When is abuse not abuse? Ask Steve Clarke…

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When is abuse not abuse? Ask Steve Clarke…


A lot has been made in the press and fellow Rangers sites about Steve Clarke’s tirade yesterday following Rangers’ comfortable cup win.

Before we continue, Clarke is right to be upset about abusive sectarian songs allegedly being sung at him, and Rangers have shown their dignity in unequivocally condemning it and making no bones about its inexcusability in the modern game.

There are, however, a glut of issues with the way this is being handled – there is fundamentally the strange comments Clarke made on the incidents at Kilmarnock only a week ago.

Why on earth would Steve Clarke fail to explicitly defend his player in the face of sectarian abuse from the stands? Surely it has nothing to do with the team Boyd is mostly closely associated with or the nature of the fans who attacked him? Surely…

Sure, he mentioned how disappointing it was to be talking about these incidents rather than the football, but there was nothing specific in his rather quietly-delivered comments (which included a joke, incidentally) about Boyd or indeed the actual actions which Celtic fans were allegedly guilty of.

Meanwhile he lost the plot over the abuse he got – yes, it was out of order, but we have to equally say the Killie boss has been stoking the fires of everything Rangers for the past few months – don’t forget, Steve Clarke tried to get Jermain Defoe banned over an incident which didn’t even affect it, and failed miserably to impart the same advice to the SFA over any other disciplinary incidents involving teams who aren’t Rangers.

This is not to condone the foolish acts of the idiots who abused him – but to point out his hypocrisy is not helping him one bit.

We get it, he’s a Celtic man, and he’s planted his flag firmly on Parkhead. Fine, we’re not going to hold a man’s allegiances against him – but we will astutely point them out when they affect his conduct and impartiality towards other clubs.

Boyd was assaulted, and his manager barely mentioned it – because it was Celtic fans doing it.

We’re honestly fed of up Steve Clarke and Kilmarnock – we feel like we’ve been discussing them far, far too frequently lately, and we’d like to move on from it.

Oh, and it was a red – sure, the initial TV angle wasn’t the best, but others showed unequivocally that it was indeed a sending off – and not a ‘joke’, Steve.

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15 COMMENTS

  1. As a Chelsea fan i've always had a lot of respect for Steve Clarke but these last few months have definitley soured me on him somewhat, shame really.

    Cant remember the match or the incident in it (i'm a stoner, sue me) but i remember earlier this season Clarke making a big deal of it and my immediate thought was "he's blowing that out of propotion to cover for the spanking they got" methinks the same might apply here.

  2. This isn’t a football problem,It’s a society problem. Its not a west coast problem,It’s a scottish problem. As long as our government allows Republican walks and Orange walks to happen on our streets in 2019 this will continue on BOTH sides. Last night was embarrassing for our club. We need to focus on trying to stamp this out and forget about Celtic and Steve Clarke!I only worry about my club.

    • big jim what about sending all our kids to same schools for starters thats were all this sectarian begins ,stevie clarke has been winding rangers fans up for months ,we are what we are if certain people dont like it to bad ,w,a,t,p

    • So what your saying is we are sectarian club who hate Catholic’s and that’s it we ain’t for changing ? It’s 2919 mate I don’t want Rangers to be like that I love my team and football people like you bring us down and make us look bad times have changed it’s time we as a club did the same😡

    • Stevie1,Do they have Catholic and Protestant schools in England?I think your going off in the wrong direction. If you are saying what happened on Wednesday and Sunday is acceptable when it’s YOU that has a problem. You are happy for our supporters to abuse people because they have been winding us up for weeks?. Grow up mate. It’s people like you and Benidormloyal on here that drag our club down in to the gutter. Shame on yous.

    • Very sadly segregated schools contribute to this problem and anyone who says otherwise is in denial. And, also sadly, the greatest losers have been Catholics who were discriminated against in workplace. However this apartheid was introduced in 1918 by government in London at request of Scottish Catholic Church. Sad but time to move on if only politicians had courage. We should move on. Rangers are a football club. Let us rise above the nonsense.

  3. I've been a huge fan of Clarke and did want him at Rangers,but after these last few weeks I wouldn't touch him with a barge pole! – he's a devious torn face hypocrite plain and simple. He certainly is a dab hand at deflecting his teams performance when they get beating by playing his ref card or sectarian card. Excellent manager, woeful human being.

  4. For me it was always a red card no doubt and now everybody knows the joke is on Clarke.As for the abuse coming from the west of Scotland, if he thinks its that bad why come back and put your family through it? Is he trying to tell us English football has no abuse in its grounds. He needs to wake up or better still grow up.

  5. It's called selective sectarianism, used to suit your agenda. Boyd was called a fat orange Bastard, hit by a coin,when asked about Boyds abuse, Clarke I'm here to talk about football
    Wednesday a game to suit his agenda, I can't talk about football after getting
    Pumbed . I'm glad my children are in SE
    England, and not listening to this abuse. SE England has the highest knief
    Crime, highest murder rate and the highest crime rate. Thank god my children live in Scotland.

  6. When he escaped the sectarian madhouse of Scotland for the tranquility of Chelsea, did he ever wonder what the strange hissing noise from the terrace was when they played Spurs?

  7. Clarke has firmly nailed his true colours to his mast He is a selective bigot in his one sided cries . The whole Sectarian Issue is across Scotland seperate schooling lack of tolerance and deep seated historic ancient hatred. This has been allowed to continue in various guises Orange Walks , Republican Demonstrations, The Green Brigade …I say again this cannot be solved at the flick of a switch . Strict Liability is also not the answer as clubs cannot fully manage this completely. It's a pity that his outburst was a deflection from the fact his team were well beaten and the Red Card was correct . We should rise above this however I am aware how difficult it is to try and stop singing the Billy Boys !!!

  8. We will all be pleased to hear that the Kilmarnock goalkeeper has had his red card rescinded. So in these days of care around head injuries we are sending out a message that it's ok to kick and elbow people in the head. They don't even try to hide their bad now.

  9. Getting Fed up of The System within Scottish Football! 😒

    Steve Clarke is a Deluded AssHat …End Of

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