My main gripe with the Scottish football press has always been focused on the lack of quality. There are those with such an obvious agenda they embarrass themselves on a near-weekly basis in print but I'll leave that for another day. And while I would never berate someone for merely having an opinion and putting it in writing, there are times when what's written is so poor that it becomes insulting to anyone reading it. We should be demanding better than this.
What has happened over the summer? Not a lot. In fact, absolutely nothing interesting in Rangers terms; we have been able to enjoy the sunny months as SPL champions but have no transfer news, even rumours, of note. Celtic have brought in a new manager, their fourth choice, it should be remembered, as have Aberdeen, Falkirk, Hibs and Motherwell. Transfer-wise there is nothing to shout about for any SPL team. Sensationalism sells papers, that's nothing new, but it should never do so while so blatantly suppressing integrity. Professional pride, if nothing else, should stop journalists going into hyperbole overdrive since the only outcome is the public laughing at them and never taking another written word seriously. It's the one thing we should give Tosh McKinlay credit for: he wrote something in the Evening Times then had the integrity to resign when it turned out he was massively wrong.
Unfortunately for fans of the Scottish game, our football press is largely an integrity vaccuum.
Billy Dodds' fapping in print over the Gallowgate Galacticos' total football revolution is embarrassing. Not just for him, it's embarrassing for readers, embarrassing that it passed editorial review and it's embarrasing that a mainstream newspaper printed it. What an insult to its readership. I don't care if he thinks they played well, put in a great performance and won easily but at least be level-headed about it: a good performance against a team we expect to be fighting relegation later this year. Nothing spectacular.
The reverse was true for many of the reports on Rangers. Falkirk came into it during the second half in a game we never looked like losing and all four of our goals, the first especially, were excellently taken or had a good build up. Trying so desperately to play down the Rangers performance and talk up the Celtic one just leaves journalists looking like idiots. The readers know it, their peers know it, the editors must know it and, if they're being honest, they should know it themselves.
Reading two interviews with Arsene Wenger in English 'papers last week just reaffirmed the talent chasm north of Hadrian's Wall. It tackled issues outwith football and asked questions that journalists up here couldn't ever come up with, and few would have either the brains or the bottle to ask. Think of Dick Advocaat demolishing Hugh Keevins for asking "stupid questions" and you see the difference.
We shouldn't have to put up with this. By 'we' I mean all supporters in Scotland. It's a shock to read something thought-provoking in a Scottish 'paper when we're so used to seeing headlines and stories written by idiots, aimed at idiots. As has been mentioned many times elsewhere, there is far more talent on websites and in fanzines than in the Scottish football press and it's little wonder that circulation figures are falling month by month. Journalists and editors should be worried about it. With so many people losing their job across the country, you would hope those in work would try that wee bit harder to keep what they have. Newspapers, "sister" 'papers, are sharing journalists, sharing football content but it's still mostly mindless stuff.
So here's a thought: for the hacks that want to keep their job, why not give the fans something that will ensure they read your work? Be impartial and give us quality. It's hardly difficult.