Graham Spiers - A cause for Celebration

[D'Artagnan 13,319]

http://www.heraldsco...-bbc.1371631860

For those who haven't read Graham Spiers Herald article from today, may I respectfully suggest you do as I doubt you will find a better example of sub standard journalism anywhere.

The article by Mr Spiers follows on from yesterdays BBC Trust ESC ruling which declared BBC Scotland inaccurate in their use of language and terminology to describe our club. Mr Spiers argues that Rangers did in fact die and are in essence a new club. To support his assertion he cites a number of examples including comments from Richard Gough, Charles Green, Jim Traynor, Walter Smith and an Ibrox debenture .

Those who are familiar with courtrooms will notice the absence of any expert witnesses from the examples cited by Spiers. An expert witness of course has both the authority and expertise rather than just the passion for the subject matter.

In terms of journalistic integrity one has to consider how Mr Spiers can omit the testimony of so many expert witnesses who have ruled on the issue, and only include the passionate but nevertheless unqualified indivduals he has seen fit to support his assertion. It seems almost inconceivable that such an experienced journalist could make such a glaring and schoolboy error.

But we have a newspaper industry in crisis with plummeting sales and I’m sure more than a few journalists are getting a bit twitchy about what the future holds. I noticed the aforementioned Mr Spiers recently on twitter blowing his own trumpet (no doubt for his editor's benefit) with regard to his interview with Donald Findlay, hailing it the most read article in the Herald. Is this the game Mr Spiers has been reduced to ? Imbalanced articles and controversial characters in order to boost his readership figures ? This latest one has all the subtlety of a fisherman with a enormous hook deliberately baiting the Rangers support in order to get hits. I say that because quite honestly no journalist could be that bad surely ?

I of course realise that in providing a link to his article I will boost his figures. But I quite sure in the long run the excellence and quality of the articles produced by another Herald journalist, Richard Wilson, will win out over the nonsense produced by Spiers. Richard Wilson is obviously a journalist in the thick of things, working contacts, sources and following up on leads to deliver articles of balance and substance. Spiers on the hand is the epitome of Alex Thomson's attack on the Scottish press - “lazy and sycophantic”. If ever there was a case of a journalist resting on his laurels then Graham Spiers is it. (For the hard of hearing please note I said laurels not morals, as that is something, which like his expert witnesses, Mr Spiers appears to be lacking)

And what of those expert witnesses which Mr Spiers fail to cite. For instance Lord Nimrod Smith, one of country’s most respected legal experts who ruled :-

In common speech a Club is treated as a recognisable entity which is capable of being owned and operated, and which continues in existence despite its transfer to another owner and operator. In legal terms, it appears to us to be no different from any other undertaking which is capable of being carried on, bought and sold.

The irony is of course that such a ruling was made on the occasion of this “new club” answering to the charges of “the old club”. Another aspect Mr Spiers appears to have missed when he was busy noting responses from debenture holders.

Mr Spiers also fails to mention the SFA, the SPL, UEFA and the European Clubs Association. Not forgetting the Advertising Standards Authority whose very involvement highlights the ridiculous measures some will stoop to.

With no disrespect to Richard Gough, Jim Traynor or an Ibrox debenture holder, I think I know who I would rather have ruling that my club has a continued existence.

But I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Spiers. His shoddy, poorly prepared and poorly researched article only serves to highlight the absence of intelligent argument for those who wish to delude themselves that Rangers have “died”.

Rangers – Now, Then & Forever, (Confirmed by expert witnesses)

[Crespie6 334]

great piece D, but i will never click on a link to his site. or anyone else i feel is unworthy of my attention. its the only way to get rid of them

[there'sonlyoneamoruso 1,724]

I didn't read his article and thanks to this piece I won't have to. Spiers is a troll and we should just ignore him.

[minstral 5,375]

He loves the the attention, as he is washed up as a reporter.

[gogzy 31,195]

good read, the man is a cretin.

[Johnny Hubbard 280]

He's not a troll, neither is he simply a buffoon. He's a bitter tim and has been as long as I can remember. His assertions that he was brought up as a Rangers supporter is laughable and no one in their right mind would believe it. He has done everything he could to denigrate our club and supporters and at the same time writes fawning treacle about Celtic

[Jonok 1,245]

Should be banned from Ibrox.

[gogzy 31,195]

Should be banned from Ibrox.

Id rather he was banned from oxygen.

[Redwhiteandblue 3,330]

Is he a BBC employee?

[MisterC 12,460]

Cunt of a man and the worst type of fisherman.

[jintybear 8,660]

"Spiers on Sport The acrimonious debate continues about whether Rangers FC is a new club or not. BBC Scotland is just the latest to feel the hot wrath of some angry Rangers fans railing at its editorial stance. In fact, those Rangers fans have scored a notable victory in having a complaint to the Editorial Standards Committee about BBC Scotland upheld. At least two supporters objected to the BBC in Glasgow occasionally referring to Rangers in terms of "old club" and "new club", and their complaint was upheld. What was thrown out was the daft accusation, frequently cited among some Rangers cyber zealots, that the BBC was biased against the club. My point here is not to defend BBC Scotland. In this complex Rangers saga, it has become obvious to me, speaking to various insolvency practitioners, that "new club" or "same club" Rangers is a highly subjective issue. I've heard the entire gamut of interpretations on it. Where Rangers struggle to be angry or insulted by the suggestion that their organisation is a "new club" is in this context: at least four Rangers principals, men who have been lauded by supporters, have expressed just such a view of Rangers as a new club. First, Charles Green. Prior to Rangers' descent into liquidation last year, Green was aghast at the attitude of Dave King, a long-standing Rangers director, who had urged that a CVA be voted down by the club's 276 creditors. Incredulous at this, Green went on television and said: "What he [King] is suggesting is that, rather than get a CVA through that retains all the history and tradition, that instead we should vote against it and go down the newco route. I mean…why would a true Rangers fan suggest that?" In this, the view of Green, the man to whom many Rangers fans swooned, appears none too different to that of BBC Scotland and others. Arguably, no Rangers figure in this debate finds himself in a more excruciating position than James Traynor, the club's Director of Communication. Time and space here doesn't allow for the sheer number of times that Traynor, in his previous role as a journalist, emphatically pronounced Rangers to be a new club once liquidation became a reality. Yet he has the temerity now to argue the complete opposite. Of the numerous times Traynor weighed in on this subject, just two quotes here will have to suffice. With liquidation looming, Traynor wrote in the Daily Record: "Some Rangers fans believe the club's history, which would end with liquidation, must be protected. But any newco should make it clear that a new beginning means exactly that: a new club open to all from the very beginning." Later on, with the Rangers CVA being rejected, Traynor wrote: "Rangers FC as we know them are dead." Caustically, he added: "No matter how Charles Green attempts to dress it up, a newco equals a new club. When the CVA was thrown out, Rangers as we know them died." Reading this type of stuff, I would urge Rangers to exercise supreme caution in railing against anyone who dares to call their club a new club; none other than their own Director of Communication has made his view perfectly clear on the subject. Many a Rangers fan expressed the view that the club died with the descent into liquidation. Typical of this was Ibrox debenture holder Stewart Boal who, having stumbled out of the CVA meeting of June 2012, was quoted by Richard Wilson in The Herald as saying: "We're in shock. The club is gone. We've got to start again and move on." Wilson, a fine reporter, himself wrote of that nine-minute creditors' meeting where the CVA was rejected: "In those few minutes 140 years of history had been rubbed out." I could go on and on here. Richard Gough, one of Rangers' greatest ever captains, wrote in a newspaper column: "The club I gave blood, sweat and tears for is dead." Walter Smith, one of the greatest figures in Rangers' history, and now the club's chairman, said of Green's consortium taking over: "I wish the new Rangers Football Club every good fortune." This is a painful subject. Many Rangers fans are agonised at the thought of their club being new - they simply rule it out. "It's the company, not the club," became the mantra. Other Rangers observers - like me - find it hard to escape the view that the current club is a new club. Rangers FC itself should think twice about laying into BBC Scotland or anyone else over this old club/new club debate. The more so when its own oral history on the subject is so weak."

That should stop clicks on the toxic website! The guy is a

[delamonty 992]

Superb D"Art -- and all true

Really liked this. Sums it up perfectly.

In terms of journalistic integrity one has to consider how Mr Spiers can omit the testimony of so many expert witnesses who have ruled on the issue, and only include the passionate but nevertheless unqualified indivduals he has seen fit to support his assertion. It seems almost inconceivable that such an experienced journalist candidate make such a glaring and schoolboy error.

[cerberusandorthus 184]

I take it D'Artagnan, that you are using the term journalist very loosely.

[the goal machine 7,824]

So fucking bored by this "debate".

[allgers 735]

There is no doubt in my mind that spiers is a troll, if he believes what he is writting he is a half witted troll. In a nutshell he is becoming less relavant to the Rangers story every time he picks up his pen.

[scarkev 3,540]

Speirs is an intelligent man and I seriously doubt he personally cares one way or another about the legal arguments as to our club status....he does this purely for attention and to create controversy...the legal arguments are there for all to see yet he chooses to ignore them and focus on the twisted comments of employees and former players who may have been pushed into those answers or the answers may well have been taken out of context. Either way as d'art says their experience is not in this area and their views hold no more weight than that of your average football fan....

It's difficult to know what to do in this situation...graham has said on numerous occasions that "we can't escape our history" and used examples of historic "sectarian singing" when it suits to have a go at us....should we just ignore him, ban him or just pity him? Some journalists just seem determined to cause controversy and others have a clear agenda against us yet some still wont aknowledge that within our own support....

[D'Artagnan 13,319]

I take it D'Artagnan, that you are using the term journalist very loosely.

No very very very loosely

[johnw 22]

would i be wrong in saying newco is short for new company??

[IanFerguson2012 123]

Good post but not going to read his nonsense. I can tell it's Rangers, the same Rangers & nothing but the Rangers & that's all that matters to me.

[BlueAvenger 10,516]

I wont click on the link because I don't want contaminated !! Spiers the proven liar.....he is a bhigot who has made a career out of hating Rangers. A "journalist"....more like Billy Liar or Walter Mitty !! he cannot accept facts and the truth about our club. His arrogance and delusions of grandeur are laughable. Spiers is an employee of BBC Scotland and the Herald.....a match made in hell !! Ban this lying nonentity from Ibrox

[Don81 2,850]

When I read the title of your thread I thought he was dead . Very misleading.

[WilliamFyfe 1,438]

Fuck reading anything Spiers writes

[keithgersbear 3,225]

So fucking bored by this "debate".

The arguments they have are flawed.

The interest is contradictory to what they say. If they claim we are a new club, no one takes a interest in new clubs which start up. If we are a new club, there isn't going to be an obsession about us. Truth is all these things are happening. So its a lot of nonsense frankly. Graham Spiers will claim we are a new club, yet he takes such a huge interest in this new club which has no footballing history at all, that is going by his logic.

What a load of absolute rubbish to try and sell papers. Spending hours writing about a club which is just new? Why the obsession with a new club? People should put those questions to these idiots.

Graham Spiers is what is wrong with Scottish football in general. He has no interest in the sport, he only wants to stoke tension, talk utter bollocks and try to sell newspapers.

[Dutchy 1,200]

Is he a BBC employee?

I believe, like a lot of them, they are regarded as self-employed, but he depends on getting BBC Scotland gigs to swell his income.

The man may well have certain qualifications, but he has no 'social' intelligence and is a wee brat sitting banging away at his laptop creating fictitious articles for whoever is stupid enough to pay him.

A complete dunderheid as we used to say.

[54andcounting 627]

V☆☆☆☆☆B BBC S Slayer ‏@Naefearrfc17m

@GrahamSpiers I was complaint A and all the evidence that Rangers are Rangers was me! against was BBC Scotland! I won!

V☆☆☆☆☆B BBC S Slayer ‏@Naefearrfc8m

@GrahamSpiers What matters is that the BBC S lost,remember "The Trust upheld two complaints"that is "precise language and due accuracy"

V☆☆☆☆☆B BBC S Slayer ‏@Naefearrfc2m

@GrahamSpiers All this hate towards Rangers but you earn a living out of it! So ironic!!!

Right got that out of my system!