Rangers finally appeared to end their recent slump on Monday with a more-than convincing win over second-placed Hibernian. Indeed, the final score was an impressive 4-2 victory, but the truth is few outside Scottish football would even be aware of it such has been the native media’s predictable focus on off-field matters.
This match, hyped up beyond mention in recent weeks, was a titanic top of the table clash, one which would likely swing the balance of the league’s destiny in the direction of whoever came out victors.
All the pre-match talk was of Rangers’ poor form, Hibs’ impressive unbeaten run since the last encounter between the two at Ibrox, and the ‘mind games’ between Rangers’ boss Mark Warburton and the ever-embarrassing attempts from Alan Stubbs to destabilise efforts at Ibrox.
90 minutes later, a pretty convincing message from Rangers that they mean business, that the worst of the Ibrox side’s slump is likely a thing of the past and momentum is now surely with them; and what does the media and every non-Rangers fan obsess with?
Singing. Yes. Crowd chants.
Every support in Scottish football who met out bigoted abuse to the travelling Rangers contingent, all the terrorist glorification that takes place at Celtic Park every other week, and the one time some ‘naughty’ chanting takes place at Ibrox and it is all the SPFL is interested in.
One cannot help feeling, wrong though this singing was, that if Rangers had not won, it would have been an infinitely less important issue to our opponents. That with Celtic fans and their very nasty chants never being highlighted in the MSM north of the border, win lose or draw at Parkhead, various hacks like Spiers and English highlighting silly chants with ‘reports’ being drawn up and attempts to ‘grass’ to the delegate, it appears to come about as a continued hatred of Rangers and the desire to deflect away from an outstanding display against a previously rampant Hibs.
This is NOT justification of bad songs – not at all. This is about the fact that nothing is ever done about the same kind of vile sputum hurled at Rangers on their travels all the time, nor anything at Parkhead.
Every other week this nonsense is aimed at Rangers fans, or at other Scottish grounds like Celtic Park – nothing is ever done to tackle it.
But the one time Rangers fans, in a moment of delirium at enjoying a win, engaged in a few naughty chants for the first time in at least a year if not more, sees SPFL fans conjuring up reports to send to their club boards (yes really) despite the poison they themselves use…
It is not an even playing field, nor is it a fair one.
Que sera, sera.