When and why did Scottish football become so poisonous?

Gheorghe_Hagi

Well-Known Member
I'm 30 so have been watching Scottish football since round about the mid 90s, and I've genuinely never known Scottish football to be as petty, vindictive, poisonous and hate-filled as it is right now especially where Rangers are concerned amongst fans of what seems like every other team in the country. To name but a few things, you have the threats of physical violence against anyone perceived to be "anti-Celtic", the constant paranoia regarding any positive decision in our favour, the shedding of any sense of basic human moral decency to defend the enablers of paedophilia, I could go on indefinitely.

Am I wrong though? Has Scottish football always been like this?

If I'm right, what was the tipping point? Surely it can't have been the events of 2012. Why would that provoke such a response?

Is it due in part to the rise in social media?

The only conclusion I can draw from Scottish football is that the most bitter and hate-filled element of Scottish football has been allowed to become the most successful in recent years.

At its heart football is meant to be fun. I don't think I'm alone in thinking that the constant negativity surrounding our game is just killing any sense of enjoyment that can be taken from it, especially when you know that even something as simple as Rangers winning is going to be met with weeks of nonsense about how we celebrated too much, or we cheated or whatever we did wrong that week.

Interested to hear the thoughts of others on this.
 
In the day of the internet it’s reaching new levels but let’s not forget the treatment of Willie Woodburn, Colin Stein, Duncan Ferguson, Souness, Gazza etc. The hatred of Rangers is nothing new but it’s worse now than
it’s ever been. We simply have very few if any friends in “Modern Scotland”
 
It’s been heading this way since the media began being taken over by the Celtic- minded in the 90s. The drive against ‘sectarianism’ following devolution and the upsurge in nationalism has effectively turned Rangers into a bogeyman.

The influence of figures like Lawwell and Reid has also had a role, as has the wider dumbing-down of society.
 
David Murray and his dignified silence for many years let them take total control of the media without any resistance. Then a combination of the Indy bandwagon demonizing anything that is even perceived to be Unionist, and our club being run into the ground by the spivs in the same period (therefore having no influence at all in Scottish football) was the perfect storm.
 
Celtic have always been the put upon oppressed poor me club, beaten down by the establishment. Very much in the same manner as Scottish nationalists, you mix that with the Celtic mind and it gets pretty ugly. Social media and the fact that Rangers were not killed off in 2012, and we’re clearly on our way back has made it worse. What we’ve seen this year alone in the Celtic paranoia that’s always been there, if they get beat, darker forces are at hand! I personally can’t wait for 55! Take cover, it will be fucking mayhem!
 
I think you can probably go back to the anti unionist sentiment that began to take root in the aftermath of devolution twenty plus years ago and the orchestrated campaign led by Reid and Lawwell to influence both the media and football governance in Scotland that followed in its wake.

Now however I sense that there is just a general sense of disgust and bitterness that we are still alive and seemingly getting back to our best fuelled in large part by said orchestrated media campaign that has demonised and denigrated us at every turn from 2012 onwards.
 
But we're talking nearly 19 years ago that that happened. nearly 14 years since he left Celtic. Surely it can't be denied that even since then the hatred and bitterness has ramped up. So what exacerbated things?
They're paranoid delusions are indulged. That's why it's been exacerbated
 
It’s always been there to a degree but it has been ramped up when they tried to kill us off and realised they failed. It’s not just the tarries, it’s no marks like Hearts, Motherwell, etc. Sick we survived.
This.
They wanted us gone and we're still here and they don't like it.
 
It's gotten way worse since 2012, every other team in Scotland believe we cheated our way to success.

They believe we deserved everything that happened to us and thought we would die. (Jelly & Ice Cream etc)

Now that they see there is a chance of us returning to be the top team in Scotland again they can't handle it. (Really can't handle it)

They know after everything we have been through we are going to celebrate 55 so much it will make them all sick to their stomach.

It's not going to be easy because everyone outwith our family want us to win nothing ever again and some will do anything possible to make sure we don't.

Our first major trophy will be a huge milestone in our road back to where we belong but might also give our enemies a sense of realisation that no matter how hard they try we will be top dogs again.

Rangers v Scottish Football
 
But we're talking nearly 19 years ago that that happened. nearly 14 years since he left Celtic. Surely it can't be denied that even since then the hatred and bitterness has ramped up. So what exacerbated things?

Social media. In the 90s and early 00s, you only really heard the opion of people you interacted with, and what was in the papers or on the radio/tv. Social media means everyone has a voice that can be heard no matter where you are, and it makes mob-mentality easier to drum up.
 
Walter coming back to put them back in their box and take us all the way to the UEFA cup final was something they just couldn't handle.

They couldn't beat us on the field and resorted to other means with the help of outside forces.

Our success at that time coupled with their sheer hatred was the driving force.
 
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I would say it got worse since social media came into effect . Gave the moonhowlers a platform to spout lies and bullshit with most of them living off every word of it . Whereas , before , we would only read about shit in the papers and just pass it off . News outlets can hype up stories 24hrs a day now and work the already demented into a frenzy
 
Their Serial Victim Syndrome has always been there, but new strain was declared thanks to O'Neil and Lennon playing to the sub normal unwashed masses.
 
When the media started to push the "cheating" mantra over EBTs.

Every no mark team in the country then turned their jealousy to hatred as they believes they had been done out of trophies and money and european appearances.

It was just the usual inter city rivalry with celtic until then and the same other successful clubs get from the diddy teams that other countries have.
 
The main instigators for me are Liewell and thomson (the older one)at Dundee Utd. Our run to the UEFA cup final where we got no assistance with our fixtures,something like 11 games in a 28 day period.Liewell screaming about sporting integrity when part of the reason for the congestion was our club allowed them to postpone the new year game against us when sadly Phil ODONNELL died,a player who left them about 10 years earlier.Liewell cynically used that poor lads death to avoid playing us as we were on a good run of form at the time.Then there was his lies about the trip to Japan they had booked for the end of that season,which never happened.
Thomson demanding fans pay full price for a match that was abandoned due to a water logged pitch.
Both were very vocal when we ran into our financial difficulties demanding sanctions.Liwells just hates us for who we are and thomson along with the majority of other clubs saw a chance to kick us when we were down.All this born out of jealousy and hatred of our unparalleled success.
 
But we're talking nearly 19 years ago that that happened. nearly 14 years since he left Celtic. Surely it can't be denied that even since then the hatred and bitterness has ramped up. So what exacerbated things?

Essentially I believe that was the catalyst for what we now experience on a couple of levels.

What it did was allow them an additional safety net to play a victim of bigotry card as soon as anything happened against them. It also brought about a period of genuine challenge to our period of being the best team in the country.

I firmly believe by gradually building both of those things they started to transform the landscape of Scottish football. To the extent that when our financial issues had come to a head, they had positioned themselves as such a saintly club and organisation, that the rest of Scottish football went with it. Big bad Rangers was built and built by 1 club claiming to be the victims time and time again. The rest of Scottish football have lapped it up.

Ironically given some of their media output, the narrative of “anyone but Rangers” has been forming over the last 20 years.
 
It’s always been bitter and twisted, however the above poster nails it, 2012 and the ridiculous notion that we were cheating our way to success, it has gotten much, much worse since then.
 
I am an old guy who has been following Rangers and Scottish football for over 60 years. It used to be fun and recall Rangers and their supporters being made welcome in away towns and grounds all across the country. However, while always reluctant to give Celtic credit for anything, they have played a long game successfully. They have been successful in getting allies in key positions within the SFA/SPL and in particular within media outlets. This has led to the minds of the football public being poisoned as the message that all things Rangers has to be bad and negative is persistently echoed. In a previous post, Paisleyprod is correct in portraying that weakness in the Murray/Bain area was unhelpful and of course, the chaos surrounding Whyte, Green etc ensured that our enemies never had to look far for ammunition. So, we have younger people growing up in the belief that having an intense dislike of all things related to Rangers is the right approach. It is unlikely that there will be much, if any change in the short to medium term. However, on a personal basis, I am not overly troubled by that but instead just want our team to do well as being successful is preferable to being popular.
 
C——c one been there from50s but recon 9 inarow started the rest of Scottish football. The final nail in the coffin was 7 years ago when Lawwell conned all the clubs to vote against us.
 
It’s always been there to a degree but it has been ramped up when they tried to kill us off and realised they failed. It’s not just the tarries, it’s no marks like Hearts, Motherwell, etc. Sick we survived.

I think this is true.

We were supposed to just sulk off and die quietly, we never and they genuinely fear us properly getting our act together and hoovering up trophy after trophy again.
 
O’Neill joining Celtic. Lennon coming a year later put it on a different level
We beat them at Ibrox,was there can't remember score,but at full time oneill and the thug with a tracksuit,were allowed to walk from the centre circle,to their fans with their arm raised in defiance,to us,even A very close hibee friend,said at the time,it should never have been allowed to happen,but it was to me the start of all a sundry press police,on their side to their million in Seville to our press not interested or concerned when we reached Manchester,and quote Archie MacPherson on that bit,my God it's unbelievable now,and as someone quoted last night,they have covered up a disgusting paedeo ring for 40years,so covering up. Any biased moves by a C.O,will be a piece of cake for them!
 
In the day of the internet it’s reaching new levels but let’s not forget the treatment of Willie Woodburn, Colin Stein, Duncan Ferguson, Souness, Gazza etc. The hatred of Rangers is nothing new but it’s worse now than
it’s ever been. We simply have very few if any friends in “Modern Scotland”
It`s pretty much always been like that but the Durant incident certainly stoked things up with us and dolly.

But in reality, the internet is the reason. People can see so much more information (true or false) to stoke up the hatred. Comments on forums get folk believing it`s true when maybe not.
I lost interest in the Glitterites in the 80s but since the internet came along, my hatred is 10 X worse than it ever was.
 
Its just a classic case of endless psychological social conditioning of the population to believe that Rangers are given favoured status by refs and the SFA. Even when that theory is currently proven to be wildly inaccurate with the Killie player kicking Ryan Jack in the face and with no SFA punishment, the population will still believe that Rangers are treated more favourably. What is happening right now is a perfect example. This is now so ingrained in the public consciousness, that whenever Rangers do get a break from a ref and is then excessively highlighted and covered in the mhedia, it only " confirms" their social conditioning.
 
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Liewell and co that's when imo they started ramping up all the we're Irish not British pish bringing in like minded bastards, can't remember if they done it before this time but refusing to have anything to do with remembrance Day and having all of the media and everything else that afraid of the Backlash from this den of scum
 
A common theme running through this thread - devolution, the influx of yahoo friendly types in the media, the arrival of O'Neill, Lennon, then Lawwell & the sex pesting MP.

All the while, we had the world's worst Custodian in charge, who sat back and allowed our clubs reputation to be continually dragged through the mud and run down by said media, allowed the filth to assert themselves & get integrated into the SFA/SPL, and left the club vulnerable to what eventually came to pass in 2012.
 
Lennon upon his arrival at Celtic certainly made things worse.

Then it jumped another level when Rangers went into administration and subsequently DIDNT die like everyone wanted
 
They used our situation to increase their power base and have poisoned the well as they always do.

The rest, I understand less however it can’t be unrelated to the rise in fuckwittery that see’s the country run by the least talented political party in the world.

Sheep, Hibs, even Hearts seem happy to be ruled by their Celtic overlords so long as we are fucked over. Strange, strange people and situation. Hating themselves to death indeed.
 
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