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That was the week that was. I am just old enough to remember BBC broadcasting, 'that was the week that was'. It was mid-sixties grainy black and white TV. Ned Sherrin created it, David Frost hosted, and an army of household names wrote the satire. John Cleese, Peter Cook, Dennis Potter, Roald Dahl, Bill Oddie, Erik Sykes, Denis Norden, Frank Muir, ......... etc. Even as a Primary schoolboy, I got the ridicule reserved for Apartheid, the class system, the racism of the American deep south, and all involved in domestic politics. The only part of the show that irked arrived at the conclusion, Millicent Martin sand a topical song in a cool jazz style. The show was the pre-cursor for the next quarter of a century of TV/Radio satirical shows. The Frost Report to Spitting Image and everything in between, owe their existence to 'that was the week that was'. Peter Cook launched the satirical magazine, 'Private Eye' on the back of the show, a case of mutual support. Further, Cook also had a nightclub , 'the Establishment' for several years, predicated on the growing sense of ridiculous. Everyday phrases such as, "tired and emotional" and "Ugandan affairs" emanate from the show. Our attention was drawn to MPs' expenses scandals, conflicts of interest, and their abilities to evade the revolving door. In new, modern Scotland we have no satire. Most Journos and commentators are cheerleaders for the current Scottish Government. Principles mean nothing to professional politicians, no one resigns because their considerable lifestyles won't allow it. As for comedians, Janey Godley is the epitome, does regular voiceovers of the First Minister's speeches and Angela Haggerty's one year old son, Francis; and is duly rewarded with a weekly column in the Herald. No doubt, her daughter, the privately educated Ashley Storrie will be a nepotistic beneficiary? This is the new, modern Scotland of entitlement, privilege, and woke sensitivities. This time last week, the newspaper front pages and broadcast current affairs shows were still being dominated by the fall out from Salmond's trial on sexual misconduct. Another two SNP MPs were subject to further charges of sexual misconduct, Chief Whip Patrick Grady and one other, as yet unnamed. The Holyrood Inquiry into Salmond had just been stymied by the First Minister's 8 hours of, "I don't know", "I can't recall and, "I would have to check my Diary". Nicola's husband and SNP Chief Executive these last 20 years, Peter Murrell was desperately seeking a case of, 'Events dear boy, events'? It arrived, courtesy of ra Sellik's inability to notch a goal at Tannadice. Rangers had won their first Premiership title in a decade. Rockets flew, fireworks exploded, and joy took to the square. Such detonation lit the fuse for the pile on. BBC Scotland deployed Sports Correspondent, Chris McLaughlin. He worked the leverage of UEFA. Creepy's brother told of watching eyes and the very real threat(in his fevered thought) of cancelation of Hampden's involvement in the upcoming Euros. Gary Robertson led the current affairs onslaught, every politician was asked, "have Rangers done enough"? Glasgow was under siege, Rangers supporters had prevented Nurses getting home after their shifts, Rangers supporters had prevented the homeless accessing the soup kitchen, and Rangers supporters had vandalised memorial benches in George Square. In three days, from Monday to Wednesday, BBC Scotland dedicated comment and phone-ins entirely to Rangers supporters' excess. Momentum was needed, feed the fire and the FM stepped forward, expressing her anger and anguish. John Swinney pointed the finger, Rangers were to blame. Humza Yousaf agreed with the Dear Leader, Rangers were found wanting and he Hectored a senior Polis Officer into adding his signature to a condemnatory letter. Despite video evidence twice showing other channel commentators in Edmiston Drive being drowned out by a bellowing Ibrox PA asking supporters to return home, Rangers did nothing. More momentum needed. SNP controlled Glasgow City Council utilised their PRO, Gerry Braiden's contacts at his old blatt, and Catriona Stewart et al delivered a seven page expose on events. Sellik could not see green cheese, they screamed, 'we're half of nothing' and warned next Sunday's old firm game could be called off by the authorities. Stuart Cosgrove and Professor Eamonn O'Neill hosted their Podcast with Angela Haggerty as guest. The conclusion, Rangers supporters behave the way they do, because of entitlement. Oh, and a wee bit of satire, they liked Police Scotland's statement, "we are the people"? A whole week and Salmond's name has disappeared. Derek MacKay MSP must be wondering why the "h-u-ns and typical orange wankers" did not ride to his rescue? Anyways, Rangers must wise up, when an election is pending we cannot present ourselves as targets. There is a truth, the Nats like nothing better than being seen to be sinking the boot into Rangers and Rangers supporters. It's their preferred good look. It's a lesson we must learn, the football is a tactic and the football does not matter. The trumping strategy is condemnation of a majority of Bears celebrating with Union Flags. Oh, the hatred? The national broadcaster is determined that Rangers will never be portrayed as bringing anything good to Scottish life. We do not carry the standard, we do not improve the coefficient and the nation cannot be beneficiaries of any Rangers effort. Rangers securing the title has been the unifying force for the Scottish Government, BBC Scotland, Glasgow City Council and ra Sellik. Yesterday, Cosgrove summed it up, "If I complain about the actions of Rangers supporters in George Square knowing fellow Saints fans gathered at McDairmid to celebrate the League Cup win, then it's whataboutery. They don't get it, people with no interest in football see what happened in George Square, it's a disgrace". That was the week that was sans satire. It is fitting Cosgrove has the last words. He puts out considerable effort in self portrayal, a loner liking nothing better than sitting down to read. In his occasional garrulous moments he betrays daily relations with Angela Haggerty, Kevin McKenna, Gerry Braiden, Eamonn O'Neill, .... etc. This week and incidents like the IRA murder of fellow Journo, Lyra McKee highlights his absolute adherence to separate development. Stuart speaks with all the confidence of a supporter of Scotland's second most successful team in the last decade and he knows BBC Scotland will never tire of relating that fact. PS. A couple of bon mots from last week. Firstly, it's Friday evening and Michael Stewart is in the Sportsound studio with Ricky Foster. The Host offers his weekly man of the week nomination. Three names : 1. Steven Gerrard winning the title and favourite to lead Rangers into the Europa Cup last eight. Undefeated in both tournaments so far. 2. Alan McGregor only conceding nine goals in 32 league games and that save against Slavia. 3. Derek McInnes for enduring 8 seasons at Pittodrie and winning a League Cup. Ricky Foster cannot decide between Gerrard and McGregor but settles on Greegs. Michael chooses McInnes, no doubt because of biomechanics? Secondly, Friday night and it's The View from the Terrace. Now, five regulars appear on this hour long TV show. Craig Telfer(Stenhousemuir) hosts, three others, Craig Fowler(Hearts), Joel Sked(Hearts) and, Shaughan McGuigan(Raith Rovers) discuss and Robert Borthwick(Hearts) handles the social media content. I enjoy the show, they don't miss us when deserved, but happily they stick it on ra Sellik just as often. Generally, they know football, particularly lower Division stuff. Anyways, they are praising Rangers Culture's social media work last week, listing all the detractors one by one this last decade and ripping them eg Spiers and the "quietly terrified" quip. Shaughan McGuigan offers, "Ah love it, they've nailed every Celtic supporter from Rod Stewart to Jim Spence"(Jum's Tweet : "Celtic signing Shane Duffy has secured ten-in-a-row"). Satire Shaughan, satire. That was the week that was.

Stuff like that is best ignored.

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Big win for Brighton.

I hope this hospitalisation is not life-threatening and that the operation was a complete success. Wishing Walter a speedy recovery.

So keen they are on resolving the issue that Sportsound, on the weekend after Rangers won their first title in a decade and "stopped the 10"..... their flagship show was over 40 minutes deep and still hadn't made ONE SINGLE mention of Rangers winning the title. They have zero desire to resolve the issue - they are drip-feeding that story such that they can blame Rangers for it not happening. Fuck em.

We will remember your laughter We will remember your cheers We will remember your hatred We will remember your sneers We will remember you shouted about administration ... We will remember you then wanted liquidation We will remember how you spouted all your lies We will remember how you spoke of our demise We will remember how you filled your papers with hate We will remember how you all laughed at our fate We will remember the bbc and Radio Clyde We will remember how their gloating they couldn't hide We will remember Guidi, Young and Speirs We will remember how you laughed and wiped away tears We will remember you said the players would get no pay We will remember how you wanted our trophies taken away We will remember how you said it was the Rangers no more We will remember how into our history you tore But one day soon and it won't be long We will remember those who have done us wrong For we will be back and you can bet Those who laughed we will never forget. Picked it up from the Assembly's facebook page.

I don't doubt John Brown was full of good intentions. Now is as good a time as any to unite behind the club and try to reign in sniping against other Bears or supporter factions.

This is the crowd-funded documentary that covers much that other TV and news hasn't. Some brave stuff from the Grays and Gordon Woods. Please watch, like and share to increase exposure.

should be sacked

And rightly so.

So 'Bomber' is not his real name? Incidentally, JL's real name was 'Joseph Louis Barrow'. Do people called 'Harris' not rejoice in the appellation 'Bomber'?

What did he stop? Green taking over the club? Let's not forget that his consortium was headed by Celtic fan Steve McKenna.

Not really. Ever since the days of Joe Louis, entitled the Brown Bomber after his devastating punching power, all Browns have been called Bomber. The header ascribes the quote to @Uilleam but it is, of course, a quote from the juvenile who wrote the Times article. A mistake like that Uilleam would not make.

Get well soon! The iconic Rangers manager of my lifetime.

John Bomber Brown remembers Nine years after helping to pull Rangers back from the brink, John Brown savours title win Fraser Mackie Sunday March 14 2021, 12.01am, The Sunday Times Football https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/nine-years-after-helping-to-pull-rangers-back-from-the-brink-john-brown-savours-title-win-gvjg6k5r5 Rod Stewart’s boasts would ordinarily have triggered a swift, unfriendly response from John Brown. For the Ibrox diehard to tame the natural instinct to fight Rangers’ corner said everything of how far adrift the club was from mustering an answer to Celtic on any level. It’s Pittodrie, October 2017. Celtic are sauntering to a 3-0 success over Aberdeen, highlighting everything impressive about the slick Brendan Rodgers team. While Celtic supporters belted out their Ten In A Row standard, Brown, known as ‘Bomber’ thanks to his combative playing style during nine years as a defensive stalwart for Rangers, but by this time a club ambassador and scout, eavesdropped as the Scottish singer-songwriter gloated with his then 11-year-old son Alastair. “Rod was sitting directly in front of me and his son asked what the fans were singing,” Brown recalls. “It was 3-0 going on 7-0. They were that good. Rod explained about the Lisbon Lions winning nine and the Rangers team that won nine. And he said: ‘We are going to beat that’. “There was nothing I could say to him. We weren’t at the stage of being ready to compete against them. I didn’t know if we’d be able to stop the 10. I couldn’t argue with Rod. So when he said that, I gritted my teeth and thought to myself, ‘I hope we’ve got enough to do this’.” The chaotic Pedro Caixinha reign came to a conclusion that same evening with an error-strewn 1-1 home draw with Kilmarnock. Rangers were seven long months and multiple humiliations at Celtic’s hands away from the turning point — the appointment of Steven Gerrard. As he drove home from Aberdeen to write a future opponent report for Rangers, Brown filed the experience in his mind as one of the most deflating of a desperate period for his beloved club. However, at no stage did he feel quite as lonely as after an appearance on the Ibrox steps in June 2012. In the wake of Craig Whyte’s reign ending in administration then League Two, Charles Green and his cohorts seized control and claimed they were picking up the pieces. Brown’s sources told him something very different. He quit his Ibrox job to call out Green’s charm offensive. He would be proved right in the long run, but that infamous address to Rangers supporters exposed Brown to a torrent of online abuse. More hurtful was the sight of friends turning their backs. No supporter wanted to believe he was right. “I got a phone call from Green’s personal assistant because I was involved in a rival consortium,” Brown says. “I went into his office. I don’t need to go into the detail of what was said but I was very close to putting one on his chin. But I thought: ‘No’. “I said: ‘I’m out the club now, I’ll fight you from the outside’. I knew those coming in were going to strip everything out. My worry was the fans didn’t know. I had to speak up. “The aftermath affected my daughters. They saw the criticism online and that hurt more than anything. My parents are in their 80s and hurt when the club went that way. “I never got that from anyone I met. They all told me to keep going. The support of my wife Sandra helped me through. “But I got information back that people I had respect for were being critical. They turned their back on me, which was tough to take. They were probably laughing at me. ‘Did you see Bomber on the steps? Has he lost the plot?’ Is he this, is he that? “There’s never been an apology. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is where the club is. “A pal sent me a link to a fans’ website. A punter thanked me for standing on the steps that day. I had a lump in my throat reading it when I got home from Tannadice.” How fitting that Brown should be the only Rangers representative to witness history being made — their 55th title secured by Celtic’s 0-0 draw at Dundee United. Now part of a recruitment team headed by Andy Scoulding, Brown was given the game to cover weeks before its potential significance emerged. Never a man to hide his true colours, he sported Rangers tie, club-crest facemask and blue bobble hat for the occasion. “I was in the stand at Tannadice in 1997 when Brian Laudrup put that header in for ‘the nine’,” Brown says. “I just had a feeling, as it was my game in the diary, that we’d win it there. “From going out on the Ibrox steps to being there last Sunday was the best feeling I’ve ever had. To do it in the season Celtic wanted it most of all makes it sweeter still for every Rangers fan. “I managed to win eight leagues as a player, but it beat all that. Because of where the club has been and how close we were to going out of business, I think it’s the best of the 55.” Brown sees shades of Graeme Souness in Gerrard’s work and a sprinkling of the Nine In A Row spirit in the current team. He was impressed immediately by Gerrard’s knowledge of the club’s plight and a grip on what was required to overtake Celtic. “As I’d played for Souness, I could see he was in the same mould,” Brown says. “The manager brought his winning mentality and the players have bought in. “He’s brought a steel back to Ibrox, a togetherness, that drive, that fire. Steven will know Souness always said when you lose the fire in the belly it’s time to move on. As long as that’s burning — and I know it is — they’ll push these players for the maximum. This is just the start. “What this team does is win the respect of opponents but, at the same time, put fear into them. That’s what we had. Teams knew if they scored against us, they got a reaction. “It doesn’t need to be an Alfredo Morelos goal. It could be a Connor Goldson crunching tackle, a Scott Arfield challenge in a 50-50, an Allan McGregor wonder save. “It lifts you when you know your team-mates are right on their game. They’ve met the demands and done it in every game. That’s the measure of this Rangers team.”

Twice Walter Smith took on the role of Rangers manager & was magnificent both times. Thirty years ago next month Graeme Souness left Rangers to go to Liverpool but Walter stayed behind to become Rangers manager to achieve success like we’ll probably never see again. As well as 9IAR he almost led Rangers to the first ever CL final losing out to Marseille under the most dubious circumstances (L’affaire OM). He returned in 2007 and more success followed including a UEFA cup final appearance and 3 titles before he retired in 2011. A magnificent Rangers manager. A true legend. GET WELL SOON WALTER. ?

Nothing will change with the BBC in general until the licence fee is scrapped and they are forced to go out into the real commercial world for their revenue like all other broadcasters have to do. That revenue will be dependent on audience figures so puerile broadcasts such as Sportsound & Sportscene with their agendas & opinionated presenters will be binned before long. Regards this ongoing ‘dispute’ all that’s required is for the BBC to send someone other than McLaughlin. The club must not give an inch on this.

Adrian Goldberg's film 'The Celtic Boys' Club Scandal' now released

The only thing the BBC can kiss is my hairy old arse

We still remember!

Survivors snubbed in BBC football abuse series The BBC contrives to leave survivors of abuse at the separate entity on the cutting room floor. The makers of a documentary on sexual abuse in football, came to Scotland, and interviewed survivors (a distressing experience for the victims I should think), but excised them from the final documentary. Another coat of whitewash. Or is it greenwash? Whatever the explanation, or rationale, or excuse, it will be hogwash. The SFA's "Independent Report" which appears to be nothing of the kind, and seems bowdlerised by Pederasty Central, itself, and now the censoring of a major documentary. Is it me, or is there something sinister about all this? From today's Times: Survivors snubbed in BBC football abuse series Marc Horne Friday February 19 2021, 12.01am, The Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/survivors-snubbed-in-bbc-football-abuse-series-0vk087x3h The BBC has shelved plans to highlight Scottish cases in a primetime series exposing sexual abuse in football, leading to anger from survivors. Last week a report commissioned by the Scottish FA found that paedophiles infiltrated the national sport with ease and preyed on vulnerable boys and teenagers for more than three decades. The Independent Review of Sexual Abuse in Scottish Football called on clubs, including Celtic, Rangers and Hibernian, to provide compensation and issue a “clear and unreserved” public apology to the dozens of victims who endured “incalculable” suffering. Researchers working on a BBC 1 documentary series travelled to Scotland to speak to survivors of abuse at Celtic Boys Club after several senior figures at the feeder team were convicted for molesting young players. The show claimed that the series, entitled Football’s Darkest Secret, would shine a light on historical abuse “all across the country”. However, only English testimony will feature in the three-part programme, which is directed by the Bafta-winning filmmaker Daniel Gordon and will be shown later this year. “We were delighted when we heard the BBC were interested in telling our stories,” said one Scottish-based survivor, who asked not to be named. “We felt that at last, after everything we have gone through, our voices would finally be heard across the whole of the UK. “When I heard that our contributions weren’t going to be used it felt like I had been punched in the stomach. We have been let down once again and it’s hard to take.” A spokeswoman for the programme stressed that a BBC Scotland investigation, entitled Football Abuse: The Ugly Side of the Beautiful Game, first screened fours years ago, would be repeated next month. A source close to the production said: “As part of the initial extensive research for the Football’s Darkest Secret project conversations were held with ex-Scottish players. None of them were interviewed on camera.” A press release for the documentary states: “The series will examine abuse that has taken place in youth football all across the country, from Manchester to Newcastle, Crewe to Southampton. “Three years in the making, Football’s Darkest Secret is the definitive account of this dark chapter in English football and the ensuing attempts to seek justice decades later. The series aims to shine a light on the damaging ripple effect caused by child sexual abuse and offers a unique insight into the way it impacts survivors and their families.” The Scottish FA-commissioned report found that known paedophiles had worked together to groom boys and trafficked them over borders, within the UK and overseas, for abuse.