Anti-Racism Campaigner Paul Elliott, Once Told A Little Lie About Rangers Fans

[DarcheVinny 1,003]

Anti-Racism Campaigner Paul Elliott, Once Told A Little Lie About Rangers Fans - by guest writer Brent MacFarlane

http://rangersmedia.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=879:paul-elliott-rangers-lie&catid=110:other&Itemid=618

[imgleft]http://rangersmedia.co.uk/images/resized/images/rangersfansanswers_200_200.jpg[/imgleft]“I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.

In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred”.

Extracts from Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ Speech – 28th August 1963.

Paul Elliott has a dream. Paul’s dream is to rid the British game of Racism and he will not be satisfied he tells all, until he achieves that dream.

If we’re all being honest with ourselves, it’s a grand dream, a dream that society in general should be striving to achieve not just football, if we’re honest football can only help modify the behaviour in the grounds, it can’t stop the prejudices that exist in everyday life.

For myself the biggest shock of the summer and indeed last season didn’t come from the fact that racism has not been eradicated from our game it was that some footballers are even bigger scumbags than we all imagined. Even as I write today a young Arsenal player Emmanuel Frimpong has been fined £6,000 by the FA for a tweet describing somebody as ‘Yid Scum’.

Paul none the less has worked tirelessly to achieve his dream. In 2003 he was awarded an MBE for his work with young players and his involvement with anti-racism initiatives in football. His work was again recognised just this year in the Queen’s birthday honours list when he received the CBE for his services to equality and diversity in football, with acknowledgement given to his work overseas in his roles at UEFA and the Football Against Racism in Europe network (FARE), the highest honour ever awarded to a player from the premier league era and as Kick It Out were quick to remind us all the first black footballer to achieve the higher CBE award.

But there are people out there who think racism hasn’t exactly been altogether bad for Paul. Let us not be misunderstood at this juncture, no one (certainly of sane mind) at all is advocating that the man deserved to be abused for the colour of his skin, he most certainly did not and I can’t stress enough how wrong I believe that to be and how heartfelt sorry I am that anybody from any walk of life should suffer in that way, however it must be highlighted that there is a feeling in certain circles that Paul has often embellished the truth to suit his own agenda and further his career & after looking at all the facts I find myself amongst them.

I first became aware of Paul Elliott in July 1989 when he signed for Celtic from Pisa for £650,000. He was a ball playing centre half, big, strong, good in the air and strong in the tackle. He read the game well and was not shy to put it about in true Scottish fashion (16 bookings in his first season is testament to that). In an interview with the ‘Scotsman’ on 22nd October 2002 Paul had this to say about his time in Italy.

"It was difficult throughout my career - there was monkey-chanting and booing, and I was the unfortunate victim of having a banana thrown at me. Actually, it’s one of my funniest stories," he said of that unsavoury incident, which happened in a game between Pisa and AS Roma in the Italian capital.

"I remember I was having a terrible time in the match, and somebody threw a banana which hit my leg. I actually picked up the banana, peeled back the skin and ate it, then threw it back at the offender.

"I remember talking to journalists afterwards, and they said: ‘Paul, why did you do that?’ I told them I was having a bad time, I had a much-improved second half and that was because of the nutritional value from the banana." - If you are a subscriber to The Scotsman, you can read that very article, here - http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-13000608.html

The incident clearly didn’t put him off Italian football too much as he took a job circa 1995 as a pundit alongside show regular James Richardson on the channel four programme ‘Football Itallia’ (I actually have a memory of him being quite good at it).

Ironically at the time of his signing Scottish football was still rightly suffering an embarrassing racism hangover of its own. In two of the most shameful incidents in its history some 17 months before; Mark Walters was showered with bananas & monkey chants from Celtic fans at Parkhead and again two weeks later by the Hearts fans at Tynecastle (Mark Walters called the latter the worst experience of his career) Celtic did publicly denounce the actions of the fans however unsurprisingly the Scottish Football Association remained silent on the racist abuse.

Elliot & Walters had actually been teammates at Aston Villa until 1987 when they both departed for Rangers and Pisa respectively. The ex-colleagues would cross swords 9 times in two seasons; Walters winning the tussles six games to Paul’s three with no draws.

Paul’s debut in the world famous fixture came at Ibrox on the 4th November 1989 before a crowd of 41,598; the game would be remembered for the moment former Celtic hero Maurice Johnstone broke his duck for Rangers against his old side with an 89th minute winner in a 1-0 win for Rangers.

Nonetheless Paul would play against Rangers a further three times that season losing twice more and winning one. His final meeting with Rangers that season again came at Ibrox in front of 41,926, Rangers thrashed Celtic 3-0, Mark Walters scoring the first on 28 minutes. Having lost the Scottish Cup 4th Round 1-0 to their oldest foes two months before, the Rangers support understandably were enjoying the moment, much to the distaste of Paul who made the mistake of giving the wanker sign to Copland Road end, the fans responded by booing Pauls every touch, so much so Paul tried to pass the booing off as racism even going as far to point at Mark Walters then himself as if to say ‘but he’s black too’.

Thankfully the incident didn’t put Paul off his time in Scotland and in the same interview with the ‘Scotsman’ he told the reporter.

"During my time in Scotland I had a wonderful time; the Scots are amongst the nicest, most sincere and compassionate people you could ever meet.”

However in a speech to the Runnymede Trust at their conference on ‘Cohesion Equality Diversity’ on the 19th January 2005 & just over two years after his interview with the ‘Scotsman’ Paul unbelievably had this to say about his time in Scotland - again, you can read this speech, after downloading a pdf file, here - http://www.runnymedetrust.org/projects-and-publications/projects/past-projects/civilRenewal/cohesion-diversity-equality-conference.html

“I served my time in Italy. From a professional point of view I felt I’d done a job, and then it was time to move on again and I moved to a place in Scotland. Scotland – there’s a strange mix. ‘vodka & whisky’ - we call it ‘racism & sectarianism’.

There are certain games that bring out the best in some people and the worst in others. One is called the ‘The Old Firm game’: Celtic V. Rangers. I recall my debut for Celtic, which was against Rangers in front of 67,000.”

Pauls actual Celtic debut came on 23rd September 1989 at Celtic Park and versus Motherwell, the attendance that day was 27, 182. The score finished 1-1 with Paul McStay scoring for the home side and as I’ve already illustrated Pauls first Glasgow derby actually game came at Ibrox in November 1989 having already played 7 times for Celtic, not only that the largest crowd Paul did play in front of during his time in Scotland was 62,817 in the league cup final at Hamden, a game in which he scored and his team lost 2-1 to a Richard Gough winner in extra time.

I was more than happy to concede here that it is entirely possible Paul merely got his debut & his first derby mixed up, that was until I read on:

“I recall I didn’t have the best of games, infact, I started terribly by scoring an own-goal. Didn’t help on my debut! The monkey chanting, the booing came out, far more vociferous than it’s ever been, and then I made a back pass which contributed to the second goal. So after 45 minutes we were 2-0 down courtesy of Paul Elliot.”

The only game against Rangers that season that Paul’s Celtic trailed 2-0 down at half time was his 28th game for the club and the clash I mentioned above at Ibrox; Maurice Johnstone added to the aforementioned Mark Walters goal & Ally McCoist scored a third on 78 minutes for good measure.

Furthermore in Paul’s whole time at Celtic he only ever trailed Rangers 2-0 in one other game coming on 2nd January 1991, Mark Walters scored in the first half after 35 minutes and the second goal from Mark Hateley didn’t come until the 78th minute of the second half and this was at Ibrox in front of 38,399. I also feel it’s worth pointing out here that if Paul had scored an own goal and then contributed to a second, the last thing the Rangers support or indeed any football support worldwide would be doing is booing him, we’d be sarcastically cheering his every touch! Maybe he meant his own fans?

Still Paul continued…

“The second half of the game, things got better. The banana throwing wasn’t as bad and I recall a particular incident where, when the ball went out of play, I went to get the ball and there were 3 or 4 bananas, and I actually picked up a banana, took a bite and threw it back at the offender.”

What? I mean seriously, what?

Now it doesn’t take an intimate knowledge of Scottish football to know that there is a fair degree of one-upmanship between the Rangers & Celtic support and had Paul Elliott actually picked up a banana, eat it and throw it back at the Rangers support it would have been one of the most iconic images and moments in Scottish football history, up there with John Barnes back healing the banana in the Merseyside derby at Goodison, shown & replayed again and again and again to all and sundry. So how then every single cameraman, tv crew and fan in the ground seemed to miss such a ground breaking moment of defiance in one of the most watched derby games in world football is quite frankly anybody guess.

This is before of course we even look at how it’s a case a cynic might describe as remarkably similar to his time in Italy as recounted to the Scotsman and from a fan base who were outraged at the same treatment netted out to their own black star, a man as you can probably tell by now from the article, hero worshipped, if for nothing more than how many times he put the old enemy to the sword, so the Rangers support were hardly likely to abuse another black player from any team especially when Mark was on the pitch, which he was ,every single time Paul played against Rangers.

Paul goes on…

“Now, in many respects, I think it was the right thing to do because there were roars of laughter from the opposing supporters and I thought ‘well this is incredible.’ I didn’t want to eat too much and cause myself stomach issues for the rest of the game but within 15 minutes I’d contributed to scoring, via an assist. Celtic were then losing just 2-1. And in about the 87th minute I scored the equaliser myself. So I felt redeemed.”

As I’ve already alluded to, Paul played 9 Glasgow derby’s losing six and winning 3. In the two seasons he spent at Celtic, the club only drew once with Rangers, it came at Ibrox on the 15th November 1990, Terry Hurlock equalising for Rangers on 65 minutes with his first goal for the club after Derek White playing in place of a certain Paul Elliott missing due to suspension scored the opener for Celtic, the crowd that day was 39,543.

Paul did score twice against Rangers in his time in Glasgow the first coming the league cup final defeat mentioned earlier where Richard Gough & Mark Walters scored for Rangers and his second goal against the light blues came in a home defeat a month later with Maurice Johnstone & Ally McCoist doing the damage for Rangers, the crowd that day at Parkhead was 50,761.

“Now I recall, after the game everybody was delighted, over the moon, and I remember this particular journalist came up to me and said ‘Paul, I know the game is about two halves, but this is ridiculous. How can you be so poor in the first half then play reasonably well in second half?’ He said to me, ‘well, what was the most influential factor?’ And I said: ‘well, don’t you know the nutritional value of a banana? That was said live on television, so all of a sudden, that’s how I learned to turn negative into positive.”

'Reasonably well'!? If this was a Hollywood movie we’d be saying it was far-fetched, and demanding it was immediately turned over. As for this TV interview, not only was this not said on live TV, not only is it almost the same answer he told ‘The Scotsman’ he gave in Italy, it wasn’t said at all because like the game, the goals, the own goal and the banana throwing, the only place this game occurred was actually in Paul Elliott’s head, he didn’t even manage to get the venue right!

For what it’s worth Paul actually was subjected to monkey chanting in Scottish football, it came in his third game for Celtic in the first half of a 1-1 draw with Aberdeen at Pittodrie in front of 20,918 but the worst thing about this fantasy tale at the conference is that Elliott is not just some after dinner speaker, working the circuit trying to make a crust for his family after his football career was tragically cut short; he is a key figure for an anti-racism group who has been caught red handed telling lies, lies which are now being passed as fact.

Now don’t get me wrong the Rangers support are no angels nor would we ever claim to be, we don’t seek phoney praise or token gesture awards for being well behaved, we aren’t even after your sympathy for what we have all endured these last few months but we do deserve a damn sight better than this especially from a man who not only should know better, it’s his job to be in such cases, no pun intended: ‘whiter than white’.

These lies are detrimental to the good work that has been done and to minorities and the constant battle against racism they face, yet when the Runnymeade Trust conference took place Rangers fans who tried to highlight these vicious lies in the face of the facts were called liars and even racists!

Man Utd fans sing about Liverpool slums, City fans have sung about the Munich disaster, Spurs fans call themselves ‘the Yid Army’, Aberdeen fans mock the Ibrox disaster, Hibs fans sing about a Hearts player being a refugee, Greame Le Saux took homophobic chants for ten years but the moment some fans sing that Adebayors father washes elephants the moral outcry from the anti-racism groups is hysterical, they don’t seem too concerned that the second line of that song is ‘his mother is a whore’.

Has racism in football now become such a one Way Street that a black player only has to accuse a white player or fan of being racist and it’s immediately taken as fact or at best guilty until proven otherwise? It would certainly appear so as far as Kick It Out and its media cheerleaders are concerned who even went as far as suggesting this summer that the England Managers reasons for leaving out a player we’re politically motivated; would they have made the same statement if John Terry had been the player to miss out?

Or indeed would Lord Ousley’s reaction at a recent Wembley conference of ‘surprised Ferdinand had been charged’ been the same had a white player used the term ‘choc ice’ about a fellow black professional?

It seems not if Elliott’s furious reaction to Sepp Blatter’s November 2011 comments regarding racism being dealt with by a handshake. In an interview with the Daily Records Hugh Keevins on 18th November 2011, Elliott spoke of being ’terribly disappointed on a personal level & went as far as to suggest the FIFA president had been guilty of a criminal offence’.

“If you make racist remarks in the street you can be prosecuted under the public offences act. If you do the same thing on a football pitch the football offences act of 1992 covers that eventuality. Not even the president of FIFA is above the law. It’s not right that such a powerful man harbours these views on racism. There must be a consistent, zero tolerance approach taken to this subject.”

So given the facts I’m sure Paul will accept he’s guilty of an offence too?

For the last few months I like many Rangers fans before me have tried to no avail to have this story highlighted, however last week I managed to get in touch with the Chairman of the Professional Footballers Association Clark Carlisle, who himself has recently finished an excellent BBC documentary on Racism in Football. I asked one simple question’ What would your thoughts be on someone lying about racial abuse’ he replied ‘I really don’t know about this one, I’d hope no-one would do that, it would be very detrimental to all the work that has gone on’. Clarke also offered to read this piece, have a look at the facts and in his words ‘Give him a bell!!!’

The Rangers support are not asking for Paul Elliott to face charges, they’re not trying to stop the man doing his job, a job I believe he does well, but they do deserve an apology, they do deserve an admission that Paul got it very wrong and they do deserve an answer and to have this slur and stain removed. After all in Paul's own words:

“When it comes to racism no one is above the law. There can’t be room for any complacency. Because racism doesn’t stop. It keeps going, and all of us as adults, have responsibilities to work against it with whatever capacity we can.”

So let’s sit back and see if Paul Marcellus Elliott is a man of his word or just another liar frantically trying to cover his tracks.

[BLUEDIGNITY 33,647]

Like most of these types of campaigners elliot is a racist and with being associated with the vilest club in the World he'll be a big Rangers Hater and their sectarian puppet !

[philiprfc 1,799]

Very good read, but seriously, what the fuck? How the hell has he been getting away with that? Absolutely pathetic.

[Chuck_Fickens 425]

Disgusting and undermines any good work he's done.

[MisterC 12,272]

Shocking and yes it does undermine the good work organisations like kick it out have done. I hold no truck with racism, I find it abhorrent. What I find even more abhorrent is when people lie and make more of a problem than actually exists and make up stories to get attention or whatever. That is even worse as it just whips up the hatred even more. Paul Elliott should be ashamed and should apologise and perhaps step back from his work.

[Guest]

Typical sellik shite, make up a story and repeat it over and over until all of your fans believe it. Doesnt matter if its not true and that no one but them believe it, as long as they believe their own lies theyre happy.

[King Jela 20,361]

What a complete cunt.

[King Jela 20,361]

Fuck this, I'm starting my own anti-white racism campaign.

[GWR1979 1,964]

Saw this article in No1 last season, another example of if you say a story enough times it will be passed off as fact.

[WVB 2,560]

Whats that?

Selik signed a lying scumbag?

Again?

That club is a magnet for sub-human trash.

[Edmiston Drive 3,846]

Interestin aside ..Mark Walters could not stand elliot, sat beside Marks wife and his bug buddy called Everton at the glitterdome when she was subject to ridiculous name calling, also in that game elliot caught a sore one and she said ..mark will be hoping that was a sore one.

Another story from the above..the cup final mentioned when we one 2-1 with Gough scoring the winner............Gary Stevens gave me his jersey from that game

[theiconicman 2,991]

Interestin aside ..Mark Walters could not stand elliot, sat beside Marks wife and his bug buddy called Everton at the glitterdome when she was subject to ridiculous name calling, also in that game elliot caught a sore one and she said ..mark will be hoping that was a sore one.

Another story from the above..the cup final mentioned when we one 2-1 with Gough scoring the winner............Gary Stevens gave me his jersey from that game

Are you fucking Tom Jones' brother? Or did he learn name dropping from you?

[Edmiston Drive 3,846]

Are you fucking Tom Jones' brother? Or did he learn name dropping from you?

Jees if you think that's name dropping ..well I had better not reply to other threads with instances that have happened

[Phil 1,150]

Does anyone actually know if the Italian incident with the banana actually happened then, or is that just his favourite story?

An apology is the very least he should be expected of after this.

[theiconicman 2,991]

Jees if you think that's name dropping ..well I had better not reply to other threads with instances that have happened

I've read all the other threads, this one just broke the camels toe...

[bigmunsen 64]

Yet another thing us gers fans are accused of, if it aint true then this is a disgrace,somethibg must be done to protect our name.

[Carsons Dog 9,878]

Jees if you think that's name dropping ..well I had better not reply to other threads with instances that have happened

We're you at Molly Sugdens wedding?

[WATP-FOREVER 5,231]

Are you fucking Tom Jones' brother? Or did he learn name dropping from you?

Don't worry Edmiston Drive - It's not unusual to be loved by anyone....

[bouncin' bear 617 28]

Re:The game at Ibrox when we pumped the kiddie fiddlers 3-0 and el*iot pointed to Mark Walters

when we were givin' him abuse as if to say "he's black too".

I was in the Copeland front when he did that and i remember shouting at him,

not that he would have heard during a Rangers v septic game.

"It's no because a the colour o yer skin,it's because a the colour o yer jersey.......ya cunt".

Think that game was one of the first league games to be shown live on sky/bskyb.

Also the game were Mo Johnston scored his first goal for us against septic,went to game without tix and didnae get one,

so waited outside Ibrox(or may have went to stadium bar) and when the shutters for the east enclosure were opened with about

5 mins to go me and a few other bears ran in body swervin' the stewards on the way.

Stood at the very back of the ee couldnae see fuck all cause the ground was still packed.

After about 2 mins of tryin' in vain to see the action guy in front of me says to his mate "Fuck this lets go".

At last i could see the action.

Must have been 30 secs/ 1 min later at most when Mo scored fae the edge of the box with only seconds remaining.

Needless to say we all went fuckin' mental.

Even though i was only inside Ibrox for the last 3/4 mins max a was still hoarse the next day.

Fuckin' magic.

[KirkBroadband 203]

Re:The game at Ibrox when we pumped the kiddie fiddlers 3-0 and el*iot pointed to Mark Walters

when we were givin' him abuse as if to say "he's black too".

I was in the Copeland front when he did that and i remember shouting at him,

not that he would have heard during a Rangers v septic game.

"It's no because a the colour o yer skin,it's because a the colour o yer jersey.......ya cunt".

Think that game was one of the first league games to be shown live on sky/bskyb.

Also the game were Mo Johnston scored his first goal for us against septic,went to game without tix and didnae get one,

so waited outside Ibrox(or may have went to stadium bar) and when the shutters for the east enclosure were opened with about

5 mins to go me and a few other bears ran in body swervin' the stewards on the way.

Stood at the very back of the ee couldnae see fuck all cause the ground was still packed.

After about 2 mins of tryin' in vain to see the action guy in front of me says to his mate "Fuck this lets go".

At last i could see the action.

Must have been 30 secs/ 1 min later at most when Mo scored fae the edge of the box with only seconds remaining.

Needless to say we all went fuckin' mental.

Even though i was only inside Ibrox for the last 3/4 mins max a was still hoarse the next day.

Fuckin' magic.

Fucking hell mate dito! Done exactly the same thing never forget it.

[Edmiston Drive 3,846]

I've read all the other threads, this one just broke the camels toe...

thing is all the things I say re people are spot on

[Edmiston Drive 3,846]

We're you at Molly Sugdens wedding?

No...................was playing with her pussy

[eosmhdo 1,879]

My post slagging off Elliot got deleted from here

It was a wee tiny bit racist but you were allowed to speak back then and even Elliot laughed at it at the time.

If Charlie Green was an admin on here he would stand up for me

[Bothwellbear 1,392]

The annoying thing is that he is ruining the good work that he has put in. It is unnecessary to say the least and picking on the easy target. Racism is something that must be stamped out of football and life in general as it is repulsive and infuriating. These words from Elliot do nothing but make people angry and are probably more divisive. I would like to see him retract these words and actually go about trying to tackle racism rather than talking shite.

[El Carpintero 546]

Jesus. Has he been asked about all these lies?