Welshman Joe Ledley scored the only goal of the game in the second half to secure all three points for Neil Lennon’s side to leapfrog Rangers into top spot by two points.

Joining host Andy Muirhead via Skype are The Oval Log’s Louis McCaffrey and OnlyanExcuse.com editor Danny McWilliams, and in the studio Scotzine’s Rangers columnist Ewan McQueen sits alongside the Alternative View Celtic Fanzine editor Matt McGlone.

Enjoy the Show!

Listen to The Final Whistle Scottish Football Show Old Firm Special Derby day #2 – Review on Podomatic or subscribe to it on iTunes.

Over the course of two or three days, Scotzine and myself personally have been brought into a situation that we have not been responsible for or knew about until we received emails and tweets from three individuals.

Two of the said individuals claimed – based on comments by certain individuals on the Celtic forum The Huddleboard – that I was the man responsible for the running of and distributing of a Celtic fanzine called 67.

I responded out of professional courtesy to the individuals involved and forwarded the emails received to the those responsible for the running of the 67 Fanzine.

The Celtic blogger who published an article making claims that I was responsible, received all the facts and all the informed that I could legally send him without breaching the Data Protection Act. SIXTEEN emails were sent between myself and this Celtic blogger calling himself Fritz. So for him to claim in his article that he received no answers to questions and that the complainants did not receive no reasonable explanation is laughable.

Emails sent to the individuals parties:

To Fritz – “I don’t know where folk get the impression that I have anything to do with the fanzine other than hosting the site and doing their template for the fanzine which to my recollection they still use. My initial dealings was with a former college mate Padraig Fitzgerald who linked up with a guy called Andy Lamont to do the fanzine.

Padraig is no longer part of the fanzine as he is now in Dubai, so the only information I have from what is now going on at the fanzine is that Andy Lamont is running the fanzine with some others he has brought on board, who I have no dealings with except for an email when the hosting fee is due.

The hosting fee two months ago for the site was late by two weeks and last months and this months hosting fee is late also. I had one email from them from last month saying they had a ‘cash flow issue’ but they would clear up the money owed to me within the 30 day deadline I imposed. Currently I am out around £60 currently and will not keep the site live when I am not getting paid.

I have no phone contact with Andy Lamont, I only had dealings with Padraig last season by phone, this season when Andy has contacted me it has solely been through email.

I have had two emails since hosting the site for folk asking about the fanzine stuff, and all I can do is point them in the direction of the only email address I have which is 67fanzine@gmail.com

Anyone claiming that I have anything else other than the above is totally wrong and any rumours that are being spread are totally unfounded if they differ from the above. On top of the Scotzine site, I also run the Scotzine Sport site, I do The Final Whistle Scottish Football Show, the Scotzine online magazine, I write articles for other sites and newspapers including ESPN Soccernet blog and my college course which also involves writing for The Glasgow Journal newspaper. If that was not enough I have moved house recently in preparation for my wife giving birth next month. Where do I have the time to do all of that AND a Celtic fanzine?

I hope you can pass all the details on to those who claim that I have some sort of dealing with this fanzine and put them right. Because I have enough folk trying to bring me down for not kowtowing to the criticism over my Scotzine site and another site helping out with this. I don’t need this ‘rumour’ and blatant lie about me having any further links with this lot.”

To Stephen: “I set up the paypal account for the 67 fanzine along with the site, email system etc, however I have no access to any of them since March 2011 as I passed everything on to Andy Lamont and Padraig Fitzgerald along with access username/passwords for every section they requested – Padraig no longer runs the fanzine as he has moved to Dubai, I know Padraig from my time at college and all I know is that he left and passed everything off to Andy. I cannot help you in your attempts to obtain any issues that they have not sent or money owed to you. They owe me two months hosting fee and I have not heard anything from them since the middle of last month when they had promised to pay at the start of this month.

I must point out again though that I have no links with the fanzine other than what I have informed individuals previously over in regards to template, site design and hosting – which shall be pulled if they fail to pay their debt to me. I must also categorically state that I have never received any monies for subscriptions for the 67 Fanzine.”

Rather than publishing another email listing the same information as I have posted above, I sent both emails from myself to another individual Joe.

In terms of myself threatening legal action, this was said to Fritz and I quote: “if it (the article) states something that is untrue and points to me then I shall take legal action.”

I also pointed him to his own hosting company’s content policy.

In regards to taking legal action against Joe, who runs and owns the Celtic Collectors Club website. He made threats to publish a post on his site based on baseless rumours, conjecture and false claims. As well as that Joe threatened to go to the Police at London Road in Glasgow. I informed him that he should go to the police and that when they come calling I will give them the evidence to back up my comments.

He also claimed that I concocted the guy who actually ran the fanzine out of my imagination, before aiming another blackmail threat at me to get back £3 the he claimed he paid and that he claimed I owed him. He said: “Last chance. Money back now or I go public on my site. You are despicable stealing money from Celtic supporters.”

He further added in the same email: “You are taking on the wrong person. I have the means and not willing to go public.”

Although in his haste to blackmail me, I believe he meant ‘…and now willing to go public’.

That is why I threatened legal action. Trying to extort money from someone through threats is illegal is it not?

After those comments I made it clear that any further correspondence would be forwarded on to a lawyer to deal with, he has since went silent, but then tagged up with Fritz to write his hatchet job article.

After receiving said emails, a number of threatening messages as well as abuse from the usual suspects, I sent two emails to those running the 67 Fanzine and received a response this morning from ‘the figment of my imagination’ Andy Lamont:

“Hi Andrew,

I have been away on business for the past week and did not see the emails that you had sent. I am sorry to hear that you are being held accountable for our issues and I shall reimburse those who have purchased the fanzines or send the issue out which has been published. A online version of the issue was produced and had been sent out to subscribers back in August.

As for the website and fanzine itself, due to work committments I cannot continue with the running of it and despite what is being said by others it was not my intention to de-fraud or take money from anyone let alone fellow Celtic fans. for nothing.

I have viewed the article in question and can categorically state that at no time have I had any contact with the fan who writes the Fritz A. Grandold Celtic website. The only contact I have had was from Joe who runs the Celtic Collectors Club website, after speaking to him on the phone I asked one of those who helps out with selling the fanzine from time to time to look into the issues that have not been sent or had been sent out and to re-send any issues that were outstanding or had not been received. To date I have only recorded two buyers who have not received their copies.

Because of your ultimatum about the site and the hosting fee that is outstanding, we understand that you are significantly out of pocket and that I have put you in a predicament. I shall send you the money as soon as I can.

About the guidelines you set down for myself and Padraig at the time I failed to change the details of the email system until several months after you had sent through the username and password. The paypal account that is for the fanzine though I do not know where to change the name, that is why your name is still on the account.

You have my permission to forward this to the person or people involved in holding you responsible and I would like to add that since Issue 1 I back up what you have said in that you have had no dealings with myself or anyone else at 67fanzine except for web hosting issues and payments.

Comments made in the messageboards claiming that you are the editor of 67fanzine are false, the only role that you (Andy Muirhead) have had with 67fanzine is by providing myself and Padraig with hosting and a domain name for the website, along with a template for the fanzine and helping to initially set our account on paypal up.

I apologise if you have been held to blame for our problem, I hope that this email will clear up any hint that you were involved other than what I have said above.
–
Hail Hail, Andy Lamont”

Fritz claimed in his piece that his article was not an attack on myself or Scotzine. Yet despite my side of the issue being given – Fritz and Joe rubbished it, preferring to believe the tripe peddled on The Huddleboard, the same forum responsible for publishing Nacho Novo’s address. I wonder if my address has now been published for all their members to take a note of and resort to the thuggery that some of their members are famous for?

He further claims that there are only questions, no accusations – but his whole article was one huge accusation. I also find it strange that on his own timeline after publishing said article and link to it – now conveniently deleted – he stated that there was no evidence or proof to suggest that I was responsible. Again don’t let the truth get in the way of your hatchet job Fritz.

Two months after the issues were supposedly published, the finger of blame was aimed at me personally, conveniently a week after I further criticised the Green Brigade and all their IRA luvvies that tag-along or worship them.

Maybe individuals should asking given ALL THE EVIDENCE why have the relevant parties have waited two months? Two months after a receipt of purchase, with one being a businessman who uses paypal on a daily basis – he would know that Paypal could not refund said money after such a period. Maybe questions should be asked in regards to the timing of said accusations and the accusers?

During my time producing Scotzine, I have been accused of being a bigot by those luvvies at the Vanguard Bears – with no evidence to back up their claims – verbally abused, sent death threats and other threats of violence from both sides of the Old Firm divide. And now I am being labelled a fraudster, based merely on rumours on a forum and two disgruntled Celtic fans who have failed to receive a copy of a fanzine issue. It has taken them FIVE years to now label me such, and I full expect in the coming weeks and months to be publicly outed as the third gunman on the Grassy Knowle and even the mastermind behind the Great Train Robbery.

Those who personally know me, know what I would and would not do. Those who have worked on the Scotzine site and had any professional dealings with me would know what I am like and what I would not do. It’s funny how the same detractors are always linked heavily to those who I have strongly criticised in the past. Says it all really.

UPDATE: The 67Fanzine site has now been taken down from our hosting server through unpaid hosting fees.

As ever joining Andy Muirhead in the studio is Danny McWilliams of Onlyanexcuse.com, Bryan McManus and this week’s guest Matt McGlone, editor of the Celtic fanzine Alternative View and to say that he was a tad controversial is an understatement.

Enjoy the show!

Listen to The Final Whistle Scottish Football Show Episode 7 on Podomatic or subscribe to it on iTunes.

Talking about the contributors for this site – several contribute to mainstream media regularly, while others have been writing articles for the site alongside studying journalism at college or university. Those experienced and student journalists contribute along with those of us that have been deemed by some in the mainstream media as ‘fans with laptops’ aka football bloggers – with many of us taking proud of the tag football blogger.

Last season I was given access by many Scottish Football clubs to cover matches, as well as gain access to post-match press conferences. This allowed me to gain access to several league and cup games throughout the season, a number of Scotland games, the League Cup Final and both Scottish Cup Semi Final games also.

However this came to an abrupt end when I tried to obtain accreditation for the Scottish Cup Final. I was informed by the powers that be that a complaint had been sent to the SFA about my attendance within the media given that I was not officially accredited. There was also another issue with several comments which I made on my twitter page – which was described as more of a fan’s twitter page than a publications. I have no problem with that latter comment at all, I can safely say that some of the things that I have said on my twitter page have been far from being that if a publication, but 99.9% of the time it has been football-related. However this is where things get decidedly vindictive, as I was informed that access was being refused because I had been abusive towards one Graham Speirs. I categorically denied this allegation and asked them to corroborate this alleged abuse with Graham Speirs himself.

In fact I contacted Graham myself on the 10th May via email for him to corroborate my side of the case, in which that I had never abused him either in person nor online. Just over an hour later Graham replied:

“Hi Andy, I am totally unaware of any attack – or jibe! – you have made against me. So I hope you can get this sorted out.”

So while I had the backing of said ‘victim’, when this was forwarded onto the SFA along with my disdain at a journalist blatantly lying to help force this blogger out I never heard anything else until I sent in official complaints directed not at the SFA, but of the media ‘person’ in question who will continue to gain access to said games, despite being proved a liar.

One said official complaint was sent to SFA Chief Executive Stewart Regan, which resulted in myself being chastised somewhat by the SFA’s Head of Communications for sending said email complaint to Mr Regan. However I took that decision because of the lack of action in regards to the issue with the lie over abuse aimed at Graham Speirs. I cannot and will not publish said email correspondences between myself and the SFA Head of Communications due to it being a Private and Confidential response, however after discussions both on the phone and further email communication I was given the opinion that if I acted professionally both on the site and via social network, then I could be eligible for access once more.

Sadly, it is now apparent that no such access will be given in future – evidence – the failure to get access to even the Under-21 and Womens games, let alone the Scotland national side. Despite following the communique’s advice to the letter.

Again I do not have an issue with the SFA rejecting access to myself, due to my classification as a blogger and not official media, but I still take issue with the fact that one journalist’s word is taken as gospel merely because of who they are and who they work for. With such standing counting more than any proof or evidence – I always thought in Scotland you were innocent until proven guilty. Sadly when it comes to football bloggers and journalists, it is the journalists whose word is taken as gospel even if there is no proof whatsoever to back up their claims.

Since this summer I have been classed as not only a football blogger, but also a freelance journalist now due to several of my articles appearing in the Daily Record and the Scotsman. However one article that I wrote for this site was published 24 hours before two newspaper articles of similar subject matter. The freelancer who ‘wrote’ said articles sent ‘his’ work to the two red tops and who published them. Despite this exclusive being on my website, quite clearly and receiving thousands of hits on it, as well as through the Newsnow network, the Scottish Sun still claimed it as an EXCLUSIVE.

When I contacted both newspapers, the Daily Record quickly replied and apologised with the comment that they could not keep an eye on every website etc and that the real responsibly lay with the freelancer. The Scottish Sun however failed to reply at all, even when pulled up over their exclusive tag – which stands to do this day.

The Record thereafter advised me that if I had any exclusives or articles that they may be interested in, to send them in. I did this with an interview piece with Celtic midfielder Niall McGinn, which happened to be my very first article that I received a fee for. However I was far more proud to see it as the feature article within the newspaper.

Further to that McGinn article I exclusively broke news on my website that Celtic youngster Islam Feruz was ditching Parkhead for Stamford Bridge. This article was then sent in to a number of papers including The Scotsman who published the article on the 11th August. A mere two weeks later articles were published after comments from Celtic manager Neil Lennon that he had not seen Islam Feruz since the start of the season etc. and within these reports that the player could be on his way out of Celtic Park – despite it initially being rubbished by Chick Young – the same journalist who said that Craig Whyte would not buy Rangers FC, the same journalist who had a tete-a-tete with another OFFICIAL journalist live on air.

Jump to this Sunday and I settled down to cover an SPL game as the club in question had shown great faith in us over the course of two seasons to give us said access. After the match, the management team of both clubs conducted their interviews with a TV broadcaster, before being led into the media room by their respective club media officers. In the room both radio [one specific and high-profile one at least] and written press journalists gathered around those being asked the questions – where questions were asked by said assembled radio and newspaper journalists, as well as myself.

On the way home I heard the coverage of said radio interviews with the management/players I had been part of over the airwaves, and a few hours later spotted a dedicated piece on the Sky Sports Football website from comments made by Alan Thompson.

Somewhat naively I decided to upload and publish the full audio interviews of said pressers involving Alan Thompson, Danny Lennon etc including my own questions posed.

This is where the whole issue exploded. A number of journalists on Monday decided to take me to task for breaching the unwritten rule between broadcasters and journalists, that after the initial few questions posed by the broadcasters that the rest were to be embargoed until the dailies reported them the following morning. An unwritten rule that I knew nothing of, despite a few others throwing their two pence worth in stating that I should have known about it or asked.

I was given not only friendly advice from some journalists, but others in my opinion went for the jugular over a genuine honest mistake. Sadly this allowed the vultures to strike and strike they did. Reporting me to the Scottish Football Writers Association, who in turn emailed clubs. Two clubs to date – on top of the SFA – have now came out and declared that I will no longer be obtaining access. The other SPL clubs were already out-of-bounds to websites due to their instance that only Official Club websites/media would be gaining access.

Again I do not blame the clubs for taking such a stance, however once more it was a case of taking one or two peoples complaint as gospel without getting the other side of the story. At least when contacted the individuals at said clubs had the decency to talk to me in a professional and polite manner.

The same cannot be said for those journalists who ran to ‘teacher’ to tell-tale, as well as adding one or two wee comments on top of an honest mistake, like the notion that I failed to ask any question at all. The same journalists who claimed this were nowhere in attendance at said game at all, so again where is the proof that I did not ask any questions? I have the full audio files to back up my claims what do they have? Again the bloggers evidence counts for nothing when the ‘Gospel of the Hack’ speaks.

On this ‘unwritten rule’ I was questioned or the word should be criticised, for not asking journalists around me who were busy doing their jobs, on how to do the job. I have had previous discussions with mainstream journalists via email, phone and through twitter on many an occasion on the job itself, the way to act, what to do and what not to do. At no time did any hint of an unwritten rule or protocol was ever brought up – not that I am blaming those who were giving me advice or answering my questions.

However given that such a protocol aka unwritten rule is in existence, why then did the Sky Sports Football website publish the exact quotes from the same interview that I was in attendance at that night BEFORE I published the audio. The same quotes that were supposedly to be embargoed until the dailies reported them the next morning. I guess it is far easier to take on a football blogger who innocently and somewhat naively broke the unwritten rule, rather than a massive company like Sky Sports – I wonder if said critics of this football blogger had reported Sky Sports to the Scottish Football Writers Association and subsequently the clubs, like they had done with myself. Was their ‘report’ an honest mistake?

After further conversations with journalists including one from the Scottish Sun, who was advising me rather than criticising or vindictively attacking me, I eventually calmed down and walked away from the computer last night late on. Before replying to one club who had emailed me last night also to put forward my side of the story.

However this afternoon I received an email from said enraged journalist. The enraged journalist informed me of who exactly reported my honest mistake to the clubs, although they failed to mention that it was a genuine honest mistake, merely saying that I broke protocol.

He also stated: “You find yourself in this situation because people have taken issue with embargoed quotes being used before they should have. Now, that might not seem like the biggest crime in the world considering this is a hobby of yours, but for people who actually do this to put food on the table, it’s simply unacceptable.”

The phrase hobby is telling. This journalist states that this is a mere hobby of mine. Five years of daily working on it, with the only break being the odd times when the site was transferred over to a different server, or when I went on honeymoon – even then I had the help of someone who updated the site through that period covering the World Cup – which I was greatly appreciative of. This hobby of mine has led me to writing freelance for a number of publications and secure further paid freelance work with a football website. Likewise given the inroads that I had taken within the ‘industry’ I took the decision in May to apply to a Journalism course which on the work that I produced for the site gained me an unconditional offer. So for me this was far more than just a hobby it was certainly a job in itself on top of my own full time job.

He continued: “I also take issue with the claim you were abused. If you’re referring to my tweets yesterday, then I’m sorry mate, you need to get yourself some balls. At no point was I out of order or abusive towards you. I simply told you how it was.”

Yes, you did certainly tell me how it was in fact, you stated that I would not be allowed to do it again. And we all know what you did next don’t we? The kid running home grabbing the ball in the huff springs to mind. One of your colleagues from the same newspaper gave me advice, you certainly didn’t. It is even more laughable that you attack me for not having original work on my site – when despite our articles being sourced from websites, newspapers etc we clearly state this time and again.

A comment that was clearly jumped on by a graduate journalist who is now being paid by a University in Scotland, who labelled me a copy and paste merchant. That is a bit rich coming from an individual who has done a Journalism degree, who also conducted an act of thievery at the start of his ‘website’ by trying to use the Scotzine fanzine’s name of The 12th Man for his new publication, a year AFTER we had produced three issues of the same name. Highly professional to say the least even more so when you stated that you knew of the publication at Christmas time and two months before your own publication was published. You still went ahead and published said first issue with the name of The 12th Man, then changed it to The Away End the following month.

I especially liked the excuse that was used by one of his groupies that one of the people who ran the magazine/site had the permission of the right holders, that right holder being a member of their family. The quote in full was: “It IS copyrighted in the UK by a cricket club, and the guy who owns the copyright is related to one of the editors of our magazine which is where they actually got the permission to use the name from, however they have changed to The Away End as a compromise to scotzine even though legally they were allowed to use the name.”

When I looked into this copyright comment it certainly threw up some interesting facts. According to the UK trademark database the trademark used to belong to:

England and Wales Cricket Board Limited, Lord’s Cricket Ground, London, NW8 8QZ

The Cricket equivalent to the English FA. I am still waiting on the said name of the person who owned the copyright – since the copyright is no longer held by said Cricket Board nor anyone else in the UK, and I am still waiting on said member of the editorial team to announce that he is related to someone with the Cricket Board, and right holder.

It is certainly laughable that the usual suspects smelling easy prey pounce. Sadly when they pounce they fail to remember the comments they and their cohorts have made. This same graduate journalist is a frequent user of said sectarian word ‘hun’ when referring to Rangers supporters not to mention a few choice words that cannot be reproduced on here about Celtic fans – except for the use of ‘fenian’. How do I know this? Well by mere coincidence I worked alongside someone in my full-time job who helped him write for an Aberdeen FC fanzine. So it is interesting to note that a brand new addition to the Scottish Football journalism fraternity peddles bigotry towards both Rangers fans and Celtic fans.

After being sidetracked by said graduate journalist, I return to said enraged journalist. Who further added that: “You say you’ve worked on the website and covered games for five years. How is it then you had absolutely no concept about how a post-match press conference works? How is it you had no understanding of the protocols that every reporter follows at every game?”

Again case in point the Sky Sports Football article I linked to earlier in this piece – says it all really. But in answer to your question in those five years and in dealing with clubs specifically in the past two, not once has anyone stated or informed of protocols or embargoes – unless it has been a press release coming through my email system – which I have always adhered too, and if knew of said protocols at press conferences, I would have adhered too also, but said enraged journalist and his cohorts did not give me said chance – why? Well several comments on my twitter page thereafter from bloggers, journalists and fans alike state – they are running scared – but why? In regards to numbers I don’t even get 10% of the readership that said big business newspapers get.

However despite my comments that it was a genuine mistake, this enraged journalist claimed different, yet once again he was nowhere to be seen at the post-match press conferences nor knows me at all either. He said: “Might I venture a guess you’re simply at it and knew exactly what you were doing pinching quotes? I reckon that’s closer to the truth.”

He ended his email with the subject header “Let’s set the record straight……” with the comments: “I’m all for new media. The landscape we operate in is changing. News is 24/7 and that’s fine. What isn’t changing is the respect journalists show each other. It’s the only way we get this job done, even if we are rivals. It’s also why you’ve cut your own throat in this instance. I don’t want to see anyone done out of the chance to try and forge a career for themselves in this industry. But your attitude in pointing the finger when you should be taking a look at what you’ve done stinks.”

While I freely admitted that I made a genuine mistake and removed said offending material soon after, his respect for journalists certainly did not extend to me at all if there was any respect then he would have certainly followed some of his colleagues who had a wee quiet word with me via Direct Message on Twitter or by email. Certainly I did not cut my own throat, I made ONE genuine mistake and I bet EVERY journalist working in the industry at this moment can say the same thing, and if any states that they have never made any mistakes then they are liars.

His final statement that he ‘did not want to see anyone done out of the chance to try and forge a career for themselves in this industry’ certainly makes a mockery of what was said earlier then does it not? Because it has already seen me banned from several clubs specifically, and I expect more to follow suit as soon as I try to gain access.

Certainly I freely admitted that I was wrong after being told of said ‘unwritten rule’ but does that give these so-called professionals the right to ruin five years of hard work, burn the bridges that I built with clubs and official bodies in a single email and fail to take that someone can make an honest mistake within the football reporting industry.

But at least all the goings on had one Brand journalist was amused at the discussions going on via twitter etc. He was amused enough to write a blog post on the matter. He did make a telling statement within his post however:

“Sports journalism is one of those rarified environments, full of old connections and friendships, and full of nods, winks, and relationships which could charitably be described as ‘cosy’ – all the sort of things nu-media advocates and the Twitterati traditionally rail against.”

Yet the number of sports blogs moving into the realms of ‘legit’ accredited coverage of games has meant writers who in the past would have been scribing for fanzines and writing rants for a small coterie of like-minded individuals now having the platform – and access – to report on matches opposite their inky brethren.”

And he ended with: “In Scotland, football is king – which means papers and TV networks’ coverage of it will remain the dominant platform.”

“But as for Muirhead’s spat with the rest of the industry – it will be interesting to see what, if any, support he gets going forward. Scottish football may be a goldfish bowl, but the goldfish have very long memories.”

Napoleon Bonaparte had his Old Guard, Scottish Football has its Old Guard also, however while Napoleon’s guard welcomed in those ranks who gained veteran status after years of experience, Scottish Football’s Old Guard act more like East German Stasi, even those who instigated the policy of Apartheid in South Africa.

In the coming years, I fully expect football bloggers to gain access to clubs, something which will stick in the throats of the old guard of the written press. But there will certainly be signs up with ‘Written Press’ and ‘Bloggers’ in sections of the media room. Just like the buses in America with ‘Coloureds’ at the back and ‘Whites’ at the front.

As a footnote, I have to add that the majority of journalists that I have talked too have been professional, polite and more than willing to give out advice to aspiring journalists and football bloggers. Sadly for every one of them you get one or two of the Old Guard, within the written press who look down their noses at you as if you are something they have just stepped in.

If they wish to fight dirty, then two can play at that game….

There are a mix of questions incorporating a wide variety of subjects.

We would like you to take some time out to answer our questions, and we shall publish the results on the site later on, and also pass on the details to the governing bodies.

Take the survey now: Scottish Football Fan survey

At Scotzine we welcome contributions from fans and journalists alike. And while we will certainly expand our staff base over the summer with new contributors, we have made our biggest signing of the summer this week.

Sean Graham has joined the ranks of Scotzine as Chief Features Writer. He will contribute to both our website and revamped magazine, as well as our next Summer addition – Scotzine TV.

Sean has written for various publications and websites over the years and has been involved with making documentaries on Aberdeen Football Club, Dundee United Football Club, Henrik Larsson, Paul Lambert and Jock Stein and also Radio programmes, one of which “Old Firm Day” won a Bronze Sony Award.

His love of writing started off with The Punter and has gone on to write for the following FIFA magazine, Four Four Two, Scotland’s Oracle, Players Inc, British Football Week, ESPN, Give Me Football, Inside Futbol, 67 Fanzine and the matchday programmes of Aberdeen Football Club, Carlisle United Football Club, Montrose Football Club, Partick Thistle Football Club,
Stockport County Football Club, Queen’s Park Football Club.

He has also been asked to write a blog for Youth Football Scotland on St.Mirren YFC, such is his passion for football at every level from Grassroots to the Professional game.

Sean has also worked in the Scottish Football Museum at Hampden Park and loved telling visitors his stories about the glory days of Scottish Football.

Everyone at Scotzine believe that Sean will be a great addition to our team and welcome the expertise and insight he will bring to our team.

Scotzine will be undergoing a few changes over the summer months. As we mentioned in April, we will be launching our very own Online Football Show. In fact we are well under way with our very first Documentary styled episode, interviewing and gauging the opinions of some of the people in the know.

On top of documentaries, we will of course get the opinions of prominent journalists and football bloggers across the country on specific subjects within our game. Not to mention bringing you the latest news, interviews and highlights of games.

We have already partnered up with an innovative community media organisation based in the Southside of Glasgow, to help shoot our shows both in-house and on location, and also with a top college and university in Glasgow, giving valuable experience to their students both in Print, Online and TV mediums.

ScotzineTV will be launched officially in time for the start of the new season, however we shall be covering pre-season friendlies, as well as interviews across the country.

If our Online Football Show was not enough our Fanzine which has been running since 2007, is undergoing a revamp. After conducting a survey with our readers, we have taken on board their comments.

SCOTZINE – the Fanzine – will as ever be dedicated to Scottish Football, which 85.71% of those asked wanted. However a significant amount wanted us to continue to briefly cover the English and European Leagues. Our fanzine will report on games, look back at the history of our game, interviews, debate the subjects within our game, talk to the fans about their memories and of course with every fanzine have the comical and spoof articles.

The major changes have come in its format. 75% of our readers wanted the fanzine to be in Full Colour and we are happy to oblige. The frequency of issues sold were also questioned with 38.10% wanting a Monthly issue and 33.33% wanting it sold fortnightly.

We also asked you whether you wanted the Fanzine in A4, A5 or Online format. 44.05% of you wanted the Fanzine to be printed in A4 and sold Online also. While 33.33% wanted it to stay as an A5 fanzine and sold online. With the remainder wanting it sold online only.

Fanzine Conclusion

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Rangers fans have once again vowed to weed out the bigots who continue to tarnish the club’s image with sectarian and racist chants. On 1st May a meeting took place with the club’s Supporters groups that represents tens of thousands of Rangers fans, pledging to take action after holding talks with Official Fan Liason boss Jim Hannah.

It comes only weeks after Rangers were punished for sectarian singing by their fans by UEFA.The punishment will see Rangers fans banned from the club’s next away game, fined £35,500 and further suspended punishments.

A Group statement read:

“There was a meeting held at Ibrox of over 150 supporters representing over 80 Rangers Supporters Clubs from all over the world, plus board members of The Rangers Assembly, The Rangers Supporters Trust, and The Rangers Supporters Association, and also representatives of The Blue Order, several fans forums, and the Rangers fans liaison officer Jim Hannah.

There were discussions regarding the sectarian singing problem amongst a minority of supporters at our games and how we can try to eradicate this by more stringent self-policing and making the offending supporters know that this is unacceptable at our club, and that we want to promote a more positive image and atmosphere at our matches.

It was agreed that any songs with references to Sectarian chanting as outlined by the Police and the Courts must go now and remain gone. We accepted that there is still a problem amongst a minority of our support, and while we are certainly not the only club with an offensive singing problem, we are the only ones being highlighted at present and whilst we need to clean up our own act we insist all supports must be treated the same.

It was also discussed and agreed that we need to be far more resourceful in presenting a fairer portrayal of Rangers and Rangers fans in the media, and while it is clear that there is an agenda against us and us alone, but we have not done anything about it for far too long. To this regard we have already had meetings with prominent officials from Strathclyde Police and experts in professional fields relevant to us to assist us with our intentions to create a more level playing field within the law for Rangers supporters. The time for this sleeping giant of a support to sit idly by while our enemies politicise everything we do without fear of being challenged or reciprocal action being taken is over.

The message from the representatives at the meeting was unanimously supportive, and we are confident that these messages can be taken back to the Supporters Clubs worldwide, and amongst the Supporters groups and forums, and that we can unite as one to try to eradicate the minority who persist in sectarian and offensive singing, but also challenge and expect all other club’s supporters to do the same, and we will ask the Police and the Procurator Fiscal to be vigilant with Sectarian and offensive singing from all clubs to help us to help them create an atmosphere and society where we can all freely enjoy going to the football without prejudice.”

It is a noble idea for fans to self-police themselves – if it works. Sadly we have heard the phrase self-policing from Rangers all too often and sectarianism is still clearly evident in the stands each week.

In 2007, then president of the Rangers supporters assembly, Jim Templeton said, “We had a very constructive meeting with the club [& Sir David Murray] and we are united in our desire to eradicate offensive behaviour. All the supporters’ groups involved agreed to increase our self-policing drive, which achieved significant success towards the end of last season. We are unanimous in our belief that self-policing is the way forward and acknowledge that the club can only do so much – the rest is up to the fans.”

Association General Secretary John McMillan said at the time, “We had a good meeting yesterday and the message has been sent back to our branches throughout the country. On behalf of the RSA I’d appeal to all fans to recognise the seriousness of the situation. Decent Rangers fans could miss out on seeing the team if there are bans on away allocations. There could also be serious implications for the club in terms of SPL points being deducted, or UEFA closing parts of the stadium. We have rules and we act if members fall out of line. But this has to come from within the support. We need, as the chairman has said, to start self-policing. If fans see people misbehaving, then take the seat number and report them to Rangers. We will vigorously go after this problem which is shaming Rangers. It can’t go on.”

Both McMillan and Templeton talked a great story, however the reality was and still is quite different, as sectarianism is still a scourge of the Scottish game. And the LATEST self-policing initiative from the Rangers fans comes after the club’s FIFTH punishment by UEFA. If Self-Policing was a successful tool in which to weed out the bigots and racists, why did it not work out first, second or third time round?

In March 2007, the same groups as this week, aimed to ‘isolate and shame’ those who were ‘bringing the club into serious disrepute’. That move four years ago, followed claims of sectarian singing at their match against Osasuna in the UEFA Cup. Likewise this week’s announcement follows the club being punished by UEFA for further sectarian singing in their Europa League games against PSV Eindhoven both at Ibrox and in Eindhoven.

Since Policies and Procedures were introduced by the SPL in 2007, in relation to ‘unacceptable conduct’, no club has been seriously penalised by Scottish football authorities. Rangers were

The new legislation gave the SPL power to dish out warnings and fines and to even dock league points from clubs whose supporters breached the rules. Rangers immediately got in hot water when sectarian chants were belted out at their opening game of the 2008 season at Inverness Caledonian Thistle. They were given their final FINAL warning then by the SPL, and despite continued sectarian singing, as well as match delegates reporting further singing over the years – including 12 reports of sectarian singing this year alone – NO action has been taken.

Three years on, the same policies and punishments are still in place, the songs and chants are the same, but with a few more additions, and the SPL still fail to take action – why is that? It has been reported that some within the SPL believe that the clubs don’t necessarily deserve punishment just because fans disgrace their name.

Both Rangers and Celtic have mounted ongoing and visible campaigns through advertising, messages in match programmes, magazines and on the giant screens. Fans are warned about unacceptable behaviour. Some clubs and fans alike would see the perpetrators dragged out of the stands by stewards and police, but the wading in could ignite unrest in the stands and the Police Match Commanders opinions are to leave it alone, that order is maintained. And the clubs assist and comply with all police investigations into any incidents and take the appropriate action, whether that means imposing stadium bans, removing season tickets, or helping secure criminal convictions.

On top of that the media have a duty also to out the perpetrators and to report on the singing and chanting. Sadly the majority of the mainstream media fail to report such issues time and again, and its only a handful of journalists who do so.

If ridding Scotland of Sectarianism was a paramount objective of all within the Scottish game, then not only must the governing bodies take action, but so must the media.

At Scotzine we have attacked Rangers fans for singing such songs as The Billy Boys, The Famine Song and the Big Jock Knew song, not to mention the add-ons. Likewise we have condemned the continued singing of Pro-IRA songs by Celtic fans, along with the add-ons they belt out also. However this has seen us attacked by both sides of the divide and this is the same for anyone else who speaks out, including fellow fans.

That is why Self-Policing in my eyes is no longer a viable option to use to tackle sectarianism and racism. The fans have failed to deal with it, therefore it is now time for the clubs, the police, the governing bodies to take action.

In November 2006, a Scottish Government Official Publication, ‘Fan Consultation on Sectarianism within Scottish Football’ stated that:

The supporters of Rangers are the only group which feel that sectarianism is not a major problem in contemporary Scottish football. They argue that the situation – has been getting steadily better over the last few years and is nowhere near as bad as it is painted. In any case, they argue that much of what gets labelled as ‘sectarianism’ is rather to do with football fans ‘winding up’ the opposition.

While supporters of Celtic agree that sectarianism is a major problem but see it as much more widespread than most other supporters. They are keen to stress the historical context in which Celtic came to be formed as a club, and the history of discrimination against Irish Catholics in the past and, possibly, into the present. Celtic supporters believe they are the recipients of the sectarian sentiments and sectarian actions of fans from most of the other major clubs in Scotland.

It is also stated, “The Scottish Executive and the Scottish Football Association hold meetings with editors and sports editors of the major media companies in Scotland to discuss: The importance of the media reporting accurately and clearly on any future displays of sectarianism within Scottish football. The dangers of adding a ‘sectarian gloss’ to stories where such an emphasis is unjustified by the facts of the event. The dangers inherent in routine expression of sectarianism in humour, attributions of allegiance, and the like. The Scottish Executive commissions a consultation with the editors and main contributors to the major football fanzines in Scotland, so as to establish their views on the routine expression of sectarian sentiments, epithets and humour in these significant sub-cultural outlets.”

And here is the problem – forums, fanzines and certain fan groups.

Forums such as the Vanguard Bears and Follow Follow breed new generations of bigots and are free to do so, with the clubs and Police doing little to combat online sectarianism and racism. And likewise the administrator of Follow Follow produces a fanzine of the same name, which was banned itself from Rangers for its sectarian content.

That same administrator Mark Dingwall, is a key board member of the Rangers Supporters Trust, one of the groups that have taken part in numerous fans discussions to peddle the self-policing message.

One issue proving that the fans should no longer hold the key to stamping out sectarianism and racism, surrounds the singing of the Famine Song. The Rangers Supporters Trust, fronted by Stephen Smith, said the reaction to fans singing The Famine Song was completely over the top.

He stated, “The reaction from Rangers to baseless accusations of ‘racism’ is disappointing, but the Rangers support absolutely rejects this – along with the sectarian political agenda and deliberate misinformation behind it. Racism is not a wind-up, even one in very poor taste, aimed at Scots Celtic fans whose ‘affiliation’ with Ireland amounts to vocal support for the IRA and songs about killing. The RST’s opposition to racism and sectarianism is unequivocal.

“We were closely involved in the recent ‘self-policing’ initiative, have close links with the Scots-Asian community and support the many positive aspects of the club’s identity and tradition which welcomes those of all faiths and none. Scottish football and Scots society has been transformed in the last 30 years: football violence is insignificant compared to the 70s. Ibrox is a safe place to watch football and comparing Glasgow to Belfast is a sick joke.”

However the Law Courts of Scotland disagreed with the RST, as they convicted one Rangers fan William Walls of singing The Famine Song at a Rangers match against Kilmarnock. Even the man, who himself was kicked out of Rangers for singing a sectarian song, Donald Findlay QC failed to win an appeal against the conviction as he tried to claim that if The Famine Song was racist then so was Flower of Scotland.

If one of the major Supporters Group’s tasked with implementing self-policing backs the singing of such songs, it proves that self-policing will never work. And even more so when such forums and fanzines as Follow Follow and Vanguard Bears are part of the discussions also, when both have clear sectarian agendas.

The recent Old Firm summit was further evidence of the authorities claiming they wanted to do something about the problems, but do more talking than taking action. With myself stating that the summit was more to do with political vote winning by the Scottish Government and the Police trying to pin societies problems on the Old Firm game.

And after the League Cup Final, when Kenny MacAskill praised both sets of supporters for their behaviour, he was attacked in some quarters for blatantly ignoring the sectarian singing of the Rangers supporters, which was mentioned also by The Times columnist Graham Speirs at some length. Likewise the Police failed to carry out what they had promised to do, if they heard sectarian singing. Over 20,000 fans singing sectarian songs cannot be missed, yet the majority of the mainstream media failed to report it and the authorities failed to recognise it and condemn it also. Again questions must be asked why?

In society, it is not the citizen who dictates the laws, yet Football seems to be a law onto itself with the fans having the power to police themselves. As the phrase goes, it is a bit like turkeys voting for Christmas.

So while the noble gesture of the fans taking action against fellow fans is great, in reality it won’t work as long as the fans continue to point the blame at someone else rather than the real perpetrators. Just look at the recent goings on with Rangers, FARE and UEFA. The fans singing the sectarian songs were not the ones receiving the most abuse from fans and the club alike, but it was FARE – an organisation tasked with stamping out Racism – who received abuse because of certain members alleged links with Celtic or Journalists who the Rangers fans perceive as anti-Rangers. It was even more hypocritical when fans of Rangers Forums began posting personal details, phone numbers of those they believed were responsible from within FARE, not to mention racist and sectarian abuse being posted.

That is why Self-Policing must be binned and a proactive and hardened task force made up from the government, media, clubs and the police take over and take those who perpetrate such sectarian and racist behaviour to task.

However, with a senior career of over 650 league games, 43 International caps for Scotland – over half as captain – and three English league titles, it could be said he should be remembered for more than just ‘that goal’ – however what a goal it was, but there is (a lot) more on that later.

The book opens with a foreword from Brian Clough; Gemmill played for over 5 seasons under Clough, at Derby County and later Nottingham Forest.

The foreword is heartfelt from Clough, who stated he was friends with Gemmill long after his retirement from the game, and although he calls him ‘a miserable little so-and-so’ and ‘cantankerous’, you can tell it’s with feeling and he explains how he signed Gemmill and how good a player he actually was – despite admitting that when he signed him first time around, he had never seen him play before! A claim that Gemmill himself debunks later in the book.

The book itself is quite fast paced, with lots of short sentences, as Gemmill sets up his life from the beginning, starting off in his early years and reliving tales such as scoring the winner for his school in the Paisley and District Cup, to shooting somebody (who had taken his football off him) in the shoulder with an air rifle!

He recollects how, despite talk of approaches from both half of the Old Firm, he signs with St Mirren, his local team, on schoolboy terms during the 1963-64 season, aged just sixteen.

Gemmill had a mixed time at St Mirren: winning the Player of the Year award in his first season (1964-65), aged only 17, but then spending the bulk of the next season out with injuries.

In the 1966-67 season, on 13th August 1966, Gemmill became the first official substitute to be used in Scottish football – when he replaced Jim Lunie – in a League Cup tie away at Clyde. This is mentioned in the book, almost in passing, as Gemmill prefers to spend time reflecting on a hat-trick he scored some four months later, on Christmas Eve 1966, in a 3-1 home victory over Ayr United – the first of only two hat-tricks he scored in his whole career.

At the end of that same season, in which Gemmill finish St Mirren’s top goalscorer with five goals and in which they were relegated, he was transferred to Preston for the princely sum of £13,000.

His three seasons, and over 100 competitive games, at Preston only get one chapter – you get the impression he has more important things to tell you later – but this chapter is wide ranging from his first vegetables, his engagement, marriage and first pregnancy of his wife, his struggles finding digs (due to him being a spoilt, only child at home), his one and only Scotland Under-23 cap, and a trip to a fortune-teller!

There is no mention of scoring in his debut for Preston, nor how his last full season at Preston mirrored his last at St Mirren – Gemmill finished top goalscorer, with only six goals, and his team were relegated, this time from the Second Division.

The book then moves to his first meeting with Brian Clough, the infamous transfer to Derby, all in detail, down to Gemmill’s wife finding Clough standing in nothing but boxers in their kitchen – to his first few month’s with his new team, including scoring his first goal for the side, against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground – endearing himself fully to his new fans by scoring against their bitterest rivals.

The chapters on his career at Derby then take shape, including being in Majorca with the team when they won the league due to Leeds and Liverpool not getting the points they required to pip them to the title – with Gemmill tasting his first ever alcoholic drink in champagne during the celebrations, having being a tea-totaller until that point in his life.

The way Gemmill describes his time at Derby is definitely of one of great affection, he refers to most of his teammates as friends still, and also of the squad unity – especially around the time when the Chairman and board of County were trying to get rid of Clough.

Clough’s leaving and an old teammate, in Dave Mackay, taking over as manager was a shock to the system, and one that Gemmill and his teammates’ rebelled against – but not even two years later, Derby County won the Championship again, and this time Gemmill, as captain, lifted the trophy – as he points out in the book, they won it again not by playing a game, but by watching others not win, and again in a social club.

Things turned sour at Derby, and Mackay left, a new manager came and left not long after – that opened the way for Tommy Doherty to become the new boss at the Baseball Ground.

Tommy Doherty is mentioned throughout the book, and never in a positive light – he blamed Gemmill for default against England while Scotland manager, Gemmill then didn’t play for Scotland for another three years – and then when Doherty took the reigns at Derby his first task was not only to sell Gemmill, to Nottingham Forest, but also to make it look like Gemmill had demanded the transfer.

A chapter then follows on, taking on the subject of the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, and ‘that goal’ – the chapter talks about the conditions in South America, Willie Johnston’s drug test and the disappointment at not going through, with such a good squad and such potential – the goal itself isn’t discussed and Gemmill almost seems too embarrassed to draw upon the subject. Not too embarrassed to use it to sell the book (judging by the cover) but definitely too embarrassed to dwell upon it in this chapter.

The end of Gemmill’s spell at Nottingham Forest is another of his regrets, he wasn’t chosen for the European Cup final in 1979 due to a recent injury, took the situation badly and had bust ups with both Clough and his assistant Peter Taylor – while it ended in a winner’s medal for Gemmill, it ultimately ended with a transfer to Birmingham City and a bad taste in the mouth.

Unprofessionalism seems to be Gemmill’s main gripe with his time at City, with a drink culture in the team, and no real ambition within the club – a promotion to and then a good finish in the First Division that came out of the best part of three seasons at St Andrew’s.

A short-lived, summer season, in the North American Soccer League with the Jacksonville Tea Men came next for Gemmill, and then a short spell at Wigan Athletic – these are covered in the book in passing, rather than in any detail.

A couple of seasons back at Derby are wrapped up with relegation to the Third Division and the end of Gemmill’s playing career.

The next few chapters are a tougher read, as Gemmill goes through his foray into management, and then an exhaustive list of all the players he ‘found’ as a scout – I’m pretty sure he was good at his job, given his talents and the players and managers he spent time with – but these chapters feel very laboured, in direct comparison to the flowing chapters of his playing career.

In his summing up chapter of his career, Gemmill names himself in his all-time team!

The last chapter of the book, is about Brian Clough, having just passed away while Gemmill was finishing the book – it’s a sad read about a great bond the two developed over time, and how the wounds healed since that European Cup final.

Overall, this book was good, although the last five or six chapters seem to labour upon Gemmill’s career in football after he stopped playing – I think the book would have been better served without these to be fair, and more about his playing days, as when he wrote about these, he wrote with passion.

You can tell throughout the book that he is a family man, and is very proud of his wife and two children – another striking thing about the book is the cover itself, it’s very simple, effective and to the point, with excellent imagery – all about ‘that goal’!

On imagery, the photo section(s) of biographies tend to disappoint, with familiar photographs or press shots, however this book has over 60 photographs of all types and a lot of family shots to prove the fact above about being a proud family man.

The book has a slight tendency to jump in some places, as you can almost tell that something has popped into his head and must be explained at that point – although this doesn’t detract from a good book, a good story and one that generally is well written.

Written by Derek Harvie | Issue 6 of The 12th Man Fanzine