Any Scottish football fan will be well aware of the usual conspiracy theories that abound from the East End of Glasgow (and beyond) whenever Rangers are successful. One only need examine the last two seasons where, time after time, every small incident was micro-analysed by such people to infer our team was given an unfair advantage by the referees, the linesmen, the SFA, the SPL, the media etc etc. Ergo, the Scottish Establishment are pro-Rangers is the oft-quoted conclusion.
Our back-to-back title wins were hollow they say and we only won them via cheating from others. This is nothing new of course; remember Chris Sutton and Martin O'Neill in 2003 who suggested Dunfermline lay down to hand the title to us that season? Thus, despite only seven games being played so far this season, with Rangers performing well, the vultures are again circling to pick over every point we win.
Let's go back one weekend and another splendid comeback (amid a generally fine performance) at Tynecastle was ignored in favour of discussing why the officials had had the temerity to add on five minutes of extra-time. Forget the fact both teams had this time to make the most of and forget the six+ minutes minimum that should actually have been given; once again the officials were acting in favour of the Light Blues. And don't mention the non-malicious, definitely not cynical, in no way dangerous and surely sporting attempt to win the ball off Jelavic by Ian Black.
Now, anyone with a semblance of objectivity can see these criticisms for the deflection they are. Rangers are unbeaten this season and are improving with every game. Despite a small squad we look every inch the title contenders and I'm enjoying the worry this paranoia clearly reflects.
However, such people are not easily dissuaded so it is no surprise to hear this morning that the SFA are now meeting to discipline Allan McGregor for a fly kick off the ball at Aberdeen's Chris Maguire almost two weeks ago. Apparently their new former cricket supremo was recently 'made aware' of this incident so retrospective action is now likely.
To that end, McGregor can have no complaints. He gets involved in such flashpoints far too often and kicking out at players is unacceptable. As such a yellow card for his actions should suffice and I hope our club severely punish him as well (if they've not already done so).
Only a yellow I hear you say? Well, if we examine other similar scenes from several matches this season, the lack of strong official action is obvious. Scott Brown kicking out at a Hearts player a few weeks ago (as he injured himself at the same time); Anthony Stokes disgraceful challenge at Rugby Park and Black's tackle on Jelavic are just three examples of leniently punished tackles elsewhere. Furthermore, in the same game at Pittodrie there were worse examples of misbehaviour that the referee Willie Collum deemed acceptable: Zander Diamond's two-handed shove on Vladimir Weiss; Chris Maguire's shocking studs-up high tackle on Kirk Broadfoot and Derek Young's two-footed stamp on Lee McCulloch are just three other cases-in-point of questionable refereeing.
Of course, the lack of focus placed upon these other events can be extrapolated back to the media reporting at the time. Stokes was just 'naughty', Diamond's aggressive shove ignored in favour of asking if Weiss had dived, the McCulloch incident was 'accidental' while Black has apologised and we should feel sorry for his lack of pace. They certainly didn't have SkyTV, Andy Walker or BBC Scotland pulling them up after-the-fact while repeating them constantly on the highlight footage.
Surely if the pro-Rangers authority theory was true, a plethora of red cards would have been given to benefit Rangers while the McGregor video panel reference wouldn't again show that Rangers players are more likely than any other to be retrospectively punished in this manner? Moreover, the SPL definitely wouldn't be making us play so many away games either side of important European matches - again! We could go even further and ask why Zander Diamond and Michael Paton have not been hauled up in front of the beaks for their sectarian comments of late. After all, that would have been an ideal opportunity for the masonic, hun, orange, Proddy barstewards to really show who runs the game in this country!
So where is the Establishment then as it is clearly missing in (in)action? Or, as always, can the Rangers reign supreme without the help of others and in spite of unfair attention being placed upon our players?
