Open letter to the SPL

[BLUE CYCLOPS 26]

Gentlemen of the SPL management committee,

To start this open letter off let me quote you a statement (not football related but

bear with me). Last Christmas the 5 Church of England Archbishops said in their

Christmas message ----- "New Labour is morally corrupt".

What has this to do with you in the SPL?

Two of the more unsavoury senior members of the New Labour inner circle are heavily

involved in the affairs of a Glasgow Football team whose morallity has been questioned

on many occasions. Coincidence? You tell me!

I am not Scottish but I can remember when a small country like Scotland produced some

of the best players and administrators in World football. The name SCOTLAND was writ

large in those days. Compare then with now. Obviously money (or lack of it) has played

a big part in the lowering of Scottish footballs reputation but money (or lack of it)

is no excuse for the lack of moral fibre shown by Scotlands football administrators.

Another OF game has been and gone but the weeping and wailing continues unabated.

There has been a campaign of late (and it is gathering pace) to portray Scottish

football as bigoted and biased against one club in particular.Obviously this only

applies when they loose and is remarkably selective in what it sees but failure to

address this issue will only serve to damage Scotlands reputation even further.

This campaign starts in the week before an OF game and begins by calling for "strong

referees". The clear intent is to draw the worlds allention to the "fact" that

Scottish football is rotten and corrupt. This is you they are talking about.

Your failure to challenge these claims in the past has led to the present situation

that where constant repetition of these claims means large numbers of people will

believe them to be true.

In Sundays OF game,a Rangers player was seen to "sucker" a Celtic defender into a

clumsy tackle and then he fell over to gain a penalty.

"Unethical" some will shout and they would be right.

"Cheating" will be the call of those more annoyed and they would be right as well.

But all over the world every week thousands (perhaps Millions) will fall over to gain

an advantage. This does not make it right, but does this justify the howls of outrage

and moral indignation from Parkhead?

Let me quote you a number of incidents over the past few years showing the actions and

intent of these "moral guardians" of Scottish football.

A few years ago during a season when Celtic were playing in a European trophy,some of

the ex-professional pundits in the tv studio, were heard to draw attention to Celtics

continual cheating during games. One pundit remarked "how often Chris Sutton gets

himself into positions where he,s going to be fouled"

On another occasion another professional expressed his annoyance at "Celtic

continually playing for dead ball situations".(eg,. Free kicks and penalties)

These were not incidents of an individual player conning the referee, but were clear

demonstrations of Celtics team tactic of continually cheating for penalties etc,.

All these dives and simulations were witnessed all over Europe but no one ever phoned

the Irish Embassy to complain. No one demanded "clarification" of the Referees

parentage.

A few years ago Celtic demanded the cancellation of a game because "the club was in

shock" over the death of a player who had played for the club many years earlier. It

was surely coincidental, I imagine, that Celtic had a game against Rangers that

weekend and one of their key players was under suspension and unable to play. By

getting the game postponed to a later date Celtic were able to play their strongest

team against Rangers.

Incidently, the team the man did play for fulfilled their fixture that week and held

a silence of respect for their player.

A few months later a genuine Celtic legend died. Celtic could, and should, have

cancelled thier game that week as a mark of respect, but by this time, Rangers were in

the middle of a run which took them to a European cup final and led to a backlog of

fixtures. The football world looked on in amazement as the SPL, at Celtics insistence,

refused Rangers request for an extension. Celtic claimed to have a tour of the Far

East arranged which could not be broken. The tour disappeared as quickly as the

extension and the "integrity of the league" was maintained. No,realy.

So now you can see why I quoted the message of the Archbishops regarding "morally

corrupt" people and why Scotlands name is laughed at in world football.

It might already be too late but failure to stop this rot now will surely cost SPL any

little respect it might have left.

[McWeedy 28]

I’m sorry to be critical but I find this kind of thing absolutely cringe worthy. Celtic (both club and supporters) ooze paranoia and bitterness and continuously manifest it in letters to the SPL, the media and other bodies. I’d like to think our support has a bit more class.

The SPL are not going to care about pundit statements from six years ago and neither should we. We need to take the high ground which, while it may hinder us in the short term, will give us far more credibility than Celtic in the future.

I wonder how many such letters the SPL get. Perhaps if they didn’t waste their time reading nine paragraphs of nonsense from every fan that wants one up on their rivals they could get down to fixing this countries national sport.

[Ben10 2,016]

I'd try spell-check, oh and grammar-check. Other than that..

[Bluepeter9 5,167]

Dont join the paranoi loyal - just dont!

[OceanRain 2,845]

We have more class than this.

We really do.

[bombaybadboy08 15,660]

Good post,a lot of truth in that.

Don't see what's paranoid about it,it is about time the SPL told them to shut the fuck up.

It was fine when Sutton,Nakamura etc when were winning soft penalties/free-kicks,hey they even won the league due to a soft free-kick against Killie.

Official's safety are being compromised due to the vile mouth of Lennon encouraging the hordes.

[OceanRain 2,845]

Good post,a lot of truth in that.

Don't see what's paranoid about it,it is about time the SPL told them to shut the fuck up.

It was fine when Sutton,Nakamura etc when were winning soft penalties/free-kicks,hey they even won the league due to a soft free-kick against Killie.

Official's safety are being compromised due to the vile mouth of Lennon encouraging the hordes.

Best get your blue crayon out then.

[bombaybadboy08 15,660]

Best get your blue crayon out then.

Why ? For stating facts?

They are moaning two faced bastards and the SPL should gave a word.

[TravelingWilBEARy 4,319]

This is beyond parody.

Well done.

[WeeBlue 39]

It's a good post with a lot valid points but let's not stoop to their level.. Who gives a toss what their club, manager or fans think!

[BLUEDIGNITY 32,839]

The poison in Scottish Football and indeed Scottish politics emulates from John Reid, he must be hounded along with his lap dog lennon from all walks of decent Scottish life ?

[TravelingWilBEARy 4,319]

The poison in Scottish Football and indeed Scottish politics emulates from John Reid, he must be hounded along with his lap dog lennon from all walks of decent Scottish life ?

I am going to agree with you for the first time ever. John Reid is a loathsome scumbag.

[ab4113 124]

The poster, was just trying to state, we have let this shite go on for

too long, people are starting to believe there 'poor irish victims' tag

that this shower of shite like to have us believe

[cameron1873 498]

Stuff like this makes me hate these forums because for every half decent post there is ten like these

[Bluepeter9 5,167]

I am going to agree with you for the first time ever. John Reid is a loathsome scumbag.

Yep - has showed himself up on far to many occasions - as a paranoid and bitter wee man, liar to boot and manipulator of the truth (and a master at deflection) - and I am a 'traditional' labour supporter to boot but he and his ilk are the reason I find myself at odds with the party I should be aligned with.

[bear822 80]

It's a good post with a lot valid points but let's not stoop to their level.. Who gives a toss what their club, manager or fans think!

While I agree about not stooping to their level, maintaining the moral high ground is starting to work against us.

If something is said loud enough and long enough without being challenged, more people start to believe it, the

more that happens, more credence is given to the statements, regardless of whether their is any truth to them or not.

So while the club continue to take the "dignified silence" stance, people on the outside are beginning to ask why.

Do Rangers have something to hide ? Are the ruling bodies of Scottish football corrupt ? Can there really be a

campaign against one club in Scotland due to religion.

We may know that there isn't but by keeping silent we are leaving ourselves open to being branded guilty by association.