The next day, a few newspapers reported that the Police had received 'a number of complaints about songs coming from the Rangers End'. As we all know, there is no serious crime in this country, so the Polis had plenty of time to investigate these complaints.
It soon became apparent that the complaints were made about the now infamous 'Famine Song', which was being sung at Hamilton's young midfielder James McCarthy who, despite being Scottish, had elected to play for Ireland for some reason.
I was intrigued, and decided to look into it. Hey, I wasn't working at the time and the spare time mixed with the Quincy repeats must have been getting to me.
Well, it didn't hit CSI levels of detail, I'll be honest. I called first the Campbell Street nick in Hamilton looking for details. I was politely told that while the officers were 'aware' of the singing, they were not dealing with any complaints. How odd, I said, when there was a comment from a 'police spokesperson' in the paper. 'Ah', said the copper, 'it IS being investigated by the station where the complaints were made.'
Curious, no?
So I was re-directed to the nick at Bellahouston Park. 'Yes, they said, they received 'around 90' complaints during the match. 'From Hamilton?' I said, disbelievingly. 'No' said the copper 'by phone.'
Yes, my friends, Timmy was sitting at home watching the match and had decided to call in and be offended. The police received 'around 90' such calls. They received NO complaints at the ground.
One has to suspect, as they all phoned the SAME nick, and the one nearest Ibrox at that, that this was coordinated.
After a wee while, I got put through to a senior copper, who I'll keep anonymous as he was very honest with me about the whole issue. Agreeing it was 'sad', he said he was nonetheless duty-bound to investigate it because 'when it gets to a certain level of complaints, we HAVE to look into it.'
Now what has this to do with tonight's match? Oh, nothing. Enjoy watching it on the box and moan the Arsenal. I'm sure that 'special' atmosphere we hear about won't be filled with poisonous chants.
On a totally, TOTALLY unrelated note, London Road nick's number is 0141-532 4600. Just FYI, y'know?
If you're not keen on making a phone call there's always the online Hate Crime/Incident form - https://www.strathclyde.police.uk/hatecrimeform/
Don't do anything I won't be doing...