FEAR LEADS TO ANGER, ANGER LEADS TO HATE, HATE LEADS TO... RANGERS. CELTIC MUST ACT
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- May 5
- 5 min read
I’ve been thinking quite a lot over the last 24 hours about yesterday’s events. Anyone who watched ACSOM matchday coverage could probably see I was visibly angry at the behavior I witnessed from the home support at Snake Mountain.
Now however, I’m not angry, I’m not even annoyed. I’m just sad. I’m sad that there exist people in this world so fueled by hate.
I’m sad that such a large group of football fans choose to define how they identify with their fandom not by shows of support, solidarity or strength with their own club, but through loathing and bitterness towards their perceived rivals.
Another Rangers Celtic Clash Dominated by Home Fan Hate
As Master Yoda would say: “Such feelings are the path to the Dark Side.” I guess it’s ironically appropriate that the Rangers supporters chose Star Wars Day, May 4th, to show the entire world their true face. A face as twisted by hatred and anger as that of Emperor Palpatine himself.
Apologies if you’re not a Star Wars fan, and don’t get any of the references in that last paragraph. Please bear with me, this’ll all make sense in a minute.
On reflection, whilst I was shocked and disgusted at everything that went on yesterday, I really shouldn’t have been. In hindsight, its exactly what we should have expected. It is the natural end game for the Rangers fanbase. Their path to the “dark side”, as it were, began long ago.
The fact that no-one in Scotland’s government, police or media had the courage to stand up and smack them down before it got to this point, made yesterday inevitable.
Ever since the original incarnation of Rangers went the way of John Cleese’s parrot in 2012, the bitterness has been allowed to simmer away, unchallenged. In many respects not only was it unchallenged, it was courted and encouraged, by the various shysters who have passed through the Rangers executive boxes in the past decade.
For comparison, I’m going to do something quite uncharacteristic. I’m going to praise Heart of Midlothian.
Hearts faced similar financial peril to Rangers a few years after the latter died. However, they didn’t blame anyone else. They didn’t play the victim.
Instead, their fans got together, took their medicine, apologized, and did their best to makes sure all creditors got at least some money back.
Hearts are now, arguably the 3rd biggest team in Scotland, and they are there on merit. It is credit to their supporters that they organized and rallied in the most positive way in their club’s hour of need.
I don’t like Hearts and most likely l never will, but I do have a certain degree of respect for them and their fans, for how they handled financial turmoil in comparison to Rangers.
Instead, with Rangers, it’s always been someone else’s fault. First it was Craig Whyte, then it was the rest of the teams in the SPL, then it was Charles Green, the list goes on.
The truth is, Rangers’ downfall was entirely of their own making.
They cheated and spent money they never had for at least a decade, probably more. In the end, liquidation and the ability to evade debt that comes with it was a light punishment for the club’s crimes in my opinion.
Not according to their fans though.
No, according to Rangers fans it was all a conspiracy, involving a cast of characters from Craig Whyte to The Vatican, via Peter Lawwell.
Such ridiculous notions should have been blown out the water when they first began to surface post-2012.
However, when you have a media as sycophantic as ours and a journalism corps so enthralled by all things “staunch” then perspective, objectivity and basic inquiry skills go out the window.
Fast forward to today, we have The Daily Record invoking the language of militarism the night before a Rangers Celtic match.
We have the Rangers team, decked out in their orange kit (which was never a color associated with the club historically, until monetizing bigotry was normalized), punching walls, and smashing doors in temper.
Incidentally, the oft-quoted excuse for the orange regalia I hear from Rangers fans is that it is in tribute to Dick Advocaat and the various Dutch players he brought to the club.
Funnily enough, in the history of both incarnations of Rangers a total of 14 Dutchmen have played for them.
There have been 43 men from the Occupied 6 Counties of Ireland who have played for a team called Rangers across the two club's lifespans.
So, when are Rangers getting an all-green goalie kit and/or training gear in tribute to those fine men?
Rangers today have a manager who talks about fight, guts and fire, but little in the way of tactics or footballing strategy. And finally, we have a set of supporters for whom racist chanting, throwing bottles at the opposition and hate speech displays the size of an entire stand have been normalized.
Rangers as a football club are culpable in all this. 2012 was an opportunity to reset, to cast off this skin of evil. Instead, not only did they keep it, they monetized it at every opportunity.
The media gleefully played along with the fantasy, allowing the “still the same club” myth to perpetuate and doing nothing whatsoever to lance the boil of hate and misplaced resentment that continued to expand within their support.
Then we have the SNP government. A party I have voted for consistently, but as it stands, I’m unlikely to do so again.
I really don’t get why the SNP are so afraid of calling out Rangers and their fans’ totally unacceptable behavior. To the hardcore extremists within the Rangers support, who instigate 95% of the trouble, Scottish independence is an abomination.
To use local parlance, the average Rangers ultra "wouldn’t p*ss on the SNP if they were on fire."
So, it’s not like John Swinney and company will lose many votes by putting a stop to all this nonsense once and for all. But no, instead we get cowardly initiatives like the universally loathed, and virtually unenforceable “Offensive Behavior at Football Act”. Lots of talking, lots of summits, but no action.
The SNP continue to hide behind the “both as bad as each other” fallacy when it comes to Celtic and Rangers. In all honesty I think its one of the main reasons why they continue to hemorrhage vote share at each election.
It’s not just Celtic fans who are sick of all this crap. Scottish society in general is tired of seeing fascists appeased when they should be slapped down.
Yesterday, to quote Rangers own hastily thrown together statement, “crossed a line”. The question is, will the government, the police, or the footballing authorities actually do anything about it.
I won’t hold my breath.
