Wednesday round up: One p***k, two apologies, a car-park scrap and a Nazi flag
The first weekend of the new season didn't disappoint - but we really need Rangers, the BBC and Police Scotland to do better.
Blue-and-white army growing?
Quite a week of contrast for Killie fans.
It began with a summer trip to Bruges, with fans soaking up the sun (and Jupiler) before a Europa League qualifier, and ended at Parkhead.
The trips were a laugh but the football left a lot to be desired as they lost both games without scoring.
More than 2,000 of them made that trip to Belgium and delighted the locals with a march to the stadium, bagpipes and all.
We don’t yet know how many Killie fans travelled to Celtic on Sunday but, from the look of the away end, I’d wager it was more than 10 months ago.
According to Police Scotland data provided by Celtic, just 176 Kilmarnock fans were in the away end to see their side lose 3-1 last October.
And there were only 274 of them when the two teams met at the same venue for a 1-1 draw in February.
Let’s hope those attendances keep on rising - particularly if they do well in the Conference League.
Good luck to them tomorrow against Tromso.
BBC Scotland fail
The Championship season kicked off on Friday night with a cracker of a game in Falkirk as the hosts entertained Queen’s Park before 5,505 fans.
Chirping birds in the background
The first half was entertaining, with a goal each, before Falkirk took an early second-half league.
It was a nail-biting conclusion to the game as Queen’s Park piled on the pressure - only those watching on the Beeb didn’t get to see.
For, around the 89th minute mark, viewers were greeted with this.
It went on like that (amusingly with the sound of chirping birds in the background) for five minutes - and eventually came back to three sheepish presenters stood on the touchline with the match over, blaming a power cut.
Just as well for the BBC that there wasn’t a late equaliser.
Couldn’t be bothered to reply
I put in a press enquiry on Saturday asked the BBC exactly what went wrong and if they’d like to apologise.
They couldn’t even be bothered to reply. Not bad value for my £13 a month licence-fee payment, eh?
BBC Scotland fail (part 2)
Before the big Premiership kick off on Saturday lunchtime, a radio panel was discussing the merits of Todd Cantwell staying at or leaving Rangers.
During the discussion, former Hibs and Hearts player Michael Stewart speculated on whether Cantwell is “a bit of a p***k”.
Presenter Kenny MacIntyre apologised - but was it necessary?
The tabloids made it sound like a direct attack, but Stewart was merely hypothesising.
You have to ask - what’s the point of the BBC paying guests to go on the show for their opinion (based on experience from a long footballing career) if it has to be censored within an inch of its life?
Keystone cops
At least the Beeb didn’t have as bad of a weekend as Police Scotland, whose officers somehow missed a brawl between St Mirren and Hibs fans in Paisley just after full-time.
It must have been hard for them to see it…what with it being in the stadium car park.
Anyway, I’ve asked for the police incident report from the game so we’ll find out in a month’s time exactly how the matchday commander got it so spectacularly wrong.
Keystone cops (part 2)
But at least the target at St Mirren was a moving one.
Not like at Tynecastle, where a blatant Nazi flag was displayed in the away end for 90 minutes without batting an eyelid among the boys in blue.
The loonybin Great Replacement Theory
The blue-and-white banner had ‘no surrender’ emblazoned across the middle, a Nazi skull and bonus symbol in one corner, and ‘expand or perish’ in another - a clear reference to the loonybin Great Replacement Theory.
The Scottish Sun called it a ‘sick display’.
After the game, I asked Rangers for their view and a spokesman said: “We can confirm that we are aware of this matter.
"The club repeats its strong condemnation of the display of such imagery and confirms that an investigation is already underway.”
Auf Wiedersehen, yet?
Maybe the police top brass at the game were too busy reminiscing about their summer jolly in Germany when they acted as ‘advisors’ to local police for Scotland’s three group games.
They had such a good time out there that they haven’t yet got round to writing their three police-incident reports from the games.
“Ask again in a month,” said the reply to my FOI request.
I shall.
Those reports are always illuminating - particularly because they offer an insight into police officers with absolutely no powers above an ordinary citizen (as they are abroad) often forgetting so.
Hamilton Bank Accountables
Saying “ask again in a month” to Accies players last week might have caused a riot.
Their players refused to train one day last week as they didn’t get paid, as revealed by the Daily Mail.
Club officials blamed a banking error.
It triggered alarm bells as many a club in the past have used the same explanation for a problem that then turned out to be much deeper than they let on.
And I think Accies knew there was a strong risk of it looking that way.
In fairness to the club, they acted quickly to set things right and put out a very prompt and proactive statement, and things seem to have resolved.
Accies lost their league opener 2-0 at home to Ayr, but had 49% of possession and played okay.
Let’s hope it is only footballing matters on their fans’ minds as the season progresses.
See you Sunday - any feedback, feel free to share.