Leckie's finest hour

Last updated : 24 October 2002 By Grandmaster Suck
Monday 9th August 1999

"It tells you everything you need to know about Rangers when the fans voted John Greig as their greatest player ever.

"They didn't choose a mean and moody artist like Davie Cooper, a poser and a poacher like Ally McCoist or a rascal like Gazza.

"No, they chose a man who best reflected what they are themselves - Greigy, the identikit Bluenose. A no frills straight talking man's man who knew what the Club was all about and was quite happy for it to stay that way.

"He has never struck me as having outstanding qualities; not as a player, a manager or now as a PR Blazer. But he is what Rangers are, or at least what they want them to be. And that has always got him through.

"So to see him playing the air flute while a supporters function rocks to the Billy boys is as surprising as being told bananas are yellow.

"Any old firm diehard's photo album will show their heroes giving it pelters while a band belts out party tunes. It's what these nights degenerate into.

"Go to any testimonial dinner for a Rangers or a Celtic player and the same party songs start up by the time the coffee and the cigars come round.

"It's what they do and what they are. Class and education don't come into it - ask Donald Findlay QC FTP. And what these two clubs do about it is a dilemma far greater than how to succeed in Europe or make mercenaries honour their contracts.

"Sure, they can ban anyone who sings the sash or the soldiers song - there may be some of you reading this whose season tickets have been shredded because of your choice of chants.

"But did making an example of you stop anyone else doing the same? Of course not, because these bans are window dressing as long as instutionalised
bigotry is tolerated.

"How can we expect fans bred into intolerance to accept it as unacceptable while guys like John Greig go to supporters clubs and lead the band?

"How can Rangers hope to stamp out sectarianism in the stands if they turn a half nelson to it in the dressing room and the boardroom? Sure Findlay resigned as Vice-Chairman after sashing it up at their treble party. But there is no suggestion he is no longer welcome at Ibrox and I doubt if there will be.

"And now there's Greig the voice of Rangers. The man who tells the media who they can and cannot speak to. The bluff bluffer between the Club and supporters who idolise him - but a man who appears to confirm the belief that part of Rangers role in society is to uphold Protestant traditions.

"He will of course remind us that the offending picture of him was taken nine years ago. I would remind HIM that 1990 was a year after they were supposed to have seen the light by signing semi-catholic Mo Johnston. And anyway its not as if he was naive to the ways of the bigot nine years ago. He's not Andy Goram, supposedly sucked into it all as a naive import then embarrassed by public reaction.

"He's been a Ranger to his socks for 42 years, captained them for 15, managed them for five and spin doctored them for ten. He knows EXACTLY what it means when he goes to an official function and joins in the fenian baiting.

"It's him saying to the punters: "This is what we're all about. It's me and you together, standing up for what we believe in. We're all the same behind closed doors."

"When closed doors are flung open, though, the world sees the ridiculous hypocrisy of two clubs - Celtic employees have done the same for years - who preach tolerance then practice precisely the opposite.

"Of course, had David Murray been true to his promises of stamping out bigotry he'd have got the axe out yesterday. But it is no surprise that he did not. Punting his fully paid - up in - house legend would have opened up the door to a massive backlash from a rank and file who believe there is nothing wrong with a good Proddy singsong.

"Better to let him off the hook and leave the rest of us wondering what we were wondering anyway - if and when Rangers will ever be serious about washing their hands of sectarianism. What angers me is the chairman's rabble-rousing insistence that it's those who highlight incidents such as these who cause the problem, not those involved in them. David Murray should be bigger and brighter than that.

"Truth is though his policy on bigotry is a mess; fans are banned for it, the vice chairman resigns over it, the PR man is defended for it. It is a mass of contradictions which constantly trip Rangers up.

"But how can it be anything else when the man who controls what noises come out of Ibrox cannot control what comes out of his own mouth."





The above is what Leckie had to say in the aftermath of photographs of John Greig playing the air flute at a supporters function in North America in 1990 doing the rounds courtesy of Terry McGeadie just a few years ago. Obviously Leckie just hates the very idea of sectarianism and religious bigotry? Well, not really, it would seem.

Compare and contrast though his silence on the fact that an IRA collaborator is officially helping the SFA secure the Euro 2008 bid. What has he got to say on the fact that the Scottish Labour Party is dragging Scottish Football through the gutter? Well nothing actually.

Compare and contrast what Leckie has to say about Scotland's First Minister overturning a Police order and allowing sectarian, IRA loving vermin to walk through the streets of Scotland?

Leckie's hypocrisy is plain for all to see here. An empty bottle of Molson Export signals sectarian bigotry and a serious threat to life here in Scotland. Sympathising with supporters of terrorism is not worthy of comment.

The biggest mass of contradictions with regards to the sectarian debate here in Scotland is not what we do at Ibrox. It is the blatant hypocrisy and outright cowardice of Leckie and his mates to tell us what is really happening here in this poxy, wee hole.

It tells you everything you need to know about the sincerity of Leckie & Co on the subject of sectarianism. When the only guy I've read in the Scottish Press this week who has had the gumption to come out and openly criticise our IRA sympathising First Minister, is funny man (Rikki Brown) in today's edition of The Sun.

PS, I wonder what Peace Process Provan will have to say on the subject tomorrow. Coming from a yahoo apologist, it's sure to be 'tokenism at best.'

THE GOVANHILL GUB