Rangers response to Mark Daly's Gordon Neely article

[Blue Tack]

In the space of weeks the spotlight has went from the decades of institutional abuse at parkhead to an attack on us as a club .
They are trying to draw parity and report this an “old firm” issue ,it’s 100% Lawell and hollicom ,with the bbc being the willing platform to use to get it out there .

statement was good but we need to sue ,far as I’m concerned we already have a weight of evidence to prove the bbc have it in for us ,if we take it to court we can prove the allegations are not only false but absolutely malicious.

 

[Professor Yaffle]

Its decent enough for now but a call for a full.public enquiry into all abuse of kids everywhere in Scotland is long overdue. Celtic and the priests have lots to hide and the media role in covering it up also needs a thorough investigation but Scotland is too corrupt.

 

[blueismycolour]

Don't forget though, we are dealing with people that can see the real shame in what they are reporting and are continually looking the other way. Isn"t that so Mr Daly

That Indeed Is Shameful...........

 

[weeblueboab]

But what we've not asked Daly,same as when the bold Desmond was approached!!!.
Are you a victim sellic supporter???

I wish we would. I'm tired of us watching what we say, and them being able to say what they want whenever they want.
When we were in the midst of our troubles it seemed like every other day there was some hypocrite in an official position over there in the papers getting their wee digs in.
Wish we would show them the same respect.

 

[ThorntonMM]

Rangers response to Mark Daly's Gordon Neely article


‘BBC Scotland’s reporting on these horrific incidents and, in particular, its sensationalist and unfair accusation of a cover up by Rangers is disgraceful.

'Rangers based its prior description as to what occurred on trusted first-hand accounts from those with personal knowledge of what took place and the appropriate steps taken at that time. To suggest, as BBC Scotland’s Mark Daly has done, that these are invalidated by a short, filler piece in the Rangers News written almost 30 years ago by someone who clearly had no knowledge of the events, or the reasons for Neely’s sacking is nonsense. Indeed, it is shameful.

'BBC Scotland has a history of inaccurate reporting when commenting on Rangers and a string of apologies given to Rangers by BBC Scotland in recent times is clear evidence of this. However, on a matter of such gravity we do not think it is unreasonable to expect better than Mr Daly’s report.

'The important people here are the victims of abuse and we owe it to them to deal sensitively and supportively with the issues they raise.

'Rangers will do all it can to assist in offering support and counselling to anyone affected. Their wellbeing should be at the centre of every right thinking person’s concern.

'Ridiculous claims of a cover up against those seeking to deal with such matters in a sensitive manner suggests sensationalism and in this instance point to a desire to attack Rangers as being more important to those reporting these horrific incidents than looking after the victims of abuse.’

Hibernian are wholly at fault in this case by not informing Rangers of abuse from Neely at Easter Rd yet they have only merited one sentence in the report by Mark Daly.

Disgusting

 

[Daviot Bear]

Good response from Rangers, BBC are lower than a snake's belly

 

[davyloyal]

One thing I take great pride in about being associated with this great club of ours is our determination to do the right thing; think back to 2012, when the overwhelming consensus amongst the support was that if we’d done wrong, we should go to the bottom tier, and that we didn’t want help from anyone else. That’s why I say a public enquiry will be proof positive of our integrity and at the same time lead the way in pressuring others to do likewise.

 

[TNT]

A Scottish MP needs to raise this in the commons and have the Culture Secretary start an inquiry at what is happening within BBC Scotland.

If she is back from Japan yet.

 

[Hurleyreyes]

The thing is it wouldn't be Walter or Souness who reported it to the police.
If Hood was involved in the meeting then clearly it would be him who would be tasked with informing the police.

But it would help to have a clear statement from Walter and Souness saying that that the outcome of the meeting was that Hood was instructed to do that and he gave assurances after, that it had been done. As an ex police officer and head of security they trusted him implicitly and would have no doubts that he carried out the instruction.

If the police don't have records from 30 years ago thats their problem.

 

[HandsomeHead]

Playing devils advocate, there is a chance that the club are aware of other allegations and therefore a call for any enquiry could be viewed as insensitive or not in the clubs best interests at this time. The statement is good but I’m slightly concerned it’s not as strong as I’d have wanted.
For example, non football mates tonight are discussing it in sane breath as Celtics affairs as if they’re one and the same.

I think that’s always been the intention: subsume Celtic’s litany of crimes into a wider nationwide scandal. It’s not enough that other clubs actually are involved in that, they were desperate for it to include us, which is something the statement doesn’t miss.

But yes, there is the possibility that there were other incidents of abuse which are only coming to light now, but if that was true I’d have expected Daly (and everyone else for that matter) to be all over it instead of slyly insinuating there were through clunky grammar.

In many ways the damage has been done - those without a vested interest just see the headlines and believe we’re also guilty of covering up abuse.

It’s utterly abhorrent.

 

[remembertheepoch]

The thing is it wouldn't be Walter or Souness who reported it to the police.
If Hood was involved in the meeting then clearly it would be him who would be tasked with informing the police.

But it would help to have a clear statement from Walter and Souness saying that that the outcome of the meeting was that Hood was instructed to do that and he gave assurances after, that it had been done. As an ex police officer and head of security they trusted him implicitly and would have no doubts that he carried out the instruction.

If the police don't have records from 30 years ago thats their problem.

They have been proven to have lost records from 2 or 3 years ago, Especially those involving Rangers. Hanging effigies? 30 years ago might be a stretch.

Mibee daily should shine a torchlight on why they are incapable of keeping their records.

 

[muttley]

Daly and BBC kept on saying evidence of abuse and a cover up

Surely it should allegations against Rangers have been made by an alleged victim?

Said last night the club need to sue BBC Scotland

Also it’s time for Souness and Smith to back the club up in court and take the BBC to the cleaners and ban them for life

Careers should be ruined at the BBC

Also as pointed out before

This alleged story was headline news on the day a Brexit agreement has been agreed with the EU

It highlights the clear agenda BBC Scotland have with anti Rangers stories

we should be taking legal action against daly himself

 

[muttley]

The thing is it wouldn't be Walter or Souness who reported it to the police.
If Hood was involved in the meeting then clearly it would be him who would be tasked with informing the police.

But it would help to have a clear statement from Walter and Souness saying that that the outcome of the meeting was that Hood was instructed to do that and he gave assurances after, that it had been done. As an ex police officer and head of security they trusted him implicitly and would have no doubts that he carried out the instruction.

If the police don't have records from 30 years ago thats their problem.

This lad's father involved in this was a policeman at the time, he knew, he would have reported it as it was his duty as both a father and policeman to do so.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EHG_XQ3XkAEa32T?format=png&name=small

 

[Tommyhlrsc]

This non-ban of Skeletor Daley - It's now time to make it an official one.

Get them (BBC) in court to explain this?

 

[Bluethruandthru]

there could beongoing proceedings affecting our club though and any call would be damaging is what I mean

If that’s the case then bring it on. Unlike the other mob I firmly believe our support would rather the truth would out than entertain any suggestions of a cover up. Rangers are clean there is no doubt in my mind but let’s assume we’re guilty of the same dispicabl

One thing I take great pride in about being associated with this great club of ours is our determination to do the right thing; think back to 2012, when the overwhelming consensus amongst the support was that if we’d done wrong, we should go to the bottom tier, and that we didn’t want help from anyone else. That’s why I say a public enquiry will be proof positive of our integrity and at the same time lead the way in pressuring others to do likewise.

Agreed.

I’d like to think the majority of Rangers fans would prefer if our club were indeed found to be guilty of the same despicable cover up crimes as cfc then we would accept the applicable punishment to be just and thats what separates us from them imo. The fact remains though that despite the best efforts of rodents like this Daley character, there absolutely no evidence to support that whatsoever.

 

[deedle]

This lad's father involved in this was a policeman at the time, he knew, he would have reported it as it was his duty as both a father and policeman to do so.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EHG_XQ3XkAEa32T?format=png&name=small

For the sake of argument, suppose the same thing happened today.

Would the club tell the victim and his father to speak to Steven Gerrard and Gary McAllister?


If an allegation like this was made back then the people dealing with it would surely be the likes of Campbell Ogilvie and Alistair Hood and not Graeme Souness and Walter Smith (especially as Souness was on the verge of leaving the club for Liverpool).

 

[Bada-Bing]

Quickly addressed.

Daly and BBC should be made to apologise.

Exactly, important that we responded quickly.

 

[thornhill bear]

Hopefully sent to bbc in London or Salford wherever the feck their hq is to show up the Scottish branch in yet another biased and disgraceful example of their poor professionalism

 

[muttley]

For the sake of argument, suppose the same thing happened today.

Would the club tell the victim and his father to speak to Steven Gerrard and Gary McAllister?


If an allegation like this was made back then the people dealing with it would surely be the likes of Campbell Ogilvie and Alistair Hood and not Graeme Souness and Walter Smith (especially as Souness was on the verge of leaving the club for Liverpool).

maybe they were all in the room at the same time this meeting took place? Souness and smith because they would have been his bosses and Ogilvie and Hood for the security and administration for the club?

 

[DEJA BLUE]

The thing is it wouldn't be Walter or Souness who reported it to the police.
If Hood was involved in the meeting then clearly it would be him who would be tasked with informing the police.

But it would help to have a clear statement from Walter and Souness saying that that the outcome of the meeting was that Hood was instructed to do that and he gave assurances after, that it had been done. As an ex police officer and head of security they trusted him implicitly and would have no doubts that he carried out the instruction.

If the police don't have records from 30 years ago thats their problem.

Hood was a policeman at some point before we recruited him as well wasn't he?

 

[Alexmci]

Also it’s time for Souness and Smith to back the club up in court and take the BBC to the cleaners and ban them for life

This will be interesting, because let's face it BBC Scotland have just accused Walter Smith and Graeme Souness of covering up child abuse.
I would not imagine they will let that lie.

 

[deedle]

maybe they were all in the room at the same time this meeting took place? Souness and smith because they would have been his bosses and Ogilvie and Hood for the security and administration for the club?

None of the reports mention anyone other than Souness or Smith.

I'm struggling to see why they would be directly involved in a serious allegation against a youth coach. There were obvious potential repercussions in terms of the law and they had no relevant expertise.

 

[CarlukeBear]

What I noted also was the guy heading the abuse in football inquiry was willing to be interviewed, lending gravitas to the claim, yet has never been seen in respect of any accusations made towards the scum.

 

[muttley]

None of the reports mention anyone other than Souness or Smith.

I'm struggling to see why they would be directly involved in a serious allegation against a youth coach. There were obvious potential repercussions in terms of the law and they had no relevant expertise.

id suggest what I have written above would be nearer the truth but only Souness and Smith can say who was all in the room at the time.

 

[Mersh55]

For the sake of argument, suppose the same thing happened today.

Would the club tell the victim and his father to speak to Steven Gerrard and Gary McAllister?


If an allegation like this was made back then the people dealing with it would surely be the likes of Campbell Ogilvie and Alistair Hood and not Graeme Souness and Walter Smith (especially as Souness was on the verge of leaving the club for Liverpool).

To me the natural first contact would be the football management team, it would then be for the management team to escalate the seriousness of the claim.
Why the football side first: because that is likely to be who you are more familiar with.

 

[kclarkhall]

Hopefully our lawyers are all over it as we speak.

The BBC's agenda has been crystal clear for years upon years now.

 

[Deleted Account]

We should be publishing it on all official channels. To respond is simply not enough.

 

[Gibraltar Loyal]

Now im not saying "john" is at it, even though the story has changed from the original one, if he is a victim then i hope he gets the justice he deserves. However, the way that this has been told by Daly is if it is an open and shut case all going on this guys word. I hope for Daly's sake he is 100% correct as guys like "Nick" have shown that it is easy to dupe people

 

[Stez64]

Does anyone know if the boy's old man is still alive ?

 

[muttley]

We should be publishing it on all official channels. To respond is simply not enough.

Id agree with his. I think we should actually address this on all our media platforms to show we as a club have nothing to hide.

 

[butchyboy]

None of the reports mention anyone other than Souness or Smith.

I'm struggling to see why they would be directly involved in a serious allegation against a youth coach. There were obvious potential repercussions in terms of the law and they had no relevant expertise.

Neither did BJK and he booted Torbett out

 

[Blastie Bear]

BOOOOOOM !!!
Get it round you BBC.

I wonder why all of a sudden a lie like this would appear in the news???......strange just cant figure out why.

 

[muttley]

Does anyone know if the boy's old man is still alive ?

I can't remember where I read it but, I'm sure I read the lad's dad was now dead.

 

[Sandbear]

Liking the response, now I would like to se the lawyers involve.
Its time to lance this cancerous Bbc Scotland.

 

[Jelle1880]

There's actually vile scum that are celebrating this claim. Imagine how mental you have to be for that.

 

[DamBuster72]

Personally I would've preferred a more measured response with us calling for an independent inquiry to expose any and all of these scumbags and those covering them up, irrespective of which club tie they wore.

At present it's just the BBC slinging mud in our direction and us shouting "you're wrong!" Which leaves a vacuum in the middle were unsubstantiated rumour, hearsay and agendas can thrive.

Our 1990s media team wishing him the best for the future seems a total faux pas, even if they weren't apprised of the facts of why he left, someone above should've been making sure his name was expunged from all our publications from that day forward.

 

[Calvinist]

Hood was a policeman at some point before we recruited him as well wasn't he?

hood was a cop for 30 years , he may have been an assistant chief constable , not 100% sure ,but he held a senior position

 

[rossgers]

What I noted also was the guy heading the abuse in football inquiry was willing to be interviewed, lending gravitas to the claim, yet has never been seen in respect of any accusations made towards the scum.

Yes, i think we know how his inquiry is going to go.

 

[Laudrup1]

None of the reports mention anyone other than Souness or Smith.

I'm struggling to see why they would be directly involved in a serious allegation against a youth coach. There were obvious potential repercussions in terms of the law and they had no relevant expertise.

For the same reason Macari was at celtic. The manager, 30 years ago, was the focal point of the club. Now the chairman and other officials are far more of a focus for off field issues.

 

[No Money No Problems]

Souness and Walter were top trending topics on Twitter last night, our statement was not. If the allegations are untrue then we really need to do more than just issue a statement directly to the press.

 

[giogaddi]

There's actually vile scum that are celebrating this claim. Imagine how mental you have to be for that.

It's all they've ever wanted. It shows just how depraved their mindset is. They genuinely hope that kids were abused to level the score, in their eyes. There is no equivalence between the two. They covered up a paedophile ring for decades and actually re-employed a known beast who then went on to molest more kids. They should be shut down. The fact the press are complicit in the cover up and the subsequent attempt to muddy the waters must be horrifying for the hundreds of victims of Celtic FC child abuse.

 

[bluetonic]

We should just ban the BBC, now would be a perfect opportunity.

Its the right thing to do

 

[HandsomeHead]

There's actually vile scum that are celebrating this claim. Imagine how mental you have to be for that.

That's what we're dealing with here and it's what this statement refers to - the utterly depraved desire to drag Rangers into this in order to somehow excuse the years of abuse at Celtic Park.

Rangers have a real PR battle on their hands to disassociate themselves from this now and PR is something we haven't been very good at under this regime.

 

[deedle]

To me the natural first contact would be the football management team, it would then be for the management team to escalate the seriousness of the claim.
Why the football side first: because that is likely to be who you are more familiar with.

The problem with this case is that the boy's father would be heavily involved in how it was dealt with. He is now dead.

Maybe he just wanted Souness to give Neely a rollicking and force his resignation.

From a legal perspective, would any allegation of a criminal act not have to come from the boy (and/or his father if the boy was still a child)?

This is where the story seems to come unstuck.

 

[Vote For Pedro]

Personally I would've preferred a more measured response with us calling for an independent inquiry to expose any and all of these scumbags and those covering them up, irrespective of which club tie they wore.

At present it's just the BBC slinging mud in our direction and us shouting "you're wrong!" Which leaves a vacuum in the middle were unsubstantiated rumour, hearsay and agendas can thrive.

Our 1990s media team wishing him the best for the future seems a total faux pas, even if they weren't apprised of the facts of why he left, someone above should've been making sure his name was expunged from all our publications from that day forward.

If his name was expunged from our records then it would be a cover up. It’s a tiny article that is discrete in its content letting fans know he’s moved on. The fact the police cannot confirm or deny it was reported is the issue here, it’s their incompetence if you will. We really can’t win on the issue in their eyes. We say nothing it’s a cover up, we report he’s left it’s a cover up. It’s weak as %^*& and they know it, in my opinion it’s a big own goal by the BBC in their eagerness to smear us!

 

[DamBuster72]

If his name was expunged from our records then it would be a cover up. It’s a tiny article that is discrete in its content letting fans know he’s moved on. The fact the police cannot confirm or deny it was reported is the issue here, it’s their incompetence if you will. We really can’t win on the issue in their eyes. We say nothing it’s a cover up, we report he’s left it’s a cover up. It’s weak as %^*& and they know it, in my opinion it’s a big own goal by the BBC in their eagerness to smear us!

By that I mean no mention of him as an employee from the day after we reported him to the police, not deleting all the previous references of him as an employee. Sorry for the confusion, that was my ambiguous post.

 

[Laudrups Barnet 55]

We didn't though. We found out, sacked him and reported it. End of story.

That being the case I want the bbc in court.

Expose their bias to the courts and the world.

 

[bluetonic]

If only Daly would spend two years investigating Green, Whyte ,Ahmed and the rest if the spivs that would be a real story

 

[Vote For Pedro]

By that I mean no mention of him as an employee from the day after we reported him to the police, not deleting all the previous references of him as an employee. Sorry for the confusion, that was my ambiguous post.

I get what you mean. Sacked and we don’t dignify the cretin with any mention. Not sure it matters, Daily and the BBC were hell bent on dragging us into it. The story is totally sensationalised, which the BBC have absolutely no mandate for doing, they left pretty vital and important facts out of it, such as the lads father was a serving police officer and as far as I can see made no attempt to contact people who were actually at the meeting. A total hatchet job!

 

[temperance]

BBC Scotland are rotten from head to toe, they would do or say anything to deflect attention away from their beloved Celtic, they have no concern for anything else, and as we all know, they and Dailly in particular, have a long history of attacking Rangers. Ban every one of them from aIbrox.