Tomo "article": Succulent lamb on the rack?

[RANGERRAB 3,258]

Traynor has dirt to dish on scottish football. They know it is coming..................

[UCF2008 0]

I really can't understand how this character's managing to stay in a job. He's chief correspondant for Channel 4 News. He's covered 20 wars in his 22 years on the programme.

 

Channel 4 have never shown any interest at all in British football, let alone Scottish ...Let alone Scotland for that matter.

 

Yet here's this joker carrying out a crusade against our club on their behalf. Seriously WTF.

 

It's like if Chick Young decided all of a sudden he was going to devote all his airtime on Sportsound covering American Politics. It really is that off the f&*king wall

[forlanssister 3,050]

Traynors response:

 

ONCE again Rangers are the subject of an article by Alex Thomson, who appears obsessed by this club's business.

 

This time, however, he turns his attention on me in a most callous and disgusting manner.

 

Fortunately I've been the target of many bloggers many times because of the well, let's just say strident way I've gone about my work. So, if you give it out you have to take it back.

 

This is one of the unwritten laws of journalism but this person's blog cannot pass without comment. Incredibly, it's allowed to sit under Channel 4's name.

This man has set himself up as a paragon of integrity yet he relies on Craig Whyte as a credible source.

 

Does he not know the former Rangers owner is under Crown Office investigation?

Thomson publishes the content of emails in which I make it clear to Whyte that a story about his spending plans will start with the figure of £15m for new players. It was necessary to let Whyte view the piece so that it would be difficult for him to try to deny it later.

 

Of course he did try just the same but he knows he said it. I know he said it and so, too, should Thomson. If he's spoken to Whyte he'll also know what this man is like.

The email was sent not because Whyte was being given editorial approval, as Thomson appears to be making out, but because I wanted Whyte to see the figure.

Also, show me a journalist who hasn't used these methods to extract further information and I'll show a hack who wasn't doing his job.

 

It is necessary to get close to people in football if you are to gain possession of the intelligence required to do the job properly. And that brings me on to Thomson's other point.

 

He claimed I asked Whyte for a job. How utterly absurd.

 

This blogger conveniently forgets to mention it was my work, along with that of the Daily Record's Keith Jackson, which finally exposed Whyte and brought him down.

 

We had been gathering information about the Ticketus deal and also Whyte's failure to hand over PAYE and NI. It was a long process and vital that the line of communication with Whyte remained open.

 

The fact is he asked me to come and work with him on more than one occasion. He also asked if I would advise him privately.

 

A game was being played out and working for Rangers at that time wasn't the goal. In fact, I kept my newspaper informed of the offers through a senior editorial executive because it was important they were on side with the operation.

I also made sure a senior person at the BBC, with whom I had a contract, also knew.

 

One or two trustworthy colleagues also were made aware of what was going on and we actually laughed at the very thought of me working with someone we were determined to expose.

 

On any other day I'd have dismissed this latest blog without comment but this is a special time for Rangers. We are a year on from administration and are putting in place a solid structure under the new regime.

 

Rangers have released a documentary on that crucial year on this very site and that's what we should all be concentrating on. Enjoy, and stop worrying about bloggers.

[BlueMazza 0]

Just read his response which is all perfectly reasoned. It's difficult to know what should and should not be responded to, but as I imagine JT has big plans for reveals etc, he has to bite back at spurious allegations like this.

[kuznetsov 0]

big slim. a brilliant reply batting bitter tommo out the park.

[RANGERRAB 3,258]

A good response from JT but it is time he went on the offensive instead of the defensive all the time. If he has dirt to dish on our enemies within Scottish Football (and by that I mean the mhedia, the SFA, SPL etc) then it must be time soon to fire the bullets to take these people out.

As he says in his article Whyte is under crown office investigation so maybe that is why he is holding back at present but when the time is right he must be prepared to blitz these people.

Also if people are going to make false accusations against Rangers or persons employed by Rangers then litigation must be sought

[amms 0]

I'm not sure how I feel about this. Thomson having a go at Traynor is just dick-swinging arseholeness, I'm not quite sure the point of it other than to embarrass Traynor. It strikes me as an abuse of his position at C4 and is unfortunately what we've come to expect from Thomson.

 

That being said Traynor's closeness to Whyte is alarming. I get that journalists need contacts and they need to have a working relationship, but running the whole story past him? Surely an email saying 'we're running a story that mentions your £15 million war-chest, you ok with that figure?' would have sufficed. I'm not sure I buy Traynor's explanation actually.

 

I've some sympathy with press journalists. Budgets and staffing levels have been slashed yet deadlines and expectations remain the same. Corners are cut, deals are done, nests are feathered, we get the media we deserve.

 

I agree with the central premise that too many of the media bought into Whyte without question. That had they done their jobs a bit better we might, and I stress might, have been wise to him earlier. Or perhaps we'd have called the media all the bastards under the sun and accused them of having a pro-Celtic agenda.

 

Either way, it still strikes me a as bit iffy, although I'm not sure it actually matters all that much.

[simplythebest 0]

I'm not sure how I feel about this. Thomson having a go at Traynor is just dick-swinging arseholeness, I'm not quite sure the point of it other than to embarrass Traynor. It strikes me as an abuse of his position at C4 and is unfortunately what we've come to expect from Thomson.

 

That being said Traynor's closeness to Whyte is alarming. I get that journalists need contacts and they need to have a working relationship, but running the whole story past him? Surely an email saying 'we're running a story that mentions your £15 million war-chest, you ok with that figure?' would have sufficed. I'm not sure I buy Traynor's explanation actually.

 

I've some sympathy with press journalists. Budgets and staffing levels have been slashed yet deadlines and expectations remain the same. Corners are cut, deals are done, nests are feathered, we get the media we deserve.

 

I agree with the central premise that too many of the media bought into Whyte without question. That had they done their jobs a bit better we might, and I stress might, have been wise to him earlier. Or perhaps we'd have called the media all the bastards under the sun and accused them of having a pro-Celtic agenda.

 

Either way, it still strikes me a as bit iffy, although I'm not sure it actually matters all that much.

 

You don't think Lawwell will have this from journalists all the time?

[The Real PapaBear 0]

I'm not sure I buy Traynor's explanation actually.

 

Tell you why I am minded to believe JT on this, amms.

 

JT never was, until he signed on the dotted line, a friend of Rangers. Neither was he an enemy to us (as some round these parts will have you believe). Neither was he a friend of Celtic. In journalistic terms he favoured nobody and was afraid of nobody.

 

Sometimes his attacks on people on Sportsound were 18 certificate - he took no prisoners but he was almost always fair. He had that pugnacious combative streak that good journalists have to have.

 

JT was the best sports journalist in Scotland (aye, ok, where's the competition?) by a country mile - and the mhedia know it.

They know that if he comes for them, he'll take a few of them out.

 

So what's the standard plan when you need to weaken the enemy? You discredit their PR machine. They will be - nay, have begun - launching pre-emptive strikes on JT. These will come from different sources at different times and at different intensities. The object is to make him fight on numerous fronts while the opposition strike and retreat. They'll want to discredit him and wear him down.

 

Green has said that Rangers can't fight a war on all fronts against the media and that they will only retaliate when provoked.

 

This is that provocation - and the response should be such that the mhedia will think long and hard about having another go.

We can't fight everybody, so we should choose one of them and make an example. Pour les autres.

[kuznetsov 0]

i can imagine rennie emailing liewell about the stokes ira story. hahahaha and i can imagine liewells response too!