LIES, INNUENDO BUT ZERO EVIDENCE: KEITH JACKSON HITS A NEW LOW
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Like most unpleasant things in life, I would have hoped that the hysteria, willful ignorance and outright fabrications that have followed Sunday’s win for Celtic against a club called Rangers would hit a trough: a bottoming-out as it were.
I thought yesterday’s ridiculous comments from Gordon Smith followed by the usual “both-sides” political cowardice of John Swinney was as low as it could go. Then, this morning, Keith Jackson decided to wade in. Of course he didn’t bother to research or fact check any of the utter guff that appears in today’s Daily Record.
Keith Jackson has Crossed Several Lines in his Hatred of Celtic and our Fans; This Latest Piece Cannot be Allowed to go Unchallenged
Rather than ask journalistically relevant questions, such as why none of the masked goons who charged onto the field from the Rangers end were arrested on the spot? Or how, when every Celtic fan I have spoken with was searched, did the Union Bears manage to bring in pyro, weapons and their gimp masks, unopposed?
No that would require actual journalism. That would require hard work. Jackson has obviously decided that the time and energy it would take to do some actual investigative work would be better spent in the pub.
Let’s look at this little snippet from today’s vomit of verbosity and see if we can divine any sense from it. Jackson said: “the Green Brigade was still able to bring its banners into the away end at Ibrox at the weekend.”
Were they Keith? I suppose you can prove that, can you?
I own a Green Brigade hoodie, I even have a Green Brigade flag somewhere in my closet. Yet, funnily enough I never have been, and considering I live thousands of miles away most likely never will be, an active member of the group.
That’s the beauty of banners and flags Keith. Not everyone who carries a Palestinian flag is from Palestine, and you have no evidence that those carrying Green Brigade paraphernalia on Sunday were members of the Green Brigade.
I could put on a red cape and change my name to Clark Kent, it doesn’t suddenly mean I’m going to be able to fly!
Still, you can’t blame Jackson for trying I suppose. I mean it’s certainly not the first time that the proverbial has hit the fan at a game in Scotland this season, and the reflexive reaction has been to blame The Green Brigade”.
But let’s be very generous, and assume that Jackson is able to prove what I believe are absolute lies on his part. Let’s just assume that he has evidence that actual, active members of the Green Brigade, currently subject to the collective punishment meted out by The Celtic Board were there. What Jackson goes on to slur out in his next line of crayon-scrawled gibberish is just straight up slander, not just of The Green Brigade, but of Celtic fans in general.
On the question of how the Green Brigade mysteriously appeared at Ibrox on Sunday, Jackson posits his own, utterly ludicrous theory. He added:
“Exactly how did this happen? Was this banned group sold match tickets directly by a club which has publicly disowned it? Or were they the ones caught on mobile phone footage, storming in through the turnstiles and bowling their way past security?
Let’s talk about this “footage” that Jackson seems to think is some kind of smoking gun, and clearly smoking to a far higher degree than the ignited pyros those Smackhead Smurfs the Union Bears were seen throwing into the Celtic end, in full view of the police. I'll mention that here since Jackson declined to include this “minor detail” in his scribblings this morning.
I think my friend and fellow ACSOM comrade Kevin Graham set the record straight on this one on yesterday’s ACSOM Bulletin. According to him, Police Scotland, in their infinite wisdom, tried to kettle and crush 7,000 Celtic fans through an entry point that normally accommodates a little over 10% of that number. Kevin is not prone to wild, unsupportable statements. Indeed, several other fans I have spoken with who were at the game verified his account of Sunday’s events.
If Celtic fans jumped barriers, I think, in the fullness of time, evidence will show they did so for their own safety, and thanks to the gross negligence of Police Scotland. There's also the conveniently ignored fact that any visiting supporters who reached the entry gates would have already had their tickets checked at the multiple police checkpoints that they had to pass through in order to get there in the first place.
Again, if any of this is wrong, or either Police Scotland or the Daily Record can produce solid evidence to the contrary then I invite them to do so.
Jackson’s article isn’t just lazy and spiteful, its actively dangerous. This “both sides” p*sh needs to stop. Yes, Celtic fans shouldn’t have been on the pitch, but as one fan summed up so brilliantly on social media yesterday: “When you charge almost a hundred yards, across a restricted area to engage your “attackers”, the claim of “self-defense” or “provocation” completely loses whatever flimsy legal basis it may have had.”
As I said on Sunday, no fans should have been on the pitch after the game, and Celtic will have to carry some responsibility for that. However, I don’t recall anything like the same outcry in the media when St. Mirren fans did the very same thing upon winning the league Cup last year. Funnily enough the only other major incident like Sunday I can recall is when Hibs won the Scottish Cup in 2016. Who was it they beat that day again?
Rangers have a massive problem with hooliganism, entitlement and the complete and total inability to be gracious losers. Celtic fans ended up on the pitch on Sunday because we won a huge victory in incredibly tense and adverse circumstances.
Rangers fans invaded the pitch because they simply couldn’t handle that the above happened on their turf.