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.