A few opinions about deadco,,,,,,This has to be said about Rangers, as a Scottish Football club they are a permanent embarrassment and an occasional disgrace. This country would be a better place if Rangers did not exist. Ian Archer (journalist, 1970s), for full article see: link The incessant bigoted chanting by Rangers fans at Hampden was shocking. Unarguably the most socially-backward fans in British football. The really damaging thing for RFC is, it’s not the mythical ‘small minority’. There appear to be 1000s upon 1000s singing these songs. Graham Spiers (Journalist) on his Twitter feed commenting on the Huns in their league cup final appearance (March 2011) (match) COMEDIAN Andy Cameron was barracked by fellow Rangers shareholders yesterday when he asked the clubs chairman Mr John Paton to come out and be honest about the boards policy towards Roman Catholics. Mr Cameron, whose earlier remarks about the calibre of the Rangers team had drawn laughs and cheers from the floor of the clubs annual meeting, was heckled and told to sit down. Minutes later, a number of shareholders milled round Mr Cameron and exchanged angry remarks with him. The Herald (Oct 2010); the above happened in 1985 Theres nothing worse than sitting in the dressing room at Celtic Park after a defeat, not a word being said, listening to them going mental next door. Ally McCoist (ex-Rangers striker) Rangers like the big strong powerful fellows, with a bit of strength and solidity in the tackle, rather than the frivolous, quick moving stylists like Jimmy Johnstone, small, tiptoe-through-the-tulips type of players who excite people. Willie Waddell, Rangers manager 1972 Brian Clough: What team did you say you support again? Man in the studio audience: RANGERS! Brian Clough: Thats not a football team! Thats a gang of villains. The irrepressible Brian Clough on Sport in Question In every hick town in Caledonia across the pseudo nation, you can see the most ****** up scum who were shat into creation, where a blue McEwans lager top equals NO imagination! Think youre a success? Your psyches a mess! Your economy is in distress, youre HUN-believable!!! Irvine Welsh, the irrepressible novelist on his opinion about Rangers fans (1996) Its not that they werent penalties - its just that theyre the kind of penalties nobody else gets! Not the View fanzine in 2003 after Rangers were awarded three penalties in their 2-2 draw with Dundee in May 2003 Id just come from Italy and France which are catholic countries,very warm and friendly,and here I was in Glasgow with some of my team-mates [i.e. fellow Rangers players] hating catholics. I just couldnt understand it and frankly found it ridiculous. Ray Wilkins on an ESPN documentary said about Rangers (June 2007) Walter Smith, a two-time former manager of the club and now manager of Scotland, once said to me: “There is a Protestant superiority syndrome around this club . . . you can feel it.” Graham Spiers quoting Walter Smith (taken from his book on Paul Le Guens time at Rangers, 2007) When I came here in 1964, we had no Catholics, he said. Not just the playing staff, anywhere. There was no bit of paper, it was an unwritten rule. David Murray changed that and it moved on significantly in 1989 when Maurice Johnston signed. You cannot clear up 80 years of sectarianism in eight months, but we are a huge way down the road. Sandy Jardine It was not until the 1960’s that the burning issue of sectarianism reared its ugly head at Ibrox. A former player, Ralph Brand, made the sectarian policy at Rangers public knowledge and around this time the behaviour of Rangers fans was a real problem for the club. In 1963, Rangers fans jeered during the minute’s silence for assassinated Catholic U.S. President John F. Kennedy. Then, in 1967, then vice Chairman Matt Taylor was questioned about Rangers no Catholics policy and he stated that he felt that they policy was “part of our tradition....we were formed in 1873 as a Protestant boys club. To change now would lose us considerable support.” Vice-Chairman Matt Taylor of Rangers from 1960s To the Rangers fans: Stay and vomit in your own home, urinate in the corner of your own sitting room, fight with your own neighbours Celtic (who deserve a medal for putting up with you) and foul the streets of Glasgow. Dont come back to Barcelona, youre an embarrassment. And while were at it, dont play in the Champions League. Youre not up to scratch, either on a sporting or human level. There are noisy supports who, even though they drink large quantities of beer, make friends. Not you lot, because you turn everywhere you go into dumps. You are undesirables. El Mundo Deportivo Newspaper on Rangers after the Rangers game v Barcelona in the Nou Camp (Nov 07) Full Article: Dont come back to Barcelona (Nov 07) Terry Butcher had little idea of the sectarian divide he was stepping into when he arrived at Rangers in the summer of 1986 in a £750,000 deal.But he had been given an inkling as a young pro when he blessed himself before a match and fell foul of senior team-mate Allan Hunter, a Northern Ireland international Butcher said: I recall one incident at Ipswich before a reserve game when I crossed myself, something Id seen Alan Brazil do. Big Allan Hunter was sitting in the stand and after the game he grabbed me and asked me if I was a Catholic. I told him I wasnt. I was an English Protestant. Why, then, he asked, did I cross myself? I told him it was for luck but he told me to remember I was a Protestant and warned me never to do it again - if I did, he would really sort me out. Based on Terry Butchers book, surprising Ally Hunter would later have Celtic down for his testimonial (in 1981) The people in that CCTV footage acted like a pack of wolves. Whatever happened earlier there was no excuse for this level of violence. Assistant Chief Constable Justine Curran, the match commander during Rangers shame in the UEFA Cup Final Battle of Piccadilly in Manchester (see link) Celtc : Bohemian, Underprivileged. Rangers : Dour, Establishment. FourFourTwo magazine describing the two clubs Lionel Messi, the Barcelona striker, accused the Scottish side of indulging in anti-football when the same goalless Ibrox scoreline was achieved against his own team in the Champions League. Now Mutu has expressed his own distaste. Ive never seen a team play like that at home before, but that is their game, their tactic, and what they believe in, he said. I thought maybe they would want to make more of a spectacle for the fans. For me, it was an ugly game. They were defending all the time and I just hope we see a bit more attacking, some spectacular Mutu (Fiorentina) on Rangers just before 2nd leg game in UEFA cup v Huns (Apr 08) “Celtic have all the cool people supporting them. Rangers have me and Wet Wet Wet!!!” Alan McGee’s lament on the great truth (Alan McGee was the founder of Creation Records and the former manager of Oasis (who also happen to be Man City and Celtic fans) Interviewer: Is Mo Johnston your most important signing? David Murray (Rangers Chairman): We signed him as a football player firstly, and also to break the tradition of this club in not signing a Roman Catholic. That was wrong, Rangers Chairman admits they had a sectarian signing policy in interview (21 Nov 08) He said I deserved more than that - I was going off. Id never been sent off in my career and so I had this conversation with him. Basically I told him that, if he sent me off, hed be demoted from Grade One refereeing - the lot. That was in the days when Rangers had a good relationship with the Scottish FA. Football Bloody Hell by Patrick Barclay when it mentions a tussle between Alex Ferguson and John Greig (Rangers player) that results in Greig getting sent off. Greig who felt he deserved only a booking relates. Plus ca change.... ....yes weve had some pretty rank poets over the years. Thomson was probably a Rangers fan in-waiting. Rule Britannia has no modern value and should be dumped in the dustbin of history. It celebrates sentiments and ideologies that have brought great shame on parts of our collective British history. Anyone that thinks slavery is smart or justifiable or just a wind up should reconsider why this song still persists in parts of Neanderthal British life. Forget the Hokey Cokey guff, Rule Britannia is a song that lords it over other races, celebrates institutionalised racism, and promotes racial supremacy and it should be banned. No correction it should not need to be banned. People should be so ashamed of its vile sentiments they would not knowingly sing it. Its hardly surprising that Rangers fans are the exception. No one else would want to sing this dated piece of imperialist cant. Stuart Cosgrove (Journalist) Sergio Porrini thinks Rangers could pick up a European trophy within the next three years. He said, if we can overcome Gothenburg I think we can reach the quarter finals. And I believe that in two or three seasons Rangers could win the European Cup. Sergio Perrini, Rangers Player... Daft idiot! Rangers have been dubbed the stupidest club in Europe by France Football magazine. Senior correspondent Christophe Larcher condemned Rangers in a scathing attack on Strasbourgs opponents in the UEFA Cup first round. He said, Rangers have spent fortunes on second-rate players and they keep getting knocked out in the first round of European competition. For these reasons they deserve the title of the stupidest club in the continent. As if further proof was needed, they went out against Gothenburg in the European Cup qualifiers after a 3-0 thrashing in Sweden. Christophe Larcher (France Football) 3 September 1997 The famous Rangers Iron Curtain of the 1940s derived from the emphasis on physical strength which Struth had developed in the previous decades. Another potent factor was they were all Protestants, to a man (with suspicions over one or two). And it mattered, deeply. Hardly an eyebrow was raised in Scottish society about this exclusivity during the Struth reign. People largely acquiesced as simply a fact of life. And Struth himself, with a penchant for made-to-measure three-piece suits, a stern countenance and a master of moral rebuke, seemed to be the epitome of the Presbyterian High Tory for whom the tugging of the forelock was expected in an orderly, unchanging society. Certainly people from both sides of the divide had a high regard for him as a man of principle, including Paddy Travers of Clyde, a Catholic with whom Struth had holidayed on the Isle of Man. And, ironically, there was a great bond between the man who effectively brought Stein to Parkhead, Jimmy Gribben the Celtic trainer, for whom Struth kept a “wee hauf” at Ibrox any time Celtic played there. At that time he was not being forced to engage himself with the highly dubious morality of valuing people of another religion as not fit for purpose. With ample Protestant talent available to him, on the principle of “If it ain’t broke, why fix it?”, life simply rolled on. That is why the Struth legacy contains a crucial paradox for the modern Rangers. It can be interpreted in two ways. Without doubt the triumphs, the longevity, the production of great players, all point to a man of distinction and talent. On the other hand, from the baseline of supremacy and triumphalism set, he bequeathed the club a dilemma. The temptation to maintain the tradition was initially overpowering. Waddell and Wallace in the 1970s and 1980s began to see their recruitment options diminishing but were shackled by their own personal inclinations. The Herald article on Bill Struth (link) “On the Rangers terracing on Saturday there was congregated a gang, thousands strong, including the dregs and scourings of filthy slumdom, unwashed yahoos, jailbirds nighthawks, wont works, burro-barnacles and pavement pirates, all, or nearly all, in the scarecrow stage of verminous trampdom. This ragged army of insanitary pests was lavishly provided with orange and blue remnants.... Practically without cessation, the vagabond scum kept up a strident howl of the Boyne Water chorus. Nothing so bestially ignorant has ever been witnessed, even in the wildest exhibitions of Glasgow Orange bigotry……”The reporter went on to describe the assembled throng of Celtic fans. “These complaints do not apply to the Celtic brake-clubs (supporters clubs) whose members, reasonable sentient human beings, are models of decorum and possess official testimonials to their blameless behaviour.....They are fond of singing, and to this no-one can reasonably object. On Saturday, the boys sang to their hearts content. They gave us so many rousing choruses. Hail Glorious St. Patrick, God Save Ireland, Slievenamon The Soldiers Song.... When Cassidys goal made victory sure, it was fine to hear the massed thousands at the western end of the Ibrox oval chanting thunderously On Erins Green Valleys.. Man in the Know from the 1920s Glasgow Observer in one of his reports relating to an Old Firm game in 1924, (1924) Friendly against Rangers , no such thing theyll be on the rampage they are hooligans! The Likely Lads (English TV show, 1970s) This is like a scene now out of Apocalypse Now... Weve got the equivalent of Passchendaele and that says nothing for Scottish football. At the end of the day, lets not kid ourselves. These supporters hate each other. Archie MacPherson (1980 Scottish Cup final, match commentator) There was no problem as far as [the English Players] Ray Wilkins, Chris Woods, Mark Walters, I and some others were concerned. But the Scottish players - Davie Cooper, Ian Ferguson, Ally McCoist, John Brown and the rest - declined because they had received so many calls from friends telling them not to become involved. Jimmy Bell didnt want to become involved at all. Mo [Johnstone] roomed with Ally McCoist, as he had done for the national team, and it was Jimmys practice to put fresh kit outside everyones room for the next day. But he refused to do so for Mo, just leaving Allys, forcing Mo to go down three flights of stairs to the kit room to fetch his gear. Ex-Rangers Captain Terry Butchers Biography on the bigotry at Ibrox when ex-Celt & Catholic Mo Johnstone joined them MO Johnstonturned Scottish football on its head when he sensationally snubbed Celtic to join Rangers in July 1989Gers first high-profile Catholic signing in the modern era made nationwide headlines. But Terry Butcherhas revealed how Johnston was initially treated as an outcast by some of his Scottish team-mates at Ibrox. And Rangers kitman Jimmy Bel, made sure he got the message, refusing to leave Mos training kit outside his hotel door at their Italian pre-season base, as he did with other players. Former club captain Tel explains in his autobiography: It was, as far as I was concerned, a fabulous signing for the club because Mo was such a good player, while Souness had achieved his ambition of beginning to break down the sectarian barriers at Ibrox. Our only doubt was we knew Mo was fiercely proud of being a Celtic fan and we wondered how he would settle. We need not have worried - he was terrific. Next day, the club wanted the Scottish and English players to hold a press conference to tell the media what a good signing he was. There was no problem as far as Ray Wilkins, Chris Woods, Mark Walters, I and some others were concerned. But the Scottish players - Davie Cooper, Ian Ferguson, Ally McCoist, John Brown and the rest - declined because they had received so many calls from friends telling them not to become involved. Jimmy Bell didnt want to become involved at all. Mo roomed with Ally McCoist, as he had done for the national team, and it was Jimmys practice to put fresh kit outside everyones room for the next day. But he refused to do so for Mo, just leaving Allys, forcing Mo to go down three flights of stairs to the kit room to fetch his gear. Mo did so stoically and without complaint. In fact, in the end he made a joke about it. But this was a complete upheaval for the club. Even at meal-times there were a number of Scots who would not sit with him. What had happened to the moral high ground claimed by Rangers? They always used to say it was Celtic who were intolerant and unable to cope with the mixing of religions. Wrong. There were no such difficulties for the English players, of course. All we knew was that we had signed a good player who was going to help us retain our title Ex-Rangers Captain Terry Butchers Biography on the bigotry at Ibrox when ex-Celt & Catholic Mo Johnstone joined them “I feel very sorry for Airdrie and their supporters but we’re running a business. We have given them repeated warnings and felt they were playing on our good nature.” Hun Chairman David Murray on Airdrie during their liquidation. Interesting in light of Rangers later financial debacles (2002) The club simply cannot shake off the stigma of bigotry. It is excruciating. Graham Spiers (2011) They have a church, too. In their illiterate and incoherent scheme of things, Calvary is probably a collective for horses and maybe Gethsemane is something mysterious that happens in a sperm-bank. No, their real religion is Rangers Football Club. Glasgow Rangers is the sporting icon for loyalist bigots. The clubs own words are irreproachably neutral. It is law-abiding. It is patriotically British. Its outward message is of harmony and ecumenism. But to the large thug element amongst the Rangers fans the key to their identity is almost like the Third Secret of Fatima. It is this: NO FENIANS here. There is a congenial, indeed government-backed myth, in both Scotland and in Ireland, that one side is bad as another: that Sinn Fein-IRA are pretty much the same as the UDA/UVF. This is simply untrue. There is no republican equivalent to the Romper Rooms of the UDA, wherein men were routinely beaten to a pulp by loyalist thugs, and from which both the term and the practice became celebrated. And then there was Lenny Murphy and his merry gang, the Shankill Butchers, who for years in the mid-1970s abducted, tortured and murdered Catholics -- usually by cutting their victims throats. This culture did not emerge simply as a response to IRA violence. It was there already. It was feckless, violent, drunken, lost, lumpen proletarians for whom a perverted tribal identity conjoined with a Godlessly Calvinist sense of superiority, even as they stewed in their ghettoes of suffocating illiteracy and economic failure. But they were nonetheless elevated by the insane delusion that they are the chosen people, who have been deprived of their birthright by some vast conspiracy between the Catholic Church and the British government. Kevin Myres (Independent.ie) Rankers could never field a Catholic player. Sir John Ure Primrose, Club Chairman (1912-23), Unionist politician, and Worshipful Grandmaster of Plantation Lodge 581 The No Catholics policy is part of our tradition .... we were formed in 1873 as a Protestant boys club. To change that now would lose us considerable support. Matt Taylor (Vice Chairman - Rankers FC) Davie Cooper was someone I admired greatly, both as a man and as a player, although he could be quite indignant - referring on a number of occasions to Celtic, as Fenian Bastards. Mel Sterland Even employees who were married to Catholics could suffer victimisation, and ostracisation. If it became known, you could be hounded out or ‘treated differently’ by former friends and colleagues. Sir Alex Ferguson In the end, I shown the door when my forthcoming plans to marry a Roman Catholic attracted widespread media attention. Despite spending seven years at the club, and scoring 31 goals in 87 matches, I was twice summoned to manager Willie Waddell’s office, and told that in order to remain at Rankers, I would need to get married in a Protestant church, and would have to convert my new spouse to Protestantism. Anything else would be unacceptable to those who followed the club, and to those who ran it. When it became clear that I had no intention of complying with this, I was dumped from the first team, before being transferred to Hibs. Graham Fyfe He shouldnt be here ...... he has no business wearing that shirt. Davie Cooper (on the signing of Judas Johnstone) He was the first Catholic to join the club, and some of our fans were outraged. I suggested that Maurice and I, plus some club officials, should make a public appearance in front of the fans waiting outside the ground. We walked down the marble staircase and when I opened the front door there were a few hundred supporters present. Some of them were burning their season tickets and others were setting fire to their blue and white scarves. When I tuned around to see who else had come to the door with me there was nobody there. Dont ask me where they had all gone - my friends and colleagues must have found something else to do. All I know is that I was left facing an angry crowd by myself. Graeme Souness (Souness - The Management Years : Graeme Souness with Mike Ellis) When I first went to Rankers, I was warned against wearing anything green, and as it was one of Rita’s favourite colours she had to leave her dresses in the wardrobe. Davie Cooper once told me if I wore anything green he would personally rip it off me. Terry Butcher (Autobiography Page 166) Next day the club wanted the English and Scottish players to hold a press conference to tell the media what a good signing he was. There was no problem as far as Ray Wilkins, Chris Woods, Mark Walters, I and some others were concerned but the Scottish players Davie Cooper, Ian Ferguson, Ally McCoist, John Brown and the rest declined because they had received so many telephone calls from friends back home telling them not to become involved. Terry Butcher (Autobiography Pages 198 / 199) on the signing of Judas Johnstone, whilst the team was in Italy at pre-season training. If you’re Catholic and you play for Rankers, then you are a Protestant. If you play for the Protestant people, you don’t play for the Catholic people. If you can’t handle that, if you’re really a Catholic and you feel too much about it, you don’t come to Rankers. You stay away. You’d better go to the other side or there will be a lot of problems for you. Fernando Rickson : Sun 1st Dec 02 When I came here in 1964, we had no Catholics. Not just the playing staff, but anywhere. There was no bit of paper, it was an unwritten rule. David Murray changed that and it moved on significantly in 1989 when Maurice Johnston signed. You cannot clear up 80 years of sectarianism in eight months, but we are a huge way down the road. Sandy Jardine I have a Scots father, a Swedish mother and grew up in Johannesburg where we had widespread racism. I wasn’t aware of sectarianism, until I joined Rankers Richard Gough : Nov ‘07 Id just come from Italy and France which are Catholic countries, very warm and friendly, and here I was in Glasgow with some of my teamates going on about hating Catholics. I just couldnt understand it, and frankly, found it ridiculous. Ray Wilkins (on an ESPN documentary about Rankers) : June 2007 Walter Smith once said to me : “There is a Protestant superiority syndrome around this club ... you can feel it.” Graham Spiers (in his book on Paul Le Guen) Remember, it is barely a year since Goram, when opening a pub, spoke of an altercation with Pierre van Hooijdonk in an Old Firm match in 1996. He told a cheering group of Rankers fans that when he saved the Dutchmans penalty in that game he went up to him and called him – and he was paraphrasing here – a non-white, unclean, non-Protestant with no father. Tom English (Scotland On Sunday) : Nov 09
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 18:38:07 +0000
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