BAD TIMES FOR CREEP

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IT'S been a bad few days for the Times of London's Scottish edition and its dwindling band of ripped off readers.

The Times was once known as the paper of record in Britain, though that is a repuation it no longer enjoys north of the border thanks to the increasingly bizzare antics of Odious Creep.

More and more he is beginnig to be seen as someone who is to good sound and accurate journalism, what Ann Widdicombe is to ballet dancing.

Whoever's tune he is dancing to is a matter for others to debate, but it is the subject of accuracy - or the lack of it - of much of what Creep writes, which may concern Rangers chief executive, Martin Bain.

Whether or not Bain choses to call in M'learned friends is of course a matter for him.

If he does, it would not be the first lawyer's letter to land on Creep's desk in recent weeks.

Or Bain could report Creep to the Press Complaints' Commission for the complete fiction on which he based an attack on him and Rangers in the Times of London's Scottish edition this week.

It would not be the first time the Press Complaints' Commission had to probe Creep's lack of professionalism in storries about Rangers.

On Monday, his column began to drift into the realms of fantasy when he chastised Bain for failing to speak out against, what he claimed, is a return of the singing of the Billy Boys.

He appeared to take great delight in making sure he pointed out this song had been officially banned by UEFA.

What he chose to ignore were the widely reported comments made by Bain at the recent Rangers Annual General Meeting.

Considering Creep was at the AGM, this once again gives rise to questions about just what he does and does not hear.

However, what Bain said about plans to combat the problem, was also there for all to read in every mass circulation newspaper in Scotland.

Maybe Creep suffers from some sort of reading disorder - dyslexia? - as well as selective deafness.

In the same poisonous piece he went on to suggest that by inviting sailors of the Royal Navy to parade at Ibrox on Remembrance weekend, Rangers were indulging in some sort of dangerous militarism.

But not a mutter -or even a Twitter - about the military presence at almost every major match in the English Premiership, something which was in evidence in particular when Sky showed the Chelsea-Sunderland match.

There was also a snipe at the joyful nature of what happened when the boys in blue of the Royal Navy took the Ibrox turf.

It was a weekend of Remembrance, he insisted, where such larks had no place.

Perhaps the annual Saturday night Royal Festival of Remembrance in front of the The Queen at the Royal Albert Hall, shown live every year on BBC1, is something else he has no knowledge of.

This so very British occasion is a mixture of nostalgia, some fun, including a singalong of old favourites, and a muster, celebrating the freedoms we enjoy, followed by a service of readings, prayers, hymms and finally the silence as the poppies drift down.

Maybe he will write to Buckingham Palace to chastise Her Majesty for tainting Remembrace with frivolity.

And so to what else Creep has been up to - or not up to - in recent days as he trousers Rupert Murdoch's money in return for the minimum of effort.

One again he appears to show a huge disdain for the Scottish national team.

This is a pattern which was noted when he failed to be on the spot to inform readers what going on in the Scotland camp after the defeat in Prague, and before the eagerly anticipated visit of European Champions and World Cup holders, Spain.

He was nowhere to be seen when the media convened at the Scotland camp on the Sunday, for an inquest into what had gone wrong in Prague on the Friday night.

Do his paymasters in News International's powerful places know about this apparent dereliction of duty? Do they care?

There exists a growing feeling within the press pack that Creep has no interest in the Scottish team, for, on Thursday he was not at Hampden for the late afternoon press conference at which Craig Levein announced his Scotland squad, and discussed matters with three groups of journalists, broadcasters, daily papers and the Sundays.

He did appear that evening on Radio Clyde, for which he is paid.

Therefore, while not attending to the business of the Times of London's Scottish edition, he found the time and energy for a nice little earner.

And these days, at Radio Clyde, little cannot be over-emphasised.

He was not at Ibrox for the match against Aberdeen, though he chose to comment on what happened there.

On Sunday he wasn't in Paisley to report on the St Mirren-Celtic game.

Neither did he attend the Remembrance Day service at his church, Hillhead Baptist, though he seemed able to comment on it on Twitter.

Nor did he think it worth his while to follow every other daily newspaper to Aberdeen on Monday to interview the manager of the national team ahead of a Scotland match.

The Times of London's Scottish edition therefore missed out on much of what Craig Levein had to say, though Creep's name did appear on some of
Levein's quotes.

These were filed by the Press Association reporter, and were from the interview Levein gave to the broadcasters.

The PA did not sit in with the daily men and women when they interviewed the manager at greater length, and in much more depth.

Not did the readers of the Times of London's Scottish edition learn anything of Craig Gordon's view on his position in the goalkeeping rivalry with Allan McGregor, which he revealed in a fascinating interview with those same daily reporters.

Creep did however manage to find time in his not-so-busy schedule to travel to Clydebank on Monday for another paid apearance on Radio Clyde.

At least he managed to stir himself on Tuesday to make the trek north for the Scotland encounter with the Faroes.

Of course Wednesday's edition of the Times of London's Scottish edition is perhaps the day when that dwindling number of ripped off readers have short changed the most.

SFA WOULD BE SILLY TO SNUB SMITH

IT'S a couple of months now since Jim Traynor, in his Daily Record column, first wrote that Walter Smith is perfect for the role of performance director at the Scottish Football Association.

As is so often the case, Traynor was not only bang on the money, but, again as he often is, ahead of the game.

But in the immediate aftermath of that Traynor column there was no reaction from Smith.

Then, when Sir Alex Ferguson told Scottish Sunday reporters, ahead of the Champions League game, that he thought his old pal should not quit Rangers, Smith made it clear he was not for turning.

He used a special pre-arranged, and pre UEFA press conference, briefing with Scottish daily newspaper reporters in the Europa Suite at Old Trafford the day before the match.

It provided back pages for all of Scotland's newspapers - except one.

Just to remind you...that is the one Odious Creep swans around representing.

He missed out on the significant and cracking tale, because he failed to get there on time, thus denying readers of the Scottish edition of the Times, Smith's reaction to the Fergie story which had appeared in a number of mass circulation Sundays.

But enough of Creep. For now!

Since then things had gone kind of quiet on the subject of what exactly Smith will do when he steps down as Rangers manager at the end of the season.

That was until he appeared at Sunday's Scotland Hall of Fame function to pick up his award, and discuss that future.

And it is a future which, according to the best and most successful manager Scottish football has seen for more than 30 years, will see him stay in football.

Clearly he would not take on a role at any other club in Scotland, so unless his old chum at Old Trafford has something in mind for him, Smith is available to make a contribution to the greater good of Scottish football.

Armed with that information, Scotland manager, Craig Levein now has the chance to stand up and make it clear to his SFA paymasters they would be mugs not to approach Smith.

Levein, we have been told, will have a major input regarding who is appointed as Scotland's performance director.

Campbell Ogilvie, who will assume the presidency in the summer, will no doubt also have a major say.

When a Scotland manager is appointed the procedure is that the four office bearers, plus the chief executive, make a recommendation to the board of directors.

This time around new chief executive Stewart Regan's lack of local knowledge will needless to say make him less influential than Gordon Smith and David Taylor were.

If the board does not approve the name, then those office bearers - though on this occasion maybe not Regan - have no alternative but to resign.

That power is currently held by president, George Peat, first vice president Ogilvie and second vice president, Alan McRae.

Of course they will no doubt pay heed to the contents of the special report from former first minister, Henry "it's a muddle not a fiddle" McLeish.

But really, ask yourself the question....is there anyone better qualified for the job than Walter Smith?

It is question which has already been answered by one of the oldest and wisest heads in Scottish football, Craig Brown.

Motherwel's former Scotland manager, is both eloquent and wise. In fact, if Smith does not fancy a return to the SFA, where he saved Scotland from the brink of oblivion it had been taken to by Berti Vogts, then Broon is the obvious choice.

However, we have to remember, this is the Scottish Football Association we are dealing with.

The organisation which seemed in a hury to get rid of Brown, which inflicted Vogts on the nation, and even more recently, landed the Scots with George Burley.

Therefore the possibility of it making another mess of things is more distinct than distant.

Before landing themselves in another fine mess, the Scottish Football Association should take note of three things.

Number one....Jim Traynor pointed out two months ago, Smith is the ideal man to become Scottish football's director of performance.

Number two....Craig Brown has made clear his backing for Smith to be appointed.

Number three ... and most important of all, Walter Smith has given a clear indication he wants to keep working after he leaves Rangers.

Now then, what's that modern phrase? Ah yes....

IT'S A NO BRAINER!

TIMES A'CHANGING

THOSE WHO know me will testify my musical tastes are better served by Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer, Rodgers and Hart and the Gershwins, than Bob Dylan.

But there is one of the old troubadour's nasal ramblings which strike a topical chord.

The Times They Are A'Changing.

In this case it is the Scottish edition of the Times of London which is changing. And not for the better.

The ABCs - the circulation figures, and the numbers by which the wordsmiths live and die - for October, published today, show the Scottish edition of the Times has suffered the biggest year-on-year percentage plunge of any daily paper on this side of the border.

The Times went hurtling downhill to the mindboggling tune of almost 14per cent - 13.8per cent to be precise.

Of course, since Odious Creep joined, it may be the lack of precision in the sports section - of what used to be regarded as the paper of record - which has chased away so many readers.

So, here begins another wee lesson for all my growing army of loyal readers, as to how newspapers work.

It was around four years ago that time ran out at the Herald for Odious Creep.

Since the change of editorship from Mark Douglas Hume - I worked with him in London - to Charlie McGhee - he was my assistant editor at the Sunday Mail - Creep's working practices were believed to be under greater scrutiny.

The timing could not have been better for his escape, as one of the Edinburgh blethering classes, Magnus Linklater, had been appointed as Scottish editor of the Times of London, and told to beef up the staff ahead of what is known in the business as a relaunch.

Linklater is a friend of Creep, and also of Richard Holloway, another of the blethering bleeding hearts who are to be found in Edinburgh, and who is also a friend of Creep's.

It is a mere short step from there to Odious Creep being offered a job on the Scottish edition of the Times of London.

He took it, despite the fact it meant losing his prized role within the Herald as golf correspondent, something which allowed him to attend the Masters every year, a trip he wallowed in, but was not on offer at the Times.

On top of which, if my information from an exteremly senior source within News International in London, is correct, he moved for less money than he was getting at the Herald.

However, history has a way of repeating itself, and the same thing which happened when he was at the Herald, is now happening at the Times of London's Scottish edition.

When Odious Creep joined the Herald such outstanding sports journalists as Ian Broadley and the late Ken Gallacher, were the big names in the paper, whose circulation was north of 80,000.

Creep's presence, and his friends in high places there, spelled the end for those two oustanding newspaper men, and also signalled the beginning of the Herald's circulation plunge.

Though, despite the Herald not being anywhere near the force it was before Odious Creep joined, it still outsells the Times of London's Scottish editon by more than two to one.

In fact, the Times of London's Scottish edition is actually selling fewer copies now than it was four years ago, before a significant cash investment allowed Linklater to make his flawed decision to employ Odious Creep.

How long this situation is allowed to continue is open to debate. But the one thing I know for sure is the greatest newspaperman of his generation - Rupert Murdoch - is not known for throwing good money after bad.

His long term strategy is directed towards the internet, and he belives eventually people will be willing to pay to read the Times online, to which end he has already put the online version of the Times behind a paywall.

The result is a dramatic fall in online readership, which Murdoch is willing to ride out for as long as the circulation of the paper does not crash alarmingly.

As it continues to do in Scotland.

Cuts within the News International organisation's four titles, the Times, Sunday Times, Sun and the News of the World, are on the way.

The Murdoch way ahead has already been revealed by the closing of the Sunday Times Scotland operation earlier this year.

What's next?

It is unlikely to be the Sun or the News of the World which will suffer in Scotland, as Murdoch is prepared to fund them in their fascinating fight with the ailing Trinity Mirror's Scottish titles, the Record and Sunday Mail.

I am sure you can work out where the Murdoch axe is likely to fall.

These are interesting, and most certainly, A'Changing Times in the old inky business.

Though I still prefer the masters of the Great Amercian Songbook to Dylan, not to mention Odious Creep's favourite, Elton John.

As the late great Malcolm Munro(Big Malky) used to write....'Nuff Said!

AND....

Sad news came my way this morning as a colleague phoned to tell me of the death, at 88, of Bob Ferrier.

Bob was one of the last links to the golden era of the Daily Mirror when such giants as Hugh Cudlipp and Bill Connor ruled the roost, and the circulation topped six million.

He escaped from what became a Mirror madhouse when the lying thieving Bob Maxwell took over, and returned to Scotland where he worked for a number of papers, reporting football on a part time basis.

Bob Ferrier, who retired to Helensburgh, was a gentleman of the old school, with an impish sense of humour and a deep knowledge of newspapers, football, and indeed, life.

He came from an impeccable football background, as his dad was Motherwell legend Bobby Ferrier, who along with George Stevenson formed the Stevenson-Ferrier left wing through the 1920s and into the 30's.

My thoughts are with his family.

ODIOUS CREEP'S LACK OF ETHICS

THIS is a wee insight into how journlalism works, and the sort of relationship which exits between managers and reporters. It is based on trust, professionalism and ethics.

From the outset of my career covering top flight football way back in 1972, I have benefited from the insight delivered in what is called an off the record chat, generously afforded me by some of football's greatest managers.

Tottenham Hotspur legend,Bill Nicholson was the first, and on many a Monday afternoon I relished the privilige of sipping tea with him in his White Hart Lane office while listening to his views.

What he said stayed between us, though Mr Nicholson's opinions helped me then, and are still recalled when I make many a judgement.

It was Bells whisky which I sipped as often as not on a Friday afternoon in Nottingham when it suited Brian Clough to be convivial. His company, and what he said off the record, are memories I treasure.

At Aston Villa's Bodymoor Heath training ground, Ron Saunders had a habit of asking you to join him in the sauna for a blether. Especially on a Friday, as he knew I liked a Thursday night curry with his goalkeeper, Jim Cumbes and captain Ian Ross. Happy days.

Jock Stein, who saw Sunday reporters one at a time in his dookit of an office in Park Gardens when he was Scotland manager, was particularly good at giving you a steer.

Jock Wallace when I dealt with him, first at Leicester and then Rangers, let you know just what he was really thinking, something he had in common with many of the Celtic managers I have had such a good relationship with, in particular Davie Hay, Billy McNeill and the late Tommy Burns.

The list of managers is long, the kindnesses extended, the insights gained and the knowledge acquired, endless.

They all had their different ways, but the one thing they had in common was a trust in the ethics and professional reputation of the reporter they were entrusting their secrets to.

And so to Odious Creep, and way he goes about his business, which many in the press pack believe lacks both professionalism and ethics.

On Friday at Murray Park, Walter Smith held his usual radio, television daily newspapers and Sunday papers round of interviews.

Creep was among the gang of daily reporters who attempted to probe Smith on matters of controversy, which are really none of the Rangers manager's concern.

The old silver fox dodged the bullet, but, as is his way, was generous and trusting enough to give reporters a private - and clearly off the record - insight.

Within an hour of the conference ending his trust had been abused, and his generosity taken advantage of.

Odious Creep had broken the golden rule of journalism regarding what is said off the record, remaining off the record.

A clear indication of what Smith said appeared, under Creep's name, on the internet, leaving some of the other fine, dedicated, hard working and completely professional reporters who had been with him at Smith's conference, spitting blood.

Now, Walter Smith is someone who is more than able to take care of himself, but I know how some of the legendary managers who have confided in me over a long career would have reacted.

The hurt in Mr Nicholson's eyes would have been enough to destroy any miscreant, a belt on the head with his squash racket would have been Clough's response, while the vein in Saunders' head would have twitched as he pinned you to the wall.

As for the two Jocks? Stein would have made it his business to destroy your career, while Wallace would simply have re-arranged your features.

Fortunately I was never unethical enough, or lacking in professionalism and courtesy, to be on the wrong end of their wrath.

Though I did once, unwittingly upset Walter Smith. The wreckage he left after he waded in during a post League Cup Final win over Hibs at Parkhead, was devastating.

GENTLE ATTACK ON CELTIC - BUT CREEP ROUNDS ON RANGERS

ROSE GENTLE has added her impressive and influential voice to the growing number of people of all faiths to stand up to the fascist bullies of the Green Brigade and their Bloodstained Poppy banner.

While Tom English, writing with passion and perception in the Scotsman, has launched a well aimed attack on the way Celtic have reacted to the whole affair.

Meanwhile, back in cloud cuckoo land - or the Scottish edition of the Times as it is officially known - an Odious Creep has used the row to turn on Rangers, and attack them for inviting military personnel to Ibrox.

Rose Gentle is of course the mother of Gordon - a Celtic supporting soldier - killed at the tender age of 19 while on active service in Basra.

Her campaigning vigour has made her a national figure throughout Britain, and her renown has spread to Europe, the Commonwealth, and across the Atlantic to America.

According to her, as quoted in the Daily Mail, Celtic chairman, The Baron Reid of Cardowan, should be writing to all the families who have suffered a loss to apologise for the infamous Bloodstained Poppy banner.

The subject of the investigation Celtic have announced through a club spokesman, with the promise of life bans if the culprits are discovered, has been what has caught of attention of the Scotsman's, English.

Now English has never shown any overt anti Celtic bias over the years he has worked in newspapers in both Ireland and Scotland, but he clearly feels the Parkhead club have failed to react with same speed and vigour to the Bloodstained Poppy banner as they have a number of times in the past three weeks to their perceived bias against the club by referees and the Scottish Football Association.

English, like Rose Gentle, wants to hear from either the Baron Reid of Cardowan, or Celtic chief executive, Peter Lawwell.

He also shows an impressive grasp of Irish history, pointing out the Sean South of Garryowen song which is a favourite, home and away, of the Green Brigade, pays homage to a man who had much in common with Adolf Hitler in his attitude to Jews. And that he didn't come from Garryowen.

Sean South that is. Hitler didn't come from Garryowen either, though he had plenty of supporters there.

Unfortunately no amount of rationale or historical fact will influence the terrorist supporters and zealots who sing in praise of the IRA and sully the Poppy.

The Poppy has never had any political significance. Or at least it didn't until these zealots highjacked it.

When it was adopted, the Poppy was - and for many continues to be - seen as a symbol to remind us all of the human cost of war.

And when it is worn, and when we join together in a silent and respectful act of Remembrance, what we are doing is paying heed to the words Rabbie, wrote about man's inhumanity to man making countless thousands mourn.

And so we move on to the one newspaper to try, in a tawdry way, to implicate Rangers in an affair which has nothing to do with them.

In the fast fading and increasingly obscure and marginalised Scottish edition of the London Times, their well known Rangers hating correspondent - known in the inky business as Odious Creep - produced an astonishing piece.

Now I know few people will be aware of this, due to the plummeting circulation - now in freefall - of the paper on this side of Hadrian's Wall since he joined it.

And as it is now behind a paywall, viewing it online costs cash few folk are willing to splash out to read Creep's drivel.

However, I am indeed indebted to an old Fleet Street colleague who now works for the News International organisation in London, for passing on Creep's witless words.

This is what appeared under his real name in Wednesday's Times.

"Rangers can sometimes hardly await their next opportunity to have military personnel parading on the pitch at Ibrox in full regalia. It doesn't take much calculation to know what's going on here."

Note the use of the word REGALIA, a description I have never heard used about what military personnel wear. It's UNIFORM,

However, to hoist Creep by his own petard, it doesn't take much calculation to know what's going on here.

Or to wonder why he made no mention of the fact the FA in England chose to have representatives of the three Armed Forces paraded on the pitch at Wembley and be presented to the England team before a recent international.

But more of Odious Creep and his flaccid organ - at least in Scotland - at a later date.

For the moment, the most powerful and relevant voice to join the debate about the Celtic supporters' Bloodstained Poppy banner, belongs to Rose Gentle.

And the angriest, but nevertheless sane and erudite pen, is that wielded by Tom English.

SFA NOW IN REAL DANGER OF SINKING

YOU may recall I recently described the Scottish Football Association as leaking like the Titanic after the way its internal dealings were splashed all over a newspaper in the wake of TannadiceGate.

Now I must amend that. For it appears that what has happened relating to the Hugh Dallas alleged email has left the SFA holed with a leak the size of the General Belgrano after one of Her Majesty's vessels slammed a couple of tin fish into the dangerous enemy battleship.

When the Dallas story broke in the News of the World, under the byline, Charlie Lavery, I had my suspicion as to where it had originated.

I am indebted to what most reporters believe is the best connected-inside-Parkhead- Celtic-website, Celtic Quick News, for confirming that suspicion.

Celtic Quick News, which has been pushing this story, and trailing where it will develop, all week, claimed that the source of the Dallas tale was the Republic of Ireland based, Phil Mac Giolla Bhain.

In the past the News of the World  have used a number of his stories, and were happy to use his byline. However, I understand that a decision was taken at a high editorial level, to stop using Phil Mac Giolla Bhain's name in the paper.

Hence the apparent collaboration with Charlie Lavery, an old Sunday Mail pal of mine, who, if he didn't have to work on a Saturday, would surely be a Celtic season ticket holder.

Not that any other hack - however old and tired - can have any quibble with a good story, or with the newspaper which published it, providing the story is true and balanced, and its source is not someone who may be percieved by some to have an agenda.

The wider issue, and what must be of grave concern to the SFA's new chief executive Stewart Regan, is the fact that the organisation he presides over seems unable to go about its day to day business without leaks and accusations.

This is a problem which appears to have escalated since the resignation of embittered assistant ref, Steven Craven, followed by his wild accusations of bullying and victimisation. Charges which he levelled against the head of the SFA's refereeing department, former FIFA World Cup whistler, Hugh Dallas.

The timing of Dallas appearing to be in the cross hairs of those hidden snipers with Celtic DNA, has also coincided with  Regan  arriving as the new kid on the block.

Dallas has long been a hate figure for so many with Celtic leanings, and what has been obvious this week on Celtic message boards, is how they want his body. Professionally at least.

There exists a suspicion, which I have heard from others within the SFA, that this may be the reason why Regan is being subjected to an immediate onslaught .

Therefore there has to be a degree of sympathy for him. Though he did himself no favours by making the trip to Parkhead to see Peter Lawwell, instead of summoning his chief executive counterpart to football's governing body's Hampden headquarters.

Perhaps, as an Englishman abroad, Regan was merely being polite. He will soon find that such  courtesy is often seen as weakness in the often rancid world of Scottish football politics.

He was also out of morder in implying that anyone who had been at the SFA before him may have carried political baggage, and worked to an agenda. But he must be learning fast about the world he has stepped into.

Now, as  far as the allegation concerning any joke email, forwarded by Dallas is concerned, Regan he has issued a statement saying the matter has been investigated, and will be dealt the internally.

But he must hope  the nature and result of that investigation, and how he is dealing with its findings, do not somehow find their way to any foreign based freelance reporter, who would be only too happy to pass them on to the News of the World without worrying about whether or not his name appeared in the paper. Just so long as it was on the cheque.

Regan though may be cute enough to know the way these leaks work, and the fingerprints they leave, and as you read this, could well be laying an electronic trail to trace the leak.

If he doesn't, then Regan and the Scottish Football Association will sink as fast as that enemy battleship went down after the Royal Navy's daring attack.

AND......

ON a sombre note, I was saddened to hear of the death of former Scottish Football Association chief executive, Jim Farry, who also spent a decade as the secretary of the Scottish Football League.

Jim was a good and honest man, who was a great loss to the game in Scotland when he was hounded out of office by Celtic during Fergus McCann's reign. It was the one thing McCann did during his short and eventful time in the game, with which I disagreed.

Jim Farry was missed for many years, and his wise and steady counsel is still being missed today. He wasn't always right, but he was always decent, and even after he departed the SFA I often spoke to him for advice on some of the more arcane ways the organisation operated.

I do not think I ever put the phone down after speaking to Jim without knowing I had been given a valuable and generous insight, and had learned something.

My thoughts are with his family

ENGLAND BAFFLED BY CELTIC POPPY ROW

THE REFEREE debate which is a blight on Scottish football, will no doubt outlast the Celtic supporters' Bloodstained Poppy banner row.

Though I know which is the more important topic. And it is most certainly not the one which centres on a purely football matter.

However, both subjects were in evidence during Sky Sports excellent live coverage of the English Premier League game between Stoke City and Birmingham City.

The build up to the action featured a number of clips showing Stoke as the victims of a succession of absurd refereeing decisions, plus the reaction after those incidents of Stoke manager, Tony Pullis.

Pullis was rightly furious and reckoned that so far this season bad refereeing decisions have cost Stoke seven points.

It was a view Sky's outstanding Andy Gray agreed with.

However - and this is just one way things are different in England - nobody from Stoke was ranting and raving about any anti-Stoke conspiracy. Nobody claimed that refs who don't come from the Potteries hate the club.

Nobody even hinted that the Football Association and the EPL's refereeing hierarchy are institutionally biased against Stoke City.

Pullis, for all his rage in the immediate aftermath of such wrong decisions, clearly knows that to talk of conspiracy would not only be as wrong as the decisions which have cost his club, but also make him and Stoke look foolish.

It is doubtful if the good men who are the directors of  the club of Sir Stanley Matthews would tolerate such nonsense, far less join in.

There was also the sight of both teams wearing a Poppy on their shirts, without any row breaking out about it being bloodstained.

Now, I lived and worked in Birmingham for a decade from the mid 1970s and know there are more people living there of Irish descent than there are in the whole of Scotland.  None of them seem to have any problem with the Blues wearing a poppy on the strip.

Likewise, through the length and breadth of England this weekend supporters in their hundreds of thousands will stand in solemn and respectful silence to honour the fallen in an Act of Remembrance.

And at the matches covered by Sky in England there will be no need for them to commit journalistic suicide by muting the sound of the silence being broken by booing and singing. For, unless some Celtic zealots infiltrate, there will be none.

There will be no debate in newspapers, on websites or radio phone ins. In fact, many of the English pals I have spoken to cannot quite understand what is going on up here over Celtic fans and their Poppy protest.

But I am indebted to one Celtic supporter who has penned a well written and thoughtful piece on the Celtic Underground site, under the name of Bhoy Ali.

He reveals himself to be a Muslim, and makes the comparison between the terrorist zealots who have highjacked that religion, and the extremists among  Celtic supporters who seek to highjack not just the club's fanbase, but the very club itself.

Bhoy Ali goes on to say that he knows and mixes with many Celtic supporters but cannot think of one who agrees with the Bloodstained Poppy banner, or with the minority of morons who have flooded the many Celtic sites with their bile.

As I said, it is a thoughtful and well written piece, and I commend it to everyone of every hue. Protestant, Roman Catholic, Muslim and non believers alike.

Not to mention the many English men and woman who find the actions of those who raised aloft that Bloodstained Poppy banner, so distasteful and bewildering.

Rationale does not always come from the most obvious place. But it is out there just the same. You've just got to look and listen. And stop and think.

CELTIC BAN PROMISE

NO doubt Hugh Dallas will be watching with interest to see just how Celtic get on with their pledge to ban the supporters who shamed Scotland with their Bloodstained Poppy banner.

After all, Dallas was once sent sprawling at Parkhead  in the Celtic Shame Game , won by Rangers, when hammered by a missile which smacked into his head, narrowly missing an eye and causing a wound from which blood poured.

Later on that same day Dallas had his house attacked when he was inside with his wife and family. A brick was hurled and smashed a window on its way into the Dallas living room.

The Herald later reported - on September 5, 2000 - how the culprit, Kevin Dunn, appeared in court before Edith Ryan JP and was ordered to be of good behaviour, and had his sentence deferred for a year.

Dunn, in open court revealed, a fact also reported in the Herald, that he was a Celtic season ticket holder. Amazingly - due to sloppy journalism - there was no quote from anyone at Celtic back then about what their position would be regarding Dunn's season ticket.

Does he still hold one? Or does he attend Parkhead with a matchday ticket? Is he banned? Does anyone know?

There was also the incident involving Fernando Ricksen, who was hit on the head with a missile during, and wounded, another visit to Parkhead by Rangers.

Five years down the line there is no record of any Celtic investigation uncovering the culprit and banning them.

In the spring of 2008 an even worse offence happened when Rangers were at Parkhead. Keeper Allan McGregor went down injured in front of the Jock Stein Stand and the Ibrox club's doctor, Paul Jackson sprinted on to give him urgent medical treatment.

Dr Jackson was targeted by Celtic supporters in the Jock Stein Stand, and one missile smashed into his hand, the sort of injury which could easily have been permanent.

As yet, there exists no record of Celtic having successfully investigated this incident and handed out a ban from Parkhead.

No wonder there are many people out there who look at these historical facts and wonder what the chances are of Celtic uncovering the guilty men and women this time, naming and shaming them, and handing out public life long bans?

It is also perhaps significant  the official Celtic response came from an unnamed spokesman, and not from  the chairman, former Her Majesty's Secretary of State for Defence, The Baron Reid of Cardowan.

According to reporter Paul Drury in the Sun - his Parkhead credentials are impeccable - The Baron Reid of Cardowan is said to be furious about what happened. If that is the case then let him unleash his fury in public.

There have been few more stirring sights and sounds over the last decade or so, than that old political bruiser in full flow, as his language belongs to a more golden age of rhetoric. Even if you do not agree with him you have to admire his oratory.

So far the most powerful words spoken about this affair which has damned Celtic, came from Billy Monkhouse, interviewed on BBC Reporting Scotland.

His son, Stephen, was just 28, when he was killed while on duty with the 1st Battalion, The Scots Guards in the dangerous Helmand province in Afghanistan. Stephen, his dad revealed, was a keen Celtic fan, who, when on leave, made a beeline to watch his team at Parkhead...if he could get a ticket.

There was also a poignant appearance from an old soldier on Reporting Scotland. A man in late middle age, resplendent in his Scottish British Legion attire.

He looked sad, and spoke of his disgust at how those who were his fellow Celtic supporters could behave in such a way.

Both of those interviews served to underline the point I made in my last blog about the number of servicemen and woman, past and present, and their relations and friends, who support Celtic, and who would have been appalled at Green Brigade's crass banner display.

As far as that banner is concerned I was interested by the phrase - Your Deeds Would Shame the Devils in Hell - as it seemed extremey erudite, and indeed poetic. The brainchild, perhaps, of a university professor?

But no, for research revealed  it is not original, but in fact is a line in from an IRA song well known by Celtic supporters.

Of course there has been a fightback to all the criticism the Green Brigade have had, and the popular Celtic supporters website, the HuddleBoard has even attempted to smear the world renown Erskine Hospital for Service People.

According to these delusional zealots, for the first few years after it was opened in 1916, Erskine refused to admit Roman Catholics. What utter nonsense. Poppycock!

For Celtic, the problem is wide spread and deep rooted, and has already led to an allegation - as reported in one newspaper - that their travel partners, Thomas Cook  have been in touch expressing displeasure about their sign being shown in the vicinity of the shamed banner, in pictures flashed around the world.

In England there has been much horror and disgust, best expressed on the Newcastle-Mad fans' website, where English feelings ran high, with one of the Toon Army saying  there is no chance of Celtic ever being welcome in the English Premiership with this sort of attitude in the stands.

St Mirren, who Celtic visit on Rembrance Sunday, are also aware of the potential for problems. Their general manager, Brian Caldwell has stated clearly in the Sun there will be no repeat of Saints forgetting what day it is... as they did when Celtic visited four years ago.

He has also made it clear there will be no kow-towing go any suggestion  the solemn minute's silence should be replaced by the so-called Celtic way of a minute's applause, as there was at Parkhead two years ago.

Last year at Falkirk, where Celtic played on Remembrance Sunday, booing and singing could be clearly heard during the minute's silence. Or at least it could on BBC Radio Scotland and on foreign television stations.

In an act of almost journalistic suicide, someone at Sky chose to censor the news and mute the sound. Something nobody else in any Sky control room did at any of the other matches they broadcast live throughout Britain that weekend.

On Sunday the game will be broadcast by ESPN, and it will be interesting to see what sort of journalistic standards they apply, and if they are in favour of censorship.

For, with the shameful Bloodstained Poppy banner row now extending to news outlets outside of Scotland, and even beyond Britain's shores, the world will be watching. And listening.

POPPY DISGRACE OF GREEN BRIGADE

LET me tell you you a story a pal's son - a serving soldier - told me about some of the brave guys and girls who serve with him on the front line.

It's about the football team many of them support. And the way they feel ignored and completely rejected by that club.

As opposed to the way they see their comrades-in-arm, not merely acknowledged, but actually feted by the club those mates support.

The clubs are of course Celtic and Rangers, with the welcome for serving servicemen and women at Ibrox warm and friendly.

On more than one occasion in the past year those boys and girls who put their lives on the line have marched out onto the pitch at Ibrox and been warmling received and applauded by Rangers supporters. Visiting fans have also joined in that applause.

It is a memory those soldiers, sailors and air force personnel will treasure for the rest of their lives.

According to my pal's son, it is an honour his front line mates who follow Celtic would love to be given by their club. But one which has not been forthcoming.

And, in the current climate, with the zealots of the Green Brigade  unfurling their anti Poppy banners at Parkhead on Saturday, one can only imagine what lengths this lunatic fringe would go to if Celtic ever did invite service men and woman to parade on the park in uniform and take a bow.

There is a real danger that unless Celtic take a firm and extremely public stand on this offensive issue, many will seek to say the club is dancing to the Green Brigade's tune.

There does appear to be an element of apprehension about what the Green Brigade may be capable of among the wider range of Celtic fans, for when I asked my pal's boy why his Celtic front line mates did not seek to gain publicity, he explained there was a fear among them.

Not, you understand, for themselves, but for their wives and children, girlfriends, mums and dads, and grandparents.

One of the other points this squaddie made to me was one that I have long believed to the the case. You don't ask the guy next to you in the trench, or the girl guarding your back on patrol in enemy territory, what school they went to.

Celtic supporters have a long and honourable history of service to the Crown in the cause of freedom. The sacrifice made by many of a Parkhead persuasion has helped to win the freedom those in the Green Brigade chose to abuse in such a tawdry fashion.

What they are guilty of may be thought by many as something similar to Fascist and Nazi beliefs their Celtic supporting predecessors fought against. Many died defeating it.

This Green Brigade group have a long history of acting in the same manner as what used to be described as the Loony Left, and frankly I have never seen any difference between the extreme left and the extreme right.

Celtic have been left embarrassed again by the actions of this group. Now, according to a spokesman, Celtic will investigate just how the offensive banners got into the ground. Which is a mystery, as many a visiting fan will tell you they are searched ,and any banner they may have is confiscated if the stewards decide it is offensive.

Perhaps the stewards did view the Green Brigade's banner and decide it was okay.

However, it is not a comment from a Celtic spokesman we need. What is required is some bold words from Celtic chairman, The Baron Reid of Cardowan, who once stood just one step down from the head of the Armed Forces, as Her Majesty's Secretary of State for Defence.

Baron Reid of Cardowan, by speaking out in the sort of strong language he often favours, would also take a huge step towards slapping down and silencing the zealots of the Green Brigade if he announced that at Celtic's next home game, a group of Celtic suppporting boys and girls from all three branches of the Armed Forces, will be invited to parade in uniform on the Parkhead pitch and take a bow.

This would give the many Celtic supporters who have children, grandchildren other relations or friends, in those Amed Forces, and those who have served themselves, or whose fathers, grandfathers and uncles won them their freedom, the chance to drown out the Green Brigade.

Surely that old political bruiser The Baron Reid of Cardowan, is not afraid of taking such a bold action?

The boys and girls who serve on the front line with my pal's son, and who support Celtic, would welcome such an invitation.

REFS DO GET IT WRONG SOMETIMES

EVERYONE who follows football knows referees everywhere in the world do get it wrong sometimes, and often on more than just the odd occasion.

All teams suffer from a referee who sees something nobody else has, or who rules the wrong way in a borderline case.

After the initial rant and rave against the ref, all in the heat of battle, cooler heads prevail, and clubs and their fans accept that these things happen. Nobody fires off letters to the governing body demanding answers for everything that goes against them.

Such was the case at Paisley when home town born boy, Craig Thomson, reckoned by the Scottish Football Association to be a top man, blundered badly... twice.

Both of the decisions he made went against Rangers, at a time when, after having seen Celtic score nine 24 hours earlier, the supporters of the champions were looking for their team to not only win, but also eat into the goal difference advantage Celtic were able to build against a woeful and totally gutless looking Aberdeen.

In point of fact they managed to reduce that goal difference by only two, when, had Thomson got the only two big calls he had to make in the match, correct it would have been four.

Thomson blundered badly, denying Rangers a perfectly good goal on the stroke of half time, and then awarding a penalty for handball against Steve Davis, whose hand was low at his side, and who actually tried to move it.

On ESPN, Craig Burley was adamant that neither Stevie Naismith or Kenny Miller had fouled St Mirren's Craig Samson when the keeper punched the ball in to his own net.

Whatever Thomson thought it was he saw, it was not a foul by a Rangers player on the Saints keeper.

Burley was less sure about the penalty award. He started by saying Davis' hand was in what he called a neutral position, then added he was far enough away to have gotten his hand out of the way.

When he returned to review the incident again, the former Celtic and Scotland man sounded less sure. He repeated the same words, but his tone was far from firm and certain.

But these are the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune which every team everywhere has to endure, and move on from.

On Saturday at Parkhead, where I was on duty, Celtic used the 16 minutes when they held a man advantage over Aberdeen after their former player, Paul Hartley, needlessly conceded a penalty, to race to a three goal lead.

Afterwards Mark McGhee was at a loss to explain the actions of his captain, who is such an experienced player, and who is so vital to a young Aberdeen side.

Referee Alan Muir also helped the ehome team with the second of three penalties which he handed to Celtic. That came seconds before the interval and Dons keeper Jamie Langfield was convinced he made no contact when Shaun Maloney went flying.

For my vantage point it was difficult to tell, and I have not yet caught up with it on television.

However, it does show how referees can impact on a game, even when when one team is clearly better than the other, as was the case with Celtic against Aberdeen and Rangers visit to St Mirren.

No doubt Thomson will review his actions on DVD, and if he is honest with himself, will realise he made a howler in thinking there had been a foul on keeper Samson, and that Davis did not appear to be guilty of deliberate handball, and deserved the benefit of the doubt.

But then again, human beings are are not machines. And refs, despite what Celtic supporters may say, are human, and therefore they make mistakes.

Thomson certainly made two, and Rangers won 3-1 instead of 4-0. That's just how it goes. No dark plots, no politcal baggage and certainly no hidden agendas.