they didn’t investigate particularly hard and more likely these were exercises in identifying any threat, isolating it and protecting the club from it. Club pressure, court pressure, community pressure, a sense of futility, any number of factors and the default is to keep quiet. And so the majority would.

The question is what number of crimes actually occurred and were never reported, let alone secured a conviction? How many were reported to the club and buried? Are these cases only the tip of the iceberg? Testimonies and allegations from other survivors would suggest so.

The Kearny Incident

Kearny was the location of an alleged attack in 1991 by the Boys Club Coach and a newspaper article from 1996 states that:

“Ex-Celtic chairman Jack McGinn has admitted he was told the Boys Club Coach had abused a teenager on the tour. It prompted McGinn to call a meeting at Parkhead where he accepted the Boys Club Coach’s resignation. He said he urged Boys’ Club officials to alert police but they did not, allowing the Boys Club Coach to walk free.”

The incident occurred in the basement of a house in Kearny where some of the players were being hosted. As the article states, this was never formally reported or investigated by police in Scotland or in the US. The reason provided was that the children could’ve been taken into care should formal charges be made. It is understood that an investigation was opened in 2019 by the Kearny PD and Hudson Country Prosecutors Office. The current status of this investigation is unknown.

It is quoted that Celtic’s lawyers were involved and took statements from the involved parties at the time, it is also quoted that an outcome of the meeting was for all parties to keep silent.

It is known that the Boys Club Coach was very influential at Celtic FC and highly regarded by key board members, as many of the gang were. It is suggested that he even had he was heavily involved in the process of appointing a first-team manager in the mid-90s and was allowed to return and conduct tours after his dismissal in 1991.

Given the characters present, the setting and the period of time involved it’s doubtful that Kearny 1991 was an isolated incident throughout the 13 years of visits. It is also known that members of the Celtic paedophile ring would take boys on personal holidays to Florida and other locations.

Many parallels have been drawn between this and the Penn State scandal; indeed, many aspects of the Celtic scandal dwarves what happened at Penn State. The numbers of predators involved, the network, the outsiders, the planning, the intricacy, the span of time, the number of victims and number of incidents of abuse. But perhaps the biggest difference has been the scale of the cover up. The number of people that must’ve known and chose to put the club first – not in a passive, looking-the-other-way manner but by pro-actively hiding, burying and deflecting.

The Penn State assisted football coach Jerry Sandusky was convicted on 45 counts of child sexual abuse in 2012 and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Three Penn State officials were charged with perjury, obstruction of justice, failure to report suspected child abuse, and related charges. The NCAA imposed a $60 million fine, a four-year post-season ban, scholarship reductions, and a vacation of all victories from 1998 to 2011.

Justice was served on Sandusky and Penn State through a strong police force, a strong media and a strong governing body. Compare and contrast to the Celtic FC scandal. A degree of justice has been served through the courts to the individuals, many decades later. But that’s where it ends. There has been zero punishment or consequences for the club or it’s officials. The fact that the Celtic Commercial Director/Chairman over the period of the Kearny visits, Jack McGinn, ends up as the President of the Scottish footballs governing body (the SFA) and they then do nothing should be no surprise. Celtics direct influence at the SFA since McGinn’s retirement has been almost unbroken, and unsurprisingly, their reign of inaction is also unbroken. And in our increasingly corrupt little corner of Europe that is Scotland we have a press unwillingly or unable to hold either to account.

Is the difference that simple? That Celtic has more powerful friends and more zealous guardians than Penn State? In this example, where children have been abused and let-down, no-one should consider that to be a compliment.

Support a full public enquiry into the Celtic scandal and cover-up, in the UK and elsewhere.

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Somebody Else’s Problem – Comment on the SFA Independent Review

It’s not often I’ll quote or reference Keith Jackson but I will here. And, surprisingly, it’s not that anything he wrote was actually wrong. However, the way his article was presented represents everything that is wrong with this subject and how it has been handled in Scotland.

When the SFA finally released its long-delayed ‘independent’ report it was to be both welcomed and met with apprehension at the same time. Welcomed because measurable progress is long overdue – many people have been hurt and let down badly and every day of waiting is another day too long. It should be a fairly straight forward process – there’s right and wrong, what’s proven and where things have gone wrong. It should be black and white in that regard. The apprehension aspect is because it’s just not possible to trust the SFA and those involved at this moment.

Those with most to lose/most to hide (i.e. Celtic FC and the SFA themselves) have been actively covering and deflecting from this subject for decades. They have agents in government, the press and football who have been happy to keep this subject off the menu or carefully ushered it off stage when it appears . That it is now being covered suggests that they are comfortable with what is being released. There are questions marks over both author and the process. There are question marks over whether others have had access to the report and had an influence in what stays in there and how it’s been presented. I have included a list of omission or oddities about the final report in the Appendix at the end of this article.

Back to Jacksons article as an example.

“And the truth of the matter is that for many years, Rangers believed it to be someone else’s problem. Or, to be more precise, Celtic’s problem. This too was understandable.”

Again, nothing wrong per se. Rangers have their problems. Celtic have theirs. They are neither comparable, equivalent nor glibly inter-changeable. They must be dealt with in their own rights. Which begs the question of how on earth can the following statement be allowed to rest so easily at the bottom of what appears to be a Rangers-related article?

“Where Neely can be regarded a rogue operator, the sexual abuse taking place for many years inside Celtic Boys’ Club was systemic and perpetrated by an established, organised ring of paedophiles. This was not a case of bad luck, it was a network of unconscionably bad men preying upon children almost in plain sight.”

This is an amazingly massive paragraph on many levels. This pretty much confirms the conventional wisdom that Celtic had been corrupted and was allowing predators to set-up and operate its boys’ clubs branches with the blessing of the club and its associates. Which then resulted in the abuse of approximately 100 youths. And yet there it is, Jacksons moment of clarity, buried within a Rangers-headed article. This isn’t an oversight or accident. The SFA report is also phrased and constructed to lean in this direction. All sense of scale and quantity has been stripped from the detail. Notorious predators shed of their identity and infamy and reduced to a letter. Emphasis has been placed on selected incidents and the easy conclusion to any reader (not up to speed on Scottish football) would be that this is a true and trusted reflection of events, but it’s a mirage and a delusion.

For those not up to speed, I have provided a catalogue of questions in the Appendix at the bottom of the page, whilst below is an eloquent résumé by Mark Dingwall of the Follow Follow website on what the SFA report has casually omitted.

“I can’t but help mention the elephant in the room – Celtic Boys Club. Whilst predators were at work in other clubs no club provided a 35+ year canon of evidence, trials and convictions. It was a club which saw an organised ring operate over many years with multiple deviants and which crucially embedded itself with the business structures of the club in a way which saw one of the preparators enrich himself with £250,000 a year contracts and ultimately saw two members of the Celtic FC board join company board. It is a scandal without parallel in Scotland”

Still, many in the media took the opportunity to follow the narrative laid out in the SFA report. Notably, Chris McLaughlin at the BBC led with his own interpretation stating that.

“Senior clubs including Rangers, Hibernian, Motherwell and Partick Thistle were all named in the testimonies. Celtic Boys Club also featured in often distressing personal accounts of sexual abuse.”

It will come as no surprise that the Celtic-cheerleader chose to colour his picture in this way. BBC Scotland has been Celtic-friendly (or allowed it’s staff to be Celtic-friendly, same thing) on this subject for a long time. The BBC are not an entity shy of dwelling on subjects when it fits their politics; however, for some reason they seem incapable of covering Celtics problems in a professional manner. As merely one example of this long running practise, it is known that Gordon Woods gave an interview to John Beattie for BBC Scotland and that this interview was never broadcast.  

Post-SFA report, Gordon Woods also gave an interview with STV and his assertation that the SFA report “does not give me any confidence that the issues have been addressed in the way victims would expect & deserve” was cut from the broadcast.

Again, why not just deal with all facts openly and honestly? Why not report that survivors of abuse are asking questions of the author and report?

Public Enquiry

It seems topical to reference the on-going Salmond/Sturgeon enquiry at this time. People, institutions and systems can all be corrupted. We can see that power has been abused in the Scottish government and that party or tribal loyalties can over-take professional duties. If this can happen at the top levels of devolved government, then it can most certainly happen at BBC Scotland or the SFA (where it did happen at the SPFL in April 2020). If the press won’t hold others to account, how can they be expected to hold themselves to account? This is the circle of corruption. Worse still, the BBC has previous for abuse and cover-ups with Saville so you’d think it would be hyper-sensitive to it.

Elsewhere in the media, take Clyde FM as an example, where we can have a senior broadcaster (long-term reporter on Celtic affairs and club zealot) simply refusing to discuss a scandal without parallel? Quite a position for any journalist to hold and all very convenient for his football team. But unfortunately this is a position repeated across Scotland. And despite what detractors say, this is against the wishes of the survivors, who need the oxygen of publicity for their cause.

One reporter who has done more that others is Alex Thomson of Ch4 news. He has backed the survivors and called out Celtic on a lot of this, when many of his Scottish peers have chosen the easy route and avoided it all together. However, he has stopped short of joining the dots and questioning the glaring omissions in the SFA report, and the reasons for those omissions.

Please listen to Adrian Goldberg’s latest interview with Michelle Gray. This is exceptional stuff and had it not been for the bravery, determination and dignity of the Michelle and Helen Gray, or Gordon Woods, or Bill Storrie and others, then we wouldn’t hear about any of this. The SFAs behaviour has been pretty abhorrent throughout the whole thing. Conflict of interest would be an understatement and as it is too an explanation. I noticed that the former SFA chief Stewart Regan had not commented on the SFA report on his twitter account. For something so seismic and important, something that should represent such a positive step, this seemed very strange – that is unless the report isn’t anything to be particularly proud of?

Of course, the SFA report not only failed to cover or represent all survivors’ testimonies it actually managed to twist many facts too. The Gray’s found themselves to be the target for untrue and malicious content within in the SFA report. Again, this seems inexplicable – unless you consider the possibility that the SFA and its agents see any outspoken survivor as an inconvenience or a danger. In my opinion, this was a barbed and personal response from the report’s author to the Gray’s for being too outspoken. A warning to others to keep quiet and do not disturb things?

No Response from Rangers

One thing Alex Thomson has pressed on, as others have, is the apology angle. The SFA report actually praises Celtic for expressing sympathy, regret and sorrow despite the club still publicly peddling its separate entity angle and expressing sorrow isn’t actually apologising (of course, praise in view of the magnitude of their failings is more than a little inappropriate). Indeed, there has been a clamour in the media to have everyone involved show suitable contrition. A statement recognising the report has not yet been provided by Rangers and this lack of comment had created a vacuum which has been dutifully filled by the press. Somehow, despite the known gravity of events elsewhere, sections of the Scottish press has managed to work Rangers around to be the biggest villain of the piece.

There’s various angles on Rangers non-response. Perhaps Rangers didn’t want to give credence to a compromised report? Perhaps they saw something hidden in the report which would take time to digest or investigate?

There’s also the inescapable truth that if the report covered all incidents equally to the detail it covered those at Rangers then it would run to over 2000 pages long. This is something that will resonant with Rangers fans and I dont mind admitting that I am bitter and jaded with the press coverage in this country. There should be no hiding place for anyone on this subject, but they’ve have consistently ran interference for celtic on this (on real crimes), but not once was the decried burdens of sectarianism or tax avoidance ever shared or mitigated. Without wishing to disrespect any incident, the SFAs and medias behaviour around this report has been akin to leading a story on EBTs with a Celtic crest and details of Juninho’s EBT. And publications like The Athletic should know better than taking something so enormous and blithely hiding it under a Rangers crest. By all means give each club their own article, their own shaming but do not hide Celtic’s scandal behind other clubs.

Rangers have their own questions to answer. Perhaps they feel these have been adequately dealt with in previous comments and statements? In which case they should reiterate them. My personal opinion is that Rangers should’ve been years ahead of this report. All investigations should’ve been completed and any debts, reparations, apologies sorted out well in advance of this report landing. None of this could’ve been unexpected. We knew the report was on its way and we knew how the SFA through Martin Henry would play it.

If we’re talking about politics and point-scoring then the SFA report more than indulges itself in those. In my opinion, its main purpose is to bury Celtics dirty washing amongst those of others. Calculating and deliberate. From that point of view, I can see why the SFA report should not dictate when Rangers should deal with their problems. Rangers have to make amends with the survivors in a way that attempts to repair any damage to the maximum extent. They should do the right thing – to an extent that satisfies survivors. And if that happens to test the integrity of the SFA report, or the integrity of others that have been hiding or think that a half-hearted apology ends the matter, then so be it. Rangers should’ve done this years ago.

One more thought

There’s a quirk that runs through all of this. For years our MSPs, our reporters, phone-ins/talk-shows have hidden behind the unreleased SFA report as a reason not to talk about it. For as long as I can remember we have been told that we cannot discuss abuse at Celtic because there are court cases on-going. Even now court cases are still active involving Celtic employees. And still in the last year and month documentaries and interviews have been pulled using this ‘excuse’ – how convenient that the ones with the most to hide can even use the acts themselves to hide behind? Pathetic.

A full public enquiry, more than ever, is the only option possible to expose this fully and get answers to this whole sorry affair.

Appendix

Below are a few comments from the Spotlight team on the final SFA report and many of its puzzling aspects. Please read and digest these and then question why would the report would ignore or omit these items and who would benefit from that?

  1. They said that they couldn’t produce the report time and time again due to on going cases, yet they release the report a matter of weeks before the trial of one of the main perpetrators meaning that all mention of him had to be removed.
  2. There was a huge attempt to balance the blame across Scottish football. We find it strange that they put so much focus on what is still allegations of abuse at other clubs but fail to mention so much solid convictions where we know what happened?
  3. Why are so many perpetrators at Celtic missed out of the report?
  4. Jim McCafferty is mentioned in the report but only for his abuse of players outwith Celtic when he has already been convicted of abuse at Celtic/Celtic Boys Club – Why?
  5. The standard of the investigation is very poor and could have been done over a week or two by reading news papers with no real groundwork – Spotlight has managed to uncover so much more with so less resources.
  6.  Why was martin Henry allowed to lead this review given his links to the worst paedophile ring in Scottish legal history? His business partner was James Rennie and one of the paedophiles in that ring was a Celtic Boys Club coach, Secretary and registered SFA referee Neil Strachan
  7. Given that former SFA President Jack McGinn oversaw the 1986 investigation into abuse at Celtic Boys Club, that saw the perpetrators cleared to continue to abuse and also worked with the perpetrator (Jim Torbett) at the time – why would this not be included in the report with the failings and the consequences?
  8. Malcolm Rodgers testimony was removed as it involved cross border incidents so why was the Neely cross border testimony included?
  9. Given that we know abuse happened in Scotland, England, Northern Ireland, America, France, Germany, Norway etc etc why was this not mentioned?
  10. Given that the report talks of on-going issues for victims and touches slightly on suicide – why do they not know what we know about the scale of suicides?
  11.  The comment by Kenny Campbell that it was common knowledge and that players were abused in front of one and other is staggering and should have been headline news.
  12. Why has the SFA report not concluded that a full public inquiry must be held – What are they trying to hide?
  13. There was no mention of the removal of Hugh Birt for raising the issue at Celtic or Gordon Woods father having sent a letter to Jock Stein – The report cant hide behind these being allegations as they have included allegations at other clubs.
  14. Kevin Kelly and Peter Lawwell both stated that Celtic didn’t know anything about the abuse allegations until the mid 90s – This is lies as the club investigated the claims in 1986.
  15. They never mentioned that Celtic made Jim Torbett an honorary president of the boys club only 4 years after he was caught abusing players.

Shifting Empires: Up Against It

In August 2019, Neil Lennon said “We’re up to 8, I’m greedy, let’s make it to 15”. This was on the back of taking over from the creepy but capable Brendan Rodgers, where Lennon would then steer his advantage and team over the line, with a little help from the Compliance Officer.

Of course, Lennon’s not wrong yet. But his words are starting to look more ill-judged and unrealistic by the day. As much as we can all enjoy laughing at him now, the thing is that at the time 15 did seem very possible and indeed probable. The sequence of events required to not achieve their ten in a row* (against Aberdeen) was unimaginable. And yet here we are.

Rewinding back to 2012 and it was a similar slanted landscape to what Lennon saw before him in 2019 and the tweet above summarizes it perfectly. Rangers in the bottom division slogging it out against part-time clubs whilst Celtic had won against Barcelona in the Champions League group stages. Even with everything going smoothly it would be difficult to envisage any real challenge at any point in the next decade.

But then everything wasn’t smooth back then. The club was in terrible shape, with playing squad and infrastructure utterly decimated. But worse than that our owners didn’t have the club’s best interests on their agenda. It’s up for discussion about how they were allowed to get there and what their intentions were but there’s no debate that it wasn’t good. It’s one thing having a ruthless or greedy owner but that can sometimes be overlooked when there’s a mutual ambition to succeed. The spivs didn’t even have that and had King and the 3 Bears not took over then I hate to think where we’d be.

Over those dark years we had progressed through the lower leagues but with a turnover of £15-£20m couldn’t really fail not to. Nothing much else progressed in three years – investment, ambition and initiative were all stark. The only constant was the unwavering backing of the fanbase. We then witnessed the spivs bringing Mike Ashley to the table. Mutual interest and any sense of shared success don’t seem to matter to him and his attitude to Rangers was hostile from day one – it certainly looks like he was willing to forego relatively easy profit to damage and hinder our clubs rehabilitation.

These years of turmoil and despair and the constant flurry of body shots eventually culminated in our failure to escape the Championship (by some distance). Three years and we’d built and achieved very little. McCoist was on a hiding to nothing and done what he had to do. The takeover in January 2015 was effectively our ground zero, now close to 6 years ago. But the punches weren’t finished. Ashley had his hooks in deep and this would severally cripple our commercial revenue stream until summer of 2020.

Warburton was probably the right man at the right time but ultimately the task and the pressure was too much. And between Caixinha and Murty we had probably wasted a good year of our recovery. This was not smooth sailing.

Not that I solely blame those managers as I believe they too were on a hiding to nothing from the start. Our detractors had (still have) a stranglehold on the media and when not informing the nation how terrible Rangers and the Rangers support were, they would take to lampooning Caixinha. A self-fulfilling cycle and much of it over the top, but from day one it had started a narrative that would be hard to reverse. Later, and although Gerrard’s name commanded considerably more respect and more careful handling, we’d see a similar attempts at undermining and ridiculing from the Scottish hacks.

There’s one theme that Rangers fans are historically loath to discuss and that is refereeing. For me, one recurring or defining memory of the lower leagues was the regular horrific challenges against our players. Many of them resulting in injuries and being accompanied by time out of the game, with very few of them being appropriately dealt with by the officials. This was laughed away as part of the game in the lower leagues. Unfortunately, the violence followed Rangers back into the Premiership and assaults were downplayed or even applauded by the press. The editorial team at the BBC certainly never dwelled on them and not once clambered for the Compliance Officer to get involved.

Again, as a fanbase we’re quick to forget or dismiss this but this was the reality, this was a hurdle in Gerrard’s first two seasons (and probably still would if Clare Whyte wasn’t being more closely watched). The attention the Compliance Officer paid to our players whilst ignoring others is nothing short of corruption in my book. It’s not even a conspiracy, the evidence is there. For those seasons, it’s a background noise that’s hard to quantify, we cannot say whether it transferred directly into points dropped but it did results in players being unavailable (in our case) or available (for celtic) when they shouldn’t have. Maybe we wouldn’t have won those seasons but I’ll never be told that it did not play a part.

All in all, when considering where we were, who was running our club and the obstacles faced it’s a miracle that we actually got passed the Championship. A single straw more of bad luck or one more poor management decision and it could all be completely different – Lennon could be looking good on his prediction. As things stand, the world is lining up to celebrate the sporting achievement of the century (maybe even all time?) at Ibrox; whilst BBC Scotland look on from the outside on a patch of grass across the road and celtic wonder how on earth they managed to squander every possible advantage.

Systemic Failures and Celtic East Boys Club

In the aftermath of any major incident an investigation will look for the root-causes and failings that contributed to the incident. It’s seldom that one singular act or accident leads to a large disaster. It’s more often a series of oversights or short-cuts, human error or system error, poor design or poor behaviour, all of which compound to escalate events or allow that final mistake. And so it was with the Celtic child sexual abuse scandal.

Of course, this isn’t human-error by way of accident, this was by human design. A calculated targeting and exploitation of any weaknesses in the system, and in society, by the predators. The normal checks and barriers bypassed and left ajar to allow them to carry out their depravity.

In this instance the course or scale of events cannot be separated from the club that facilitated it. In many ways it’s central to it and despite appeals of deniability and unaccountability it was the name and resources of the parent club that provided to platform for the predators to build upon. It was the culture and community that allowed them to meet and pool together to identify the opportunity. Celtic FC then provided the tools and resources (people/locations/time/money) that built and enabled the operation. And institutionally, it provided (and still provides) the protection and shelter that allowed the abuse to hide, after reporting, then continue for so long.

The Celtic scandal stands apart in many ways but essentially this wasn’t solely a failing where a single predator slipped through the net. It was more intrinsic and contrived than that. Where the failure was allowed at source and seeped through from there.

Celtic East Boys Club

Take the example of Celtic East Boys Club, this was initiated and resourced by Celtic FC in 1989. It would be their gateway club in the east, based in Edinburgh, and would form part of their planned nationwide network. The official club coaching structure includes Edinburgh (Celtic East Boys Club), alongside other boys clubs (Dundee, Aberdeen, Ayrshire and Ireland), all of which followed a similar genesis and were very much part of the clubs strategy. Much of this was overseen by Celtic Youth Development Officer Benny Rooney and Willie McStay. Any details in this article are all documented in Celtics official newspaper, the Celtic View, and these boys clubs were very much considered part of Celtic FC. Funding and resources had been provided by the parent club. Strips and equipment shared. With training/awards/competitions regularly hosted and attended by senior staff and players.

The date of 1989 was very much within the abyss of the Kelly / McGinn reign at Celtic. Hindsight would show us this to be a time when many predators were at the club and its boys clubs. A time when abuse and behaviour (through reports, accusations and gossip) would have been well known to Kelly and McGinn and the wider Celtic community. By this stage, any respectable institution should’ve been hyper-sensitive to the issue and even a cursory level of vigilance would’ve prevented it. But this was Kelly and McGinn’s Celtic and things had gone very, very wrong.

Info: Jack McGinn began his time with celtic in 1965 when he started the Celtic View newspaper. Given his success he was appointed Commercial Manager in 1981 and with that a seat on the Board. He was appointed Vice Chairman 1985 and in 1986 he became the Chairman, a position he held until 1994. During this time he was a business associate with Jim Torbett, alongside Kevin Kelly. McGinn went on to be appointed as Treasurer of the SFA and later President of the SFA in 1997. It seems incredulous that, as he claims, McGinn would not be aware of rumours and complaints against Torbett (or any of the others).

Info: Kevin Kelly followed his family into his role as Celtic Director from 1971 to-1994. Kelly was also a business associate of Jim Torbett and brought him back to Celtic in 1980. Both Kelly and McGinn would’ve gave blessing for the formation of many of the boys clubs. His time at Celtic also spanned that of convicted predators Jim McCafferty (Celtic youth team coach and kit-man), Gerald King (boys club coach) and Frank Cairney (boys club manager and coach). Both Kelly and McGinn presided over an internal investigation into the abuse in the late 80s, which found no wrong-doing and cleared Torbett of any wrong-doing. Kelly has been claiming no knowledge or no memory of events for some time now. Given the now known facts and incidents that occurred on their watch, these gentlemen cannot by any measure be considered good decent men (sic).

Back to 1989 – the now notorious predators Torbett and McCafferty were around Celtic at this time and McCafferty was known to both take interest and get involved at Celtic East. Accusations against both would’ve been public knowledge by this stage (the open secret). The only explanation for continued involvement of both was that they had the blessing (tacit or otherwise) of Celtic’s management.

Neil Strachan found his way to Celtic East and worked as a coach and also club secretary. Strachan had already been convicted for indecency in 1985. Who allowed his involvement at Celtic East? He was later jailed for life for horrific acts of abuse in 1997. As an aside, one of Strachan’s co-accused was James Rennie. James Rennie was a registered director for LGBT YOUTH SCOTLAND (Company number SC244805), alongside a certain Mr Martin Henry. Who just happens to chair the SFAs murky, compromised and long overdue ‘independent’ review in historical child sexual abuse. It’s a small, co-incidental world for some.

Through the benefit of hindsight, we now know at least 8 convicted predators worked across the Celtic network. Some survivors suggest the number is closer to 14, This cannot all be put down to isolated or unhappy accidents. This is failure after failure by those employed within Celtic and those working tirelessly to brush it all under the carpet.

The objective of the boys club was to tap into the stream of celtics chosen identities, and the ambitions of any young wannabe footballer, and provide players for Celtic FC. And Celtic East boys club achieved those objectives, which some of the players, like Mark Burchill, making it all the way through to the first team. Others like Darren Fletcher, Marc Anthony, Sean Kilgannon, Lawrence Haggart, Tadg Moriarty, Charlie King and David Devenney all passed through the club. There’s some familiar names in there and there’s no doubt they believed they were in the official Celtic system.

One name that may stand out is that of Lawrence Haggart. Reported to be a very gifted footballer, fate cruelly offset that gift with more tragedy than anyone should have to suffer. Haggart was known have had contact with convicted predators Neil Strachan, Jim McCafferty and Brian Beattie. Haggart later moved onto the Celtic youth teams until he was murdered in 1996. Brian Beattie was later charged with his murder. Here we have networks of criminality intermingling, which as an isolated incident then perhaps Celtics involvement and failings could be written off. But it’s hardly isolated.

Singular Entity

The separate entity argument isn’t just a furtive legal pretence thrown out to the general public. It’s a direct disrespect to their own players (and their families) that have been through the system. No-one dismantles the separate entity fallacy better than the Celtic View and other established reporters for the celtic family at the time (amongst others the ubiquitous Hugh Keevins). Article after article, feature after feature, year upon year – it’s all there in the official magazine. But then we know that ‘the cause’ is paramount for some people. For them writing celtic news translates to writing only what they choose for people to hear, however, there’s a line crossed where nothing but good news becomes misleading, becomes propaganda. Unfortunately, this is a trait that many at Celtic View have carried with them to the outside.

Later on, as conviction followed conviction, the normal response from colleagues and associates would be to disown and denounce, especially if they had been in your presence for so long that it shades your own character and judgement. Surely you would want to criticise the perpetrators, the system and its failings.  I haven’t seen any of that. Just stonewall. A stubborn, misguided and immoral adherence to what? And for why? Only they can know that. And the same for Kelly and McGinn. And other board members. And other staff. And those outside the club working on its behalf. Silence or obstruction or even worse aggression towards survivors or those questioning the whole thing.

Consequences

Let’s be clear, no explanation is required for demanding action against those that abuse children. Tribal allegiances/point-scoring/vested-interests/whatever, it’s irrelevant – the crime is absolute. No-one asks for an explanation when voting, or when giving to charity, and no explanations are required here. From any angle my underlying thought on this is that I cannot see how Celtic can escape this without assuming full responsibility and a commensurate level of punishment or sanction. Justice demands something to happen.

My line of reasoning follows that any institution should be responsible for the actions of those running it at the time, pretty universal stuff. For example, should the directors choose to withhold tax then they are acting for the club and the club deals with the consequences. Should the club (directors/management) find out about a predator in their employ then it has a duty to act. Should the club choose to ignore abuse or complaints then it should face consequences. Should the directors choose to cover it up – consequences. Should the club knowingly re-employ predators – consequences.

Similarly, should the club decide to start a boys club, and use it’s staff and resources to set it up and run it, then it is responsible for that. Should they employ a predator, or a known predator, should they ignore abuse, should staff and directors choose to cover up any abuse – it has to face the consequences.

Headlines

Which leads on to how it has been played out. There’s two striking abnormalities concerning this scandal. A lack of continued exposure or pressure from the media. A lack of discussion/action on consequences. Of course, both these aren’t mutually exclusive and the control of one inhibits the occurrence of the other.

Part of me thinks that to achieve their aims the survivors need to push their starting demands out much further. To realign their bargaining point and/or as deliberate sensationalism to force the press to look twice – to set headlines, to grab the public’s attention and give their cause some oxygen.

This course of action would not be without reference. The Penn State scandal saw huge monetary and sporting sanctions. Of course, in Scotland a similar response may less forth-coming with the SFA appearing to be up to their necks in this as well – with their own investigations thoroughly compromised and conflicted.

Other clubs aren’t without failings and a full public enquiry would be the only way to allow facts to be established. It may be that Hibs and Rangers and others should face consequences and deserve sanction. So be it. Let’s start talking about fines and compensation in the millions of pounds. Let’s start talking about deducting points. Of course, based on available evidence Celtics scandal looks to be an order of magnitude above others, which presumably explains why they are content to maintain the silence.

Perhaps expulsion from the top league would energize the press and remind others of the gravity of the crimes? The journey back would give Celtic time to reflect on the decades of crimes and litany of collective failings. A collective penitence? A chance to give back to Scottish football and allow it to heal. And importantly, to send the message that serious crimes are met with serious sanctions and cannot go unchecked.

A Basic Right to Innocence

My own memories of boys football are faded but generally happy ones. I recall training after school, muddy pitches, games on a Saturday morning. Occasionally there was travelling farther afield to competitions, typically once or twice a year to Glasgow. Staying in youth hostels. New places, new experiences. It was just good to be a part of it with friends and schoolmates. I’ve no idea now who any of the competition was or whether they went on to make it in the game. In my mind it remains a bubble of innocence and naivety, the way it should be. To be honest, I have gone decades without really thinking about it. I couldn’t imagine those days being damaged to a degree where it spoiled every day of my life. No child deserves what happened there. Every incident of abuse in football is a scandal in its own right. Collectively, the Celtic scandal is a major disaster. As well as a continuing injustice and insult, which is why it should be everyone’s fight.

Avoiding the Spotlights

You can hold whatever view you like on the Celtic FC abuse scandal but, whatever that may be, there is one question which should be universal – how can that club not be punished over this?

Anyone on twitter should be following the @spotlight_CFC66 account – this provides a melt-water of information from the glaciers of abuse that span decades. Much of the content comes as a revelation as the subject has been given relatively scant exposure in the Scottish press. Overall, it draws a vivid picture of the streams and tributaries of the very singular Celtic entity that enabled and facilitated the abuse, with the 70s and 80s appearing particularly depraved. And within that picture there is a trend that is equally clear – the Celtic top brass at the time were very heavily involved with both the boy’s clubs and the abusers. There was little or no separation of entities in any practical sense. A fact that was very much used and exploited by the undesirables.

I’ve written on this a few times and attracted a bit of ire, particularly with accusations of point-scoring or tribal spite. I can see now that the aspersions are designed to curb any discussion and exposure of the subject where Celtic are involved. The point-scoring may be true and may even have been the original driver, but over time I have been made aware of the views of the victims and as I learned more then so my sense of both empathy and real injustice have grown exponentially. It is clear that the victims voice has not been given any oxygen at all and for many long years and no-one has listened to them, simply because there’s been no exposure to listen to. One can only imagine the frustration and hurt endured as door after door has been closed on them – for this alone we should listen and support them. From what I can tell, it has only been in recent years that have podcasts and interviews have started to appear, but even then, that has been on the fringes and far from the mainstream.

For me one recent tweet from the Spotlight account really stood out and it related to an internal investigating at Celtic FC in 1987.

A few points. Why are Celtic investigating what they now claim is a completely separate entity?

The internal investigation was bad enough in its own right because it was so obviously a paper-thin deception. Ultimately, a cover-up – which conveniently managed to overlook and avert attention from so many cases of abuse that have since been proven in court. And arguably worse still, it provided cover for further abuse to continue. How can the club not be punished for this?

Sadly, this is far from an isolated incidence of cover-up from Celtic FC, fast-forward 30 years and we have Celtic FC playing the same tired worn cards. Without exaggeration they currently have three or four internal investigations ongoing – all throw out to deflect and deceive. We never hear or see the results of these investigations and it’s all merely pretence – a fiction that it’s been dealt with in-house which is too easily accepted by a servile press. None of the current stable of Celtic investigations is more serious than their latest investigation into the mountain of child abuse and their handling of child abuse. Let’s be honest, this is an investigation which was only dreamt up in 2017 when some heat reappeared. Once again the victims and wider public are fobbed off with a fantasy investigation which will achieve nothing but to deflect and put time and distance between Celtic and any tricky questions. Celtic FC have no desire to find truth or right wrongs (we know this because the victims have told us – how thorough can an investigation be that fails to consult the victims?). Celtic FCs only desire is to protect the club, their friends at the club and ultimately avoid the heavy punishments that they know are due.

This is crux for me. We can see what they are up to, it is really that transparent. Celtic FC have worked tirelessly for decades to cover this up. It’s just another layer of immoral, criminal activity on top of the horrific crimes of abuse that ruined so many lives, and it’s one that football surely has to act on clear the air?

It should be devastating for them. But part of the web they’ve woven over the years also provides their multiple safety nets. People exist on the Celtic FC board who put Celtic before everything and so the same applies outside. The SFA, an organisation distinguished by its lack of real comment and action, has seen a stream of Celtic people who have a vested interested in dampening any justice where it looks like breaking out – with hindsight it’s fairly logical to see this as just an extension of the cover up. The same goes for Holyrood as it goes for the press. Any talk is curtailed and played down, and the obvious, rational progression to the question of punishment never materialises.

Similar to the doubtful intent of the internal investigations, concerns also apply to those of any external investigations where they appear. Certain characters and certain remits don’t ring remotely true or trustworthy. Once you start looking then conflicts of interest start to appear regularly around this subject. Are the stance of silence of BBC Scotland or Clyde FM by accident or design? Once you’ve made that first big deceit it’s then a small step to carry that out elsewhere and it’s naive to think it won’t occur. This is the discussion that Scotland really needs to have about Celtic.

Of course, with no trace of irony this is the very cultural omertà that enabled the original abuse. The club always comes first and shall be protected with any dissenters pushed out and rejected. Yet another layer of injustice that needs exposed, shamed, eradicated and redressed.

40 Second Segment

A quick glance behind, barely a dart of the eyes but it’s enough to register if there are any vehicles behind. Although at this speed it doesn’t really matter. One final big drag of air – slow and methodical. The lungs filled and rib-cage stretched to capture and contain that exaggerated draw. As it tops out you can feel it across the back of the shoulders. A feeling of bristling meditation develops as the oxygen enriches the blood. The exaggeration continues on the outwards purge. Jaw slacked and any unwanted tension dropping away.

You’ve studied the segment and are familiar with it having rode it many times. A left hand turn followed by a straight 400m at roughly 4% gradient. But you’ve not yet attacked it at KOM pace before. You know pace of the existing record holder. You know what the top speed should be. The wind is favourable. The road is dry. You know the gear ratio you want. You have to carry maximum speed into the segment – in the physics of the sprint that makes momentum so important. If you lose a few mph then valuable power is used to accelerate to a higher speed, you might eventually reach the same top speed but essential seconds have ticked away trying to get there. Your virtual rival was at that point before you and it’ll take something extraordinary to make it up. The area under the speed vs time graph has to be maximised.

Brakes feathered, road position and line chosen and we’re coasting into the corner now. Energy is being preserved and these last few seconds are giving the system maximum possible recovery. Hands are placed, fingers and palm are adjusted, grip tested and then reset again on the bars. Full contact, full control. The optimum speed has been reached to allow safe passage through the corner with maximum momentum and placement at the other side. It’s a zen like state now, with sensory systems at full alertness, fuelled by adrenaline – ready for fight and flight in this instance.

Sight and feel deal with the road surface. Information streaming into your brain from every point at super-fast pace. A rough patch. A painted line. A metal hole cover. A small stone pings away from your tyre to some place else. The resulting response is transmitted through the carbon in the wheels and then frame, then saddle and handlebars to your touch. Full tyre traction is resumed. You’re still set and stable. Eyes and ears switch focus to monitor the road ahead. Anything outside of this doesn’t exist. Full commitment will be required and any obstacle or obstruction will see the effort aborted. This action is completed in the blink of an eye. The road opens up.

The centrifugal forces ease, and the bikes tilts back to towards vertical. Your body lifts forward from the saddle. Everything in your being is focused forward. Every part of the bike and your whole body will be part of this effort. The hands clenched and secure, the force driven down through the right leg is both anchored and aided by the arms. The entire body is being recruited at this moment with the intention to put every newton of force into the peddle. In the same motion the left leg is pulling up, it’s part of the reaction, part of maximising power from the body to the bike and to the road. Care and balance is required to ensure the back wheel has the required traction. At this point the cadence still low and resistance is huge. You should feel this resistance as the stroke develops and around the full 360 degree revolution. As the right leg completes its downwards motion the system shifts to engage the left leg. But both sides are still pushing the crank round. The hips switch, different muscles recruit to drag and kick before the main muscle groups fully engage again. The bike frame is thrown to the opposite side. The left leg engages in the downwards assault, the right lifting now. The hips transferring the opposing forces, the back tight from holding the hips and harnessing the input and balance from the upper body.

That first push tells you all you need to know. Have you chosen the correct gear ratio? Too high and the acceleration with be too slow – the area under the graph, you want that top speed as soon as you can. Too low and you’ll spin out too soon – a gear change will be required but can you sacrifice that second or two? And more than that, did you feel strong during that first revolution? Is that spark/twitch/kick there to hit that top speed and hold it on until the end?

There are many reasons to cycle and many reasons to enjoy it. There really is something for everyone, and something for every type of body. Sometimes you find what you’re good at and that gets you hooked. When I got back on the bike after a long time away the leaderboards on Strava were things to observe in awe. That cannot be right? How is that possible?

But you start to figure things out. You train your body and at each stage you reassess what is possible. You get stronger. You get fitter and build the engine. It could be that those first few revolutions of the pedals in a sprint effort that convince you that there’s something there to work on. It’s a feeling you enjoy. A feeling of being in control of both your body and bike. Never take good health for granted.

And this is where discoveries are made on the leaderboards. That first time you leave it in the big ring and sprint up that street or incline. That first time your body fails halfway up but that’s part of the discovery. You lasted twice as long as you did last time. Looking at the data you had matched the KOM time up to that point. The impossible is now, if not possible, then understandable.

And that’s the thrill of the chase. The journey of self-improvement. The road to achievement. Or just bloody-minded competitive spirit. Competition with yourself and any other soul that has tested themselves on that segment.

Back on the road and you’re halfway through the course. You’ve reached the top speed that you had set yourself and things are going well, so you’ll continue the effort. The high torque and huge forces of the start are past by this point. Aerodynamics and efficiency are in your thoughts. You get low, compact and aerodynamic, perhaps perched on the front of the saddle. Peddling is still forced and heavy but it’s largely all in the legs and hips by this point.

The KOM is on and that makes a huge difference to the mental aspect of the effort.  Sprinting can actually be quite enjoyable when kept to 10 or 20 seconds. Beyond that and you’re going to places that most people don’t like to go. There’s a thought that nags sometimes when I look at leaderboards about whether other people can’t do that or just won’t do that – in the end it’s the same thing, just the mental and physical sides of the coin. Your body is giving you 100 signals to stop what you’re doing and at that stage it’s the easiest thing in the world to listen to it. Through training you improve this capacity. The difference between hanging on for 20 seconds and 40 seconds is huge. But you have trained, and you know you can hang on because you’ve done it before. This is another mental crutch to help you to that finish line.

Then it’s over. You shift into the lowest gear and paddle around the kerbside for a few minutes, sucking in oxygen and keeping the legs turning as lightly as possible. Normality returns quickly enough. The numbers looked good, you’re confident you got the KOM. You’ll know when you return home and upload your ride. It’s all part of the routine and part of the thrill. It’s a good feeling and that’s what you’re chasing.

Until some point in the future when you get that “uh oh” message informing you that someone has bettered your time. And then you know that you’ll have to do it all again, only faster next time.

The Lance Armstrong of football.

The Lance Armstrong of football. A common call from celtic fans desperate to try and overstate Rangers FC use of then-legal tax-saving vehicles in the 2000s.

It misses the mark on many points, but crucially a truer parallel meriting the sobriquet would be their own club – Celtic FC.

The parallel of doping in cycling would be doping in football. And doping programmes for footballers almost certainly exist at the top end of the sport. But that’s not the charge here.

Blood doping in cycling had a huge effect on the athletes and in the 90s it was rife. A sizeable majority of top riders and teams had their own doping programmes – which, in its own ironic way actually removes doping as Armstrong’s “biggest crime”. Facts are all of his main rivals at the time were doping. It’s true that without EPO and other aids then Armstrong wouldn’t have been able to compete. But then neither would his rivals, so in that regard the playing field was warped but fair.

So the slur falls back to financial doping. The only problem with that is that football is inherently financially unfair. Everybody is striving to improve their lot and any number of means are applied to extract advantage, which often fail the most basic morality tests. At the top of the pyramid teams arbitrarily have billions of pounds pumped in from oligarchs and sheikhs, similarly others have governments write off similar amounts in tax and to assist where they can. Football in the 90s and 00s were marked by players contracts getting more inventive. Media rights and all sorts of sponsorship monies and add-ons where being protected by well-payed tax experts and lawyers for their very well-payed clients. EBTs weren’t uncommon and were widely used in the UK. This is the context.

If tax avoidance and the public purse is your moral ad ethical gripe then plenty sought to dodge the public purse through fanciful film schemes, a loophole which was also closed up with time. But we know that for Rangers biggest detractors, it’s was never really about ethics or doing the right thing.

It is widely held view that Armstrong’s biggest crimes were his bullying and links with governing and anti-doping bodies – which is to say corruption. Armstrong is/was an alpha male and a very domineering and controlling figure. He literally forced riders out of races and out of the sport. He humiliated any one that stood up to him, let alone expose his methods. It got to the stage where press conferences attendance lists were personally approved by Armstrong. And he was able to lever this control by the force of his personality and from the weight of the money he brought into the sport. The equation is tried and tested – he made people money, so they backed him. Other teams saw benefit in this status quo. Manufacturers. Broadcasters. Sponsors. And presidents of the UCI and WADA.

Does this sound like anyone in Scottish football at the moment?

The links with UCI and WADA got a little too cosy. Arrangements were made that enabled, if not green-lighted, Armstrong’s programme. But perhaps his most reprehensible act is the accusation that he used the doping testing agency against his rivals. Perhaps he felt threatened as they were becoming too strong and offered a little bit too much of a challenge to his crown, perhaps he just liked the fact that he had control and could use it. Before that point the cycling doping omertà was very much honour amongst thieves – to then break that code sets Armstrong apart, it’s a departure from striving to improve your own lot to improving your lot through damaging your rivals.

I don’t know how common examples like this are in world sport or football, presumably the number of teams and vested interests form a natural barrier to corruption and an independent governing body prevails. However, i do suspect very similar plots have been hatched and carried through in Scottish football.

Anyone that follows the game in Scotland will be no stranger to patterns of proven unprofessional behaviour from celtic supporters targeting Rangers FC through their positions of employment. This goes from the man in the street, to the decision makers in the press, to people who held positions of considerable power at Westminster. It certainly makes the following both possible and probable.

In 2011 the sale of Rangers FC to somebody was inevitable. Murray wanted to sell and Lloyds Banking Group wanted him to sell. The sale to Craig Whyte may have all been above board in that respect. What’s more debatable is who brought Whyte to the table. With hindsight his remit was pretty clear, take Rangers into admin and eventually liquidation – in short, commence a campaign of wanton corporate vandalism against the club from the inside. The thing is this guy is a nobody, with little means, less clout, and no history or interest in football. And yet the sea parted for him to allow the devastation to unfold. It’s difficult to see how he could have arranged all of that on his own?

The Ticketus money. Duff and Phelps. Hand-picked administrators who only wanted to talk to Charles Green. Green and Whyte. The fact HMRC overlooked unpaid PAYE until it got to a level that gave them leverage in admin. A closed shop from the moment LBG facilitated the sale. One that left the club an empty shell and one saddled with burdens that would last until celtic planned to pick up their 10th title. So many coincidences. In the years preceding a former Home Secretary had been been on the celtic board. A man of means and contacts to open many doors. It’s almost certain that he spent his time lining up ducks, which would then be shot down in 2011.

Why did HMRC choose Rangers to make a point over EBTs? Like so many stories, the names and nature of the people involved in the key decisions come out over time and it’s easy to put two and two together and get the wrong answer. However, when people connected to celtic crop up at every single stage on the journey then you’re allowed to question coincidence. Were these people simply involved in process, or did they make themselves involved and push things in a certain direction?

The BBC for example. Members of their sports team certainly threw themselves to the fore to tell their side of the Rangers story (and still do). But it isn’t necessarily the merit or veracity of any story that rankles with Rangers supporters, it’s the fact that we know they would never deal with other clubs or subjects in the same manner. It’s bias. It’s hypocrisy. And given that the driver is tribal and the target is their rivals, then it’s an abuse and misuse of a position of trust. All at the tax payers expense I may add.

The import of the press cannot be over-looked. It’s a blanket to cover improper behaviour. It’s a mask to convince the public that certain actions are justified whilst conveniently omitting other details that damage the argument. It’s a form of corruption in itself and it’s often an integral part of the actual act of corruption, part of the fraud.

None more so than the recent 10th April, 2020, SPFL vote. This is the part where I copy and paste definitions from the internet.

What Constitutes a Bribe? Broadly, the Act defines bribery as giving or receiving a financial or other advantage in connection with the “improper performance” of a position of trust, or a function that is expected to be performed impartially or in good faith.

Bribery – means giving or receiving an unearned reward to influence someone’s behaviour. One common form of bribery is a “kickback” – an unearned reward following favourable treatment. Both are corrupt.

Corruption – is any unlawful or improper behaviour that seeks to gain an advantage through illegitimate means. Bribery, abuse of power, extortion, fraud, deception, collusion, cartels, embezzlement and money laundering are all forms of corruption.

It’s difficult to look at the actions of SPFL chief executive Neil Doncasters, his remuneration compared to his performance and come to any other conclusion than the SPFL is corrupt. Most of the definitions listed above resonant with him and his controlling cronies. The same few familiar faces and persons of conflicted interest that hold court at the SPFL and the SFA – and whatever they are up to it isn’t performance driven. The ONLY explanation for their rush to harry through the season-ending vote in April 2020 was that they, Doncaster/MacKenzie/MacLennan, wanted to ensure that celtic were ensured the title by avoiding the possible risk of the season being declared null and void due to the COVID pandemic. Celtic pretty much rubber stanmped the corrupt by speaking out against an independent investigation into the farce. The recent vote held parallels to the Whyte fiasco, in that the SPFL enjoyed the backing of a sizeable chunk of the media. Almost unconditionally, regardless of subject. The obvious explanation is that the actions are being carried out for the benefit of celtic, so they were gifted their press bloc to hide the bodies.

Armstrong, doping, winning, money, press, governing bodies, corruption – repeat. So a similar cycle repeats with celtic, money, press, governing bodies, corruption, which leads to winning.

Armstrong had it all figured out. For a period of time he was untouchable. But he pushed it too far. He stepped over too many people. And eventually told one lie too many when eventually the right people started asking questions.

Celtic FC are in a similar position. Lift the veil from their recent silverware and what sits underneath doesn’t glisten quite as much. The facts are that whatever has been won has been won in the boardroom. Maybe Rangers were due a fall, careless/reckless, but their main rivals conspiring to facilitate that push should see celtic as pariahs in football. The most reprehensible act. The punch from behind. The stick in the spokes.

From that moment forward they benefited, and anything after is tainted.

To make matters worse the corruption doesn’t end there. Rangers recovered, worked back and returned to the top flight. Still far from a full power and it was debatable whether Rangers were even yet a viable title challenger, such was the gap in club finances and the inferior starting point. Celtic too hadn’t been idle, their people in positions of influence around sport had grown. The Compliance Officer at the SFA in 2018/2019 season saw over 10 citations for Rangers players, which eventually led to key players missing matches. Celtic had no citations despite involvement in incidents of similar nature (note: this is fourth celtic supporter in a row to occupy this role, formed after celtic caused a referee strike in 2010, just in time for Rangers troubles!). It’s worth mentioning that much of the COs work came on the back of what the press (primarily BBC Sportscene) decided was an issue, where some of the editing is of questionable balance to say the least. Each of these systems are autonomous in their own right, but equally each of them has a duty to identify and prevent improper behaviour. But here, together, they were working is tandem to corrupt the game and apply favour.

The statistics on the performance from the referees makes worrying reading; namely, teams have been allowed rough treatment against Rangers, yet Rangers players are more readily booked. Celtic figures show the opposite. This could be dismissed as an anomaly is one or even ten matches, but it’s there like a background noise, and in 2019, like 2020,  the effects were key players suspended after the turn of the year. Subtle yet effective. And wilfully eroding the spirit of football. You could argue if this is due to extreme external pressure from the press and supporters or an indicator of something more systematic at the SFA – either way, improper behaviour that seeks to gain an advantage through illegitimate means.

Another example, and a different angle of attack. Indirectly, the politicking continued at pace. The sectarian background to Rangers and celtic is no secret. And from that a campaign was waged to have Rangers more robust language punished, whilst celtics was quietly mitigated in the background. A campaign waged largely in the Scottish press and through outlets in Holyrood. But which achieved a level of success where by UEFA turned an eye to Ibrox, and thanks to persistently keen and dedicated hearing from celtic supporters acting for FARE (sic), they managed to extract fines and stadium closures from Rangers. Which affects football on the pitch, very much, directly.

I know I see these things from a Rangers point of view. Sometimes its an easy fit and convenient fit. But there’s not much of this article that is up for debate. Culturally, there exist people going out of their way to wilfully attacking Rangers FC. Maybe that’s the rival fans lot. Maybe not. Maybe it’s only a problem when the management or editorially level of companies and governing bodies start to allow the bias and unprofessional behaviour more fitting to the pubs after a match. Usually there are checks and balances to prevent that, but sometimes corruption succeeds. Certainly in Scottish football, many bodies of influence have went bad – they’ve forgotten what their role is and what sport actually is.

So the next time someone mentions a Lance Armstrong of football. You can look past the administrative paperwork to extract benefit from legal tax loopholes. And look instead at the systematic corruption of Scottish football and its supporting industries by celtic FC and its supporters.