Last night, a senior Scottish Sun journalist took to Twitter to fabricate a lie regarding Rangers fans celebrations over the weekend.
Mark Muir, Deputy Head of Social Media at the Scottish Sun, commented on the Police Scotland statement in relation to the Rangers fans mass gathering at George Square on Sunday.
He claimed that ‘a riot was happening in the streets’
Mark Muir, Deputy Head of social media at The Sun can lock his tweets but he can't hide.
A retraction of his lie will follow or otherwise he will have his ear clipped by his bosses.
Rangers are no longer a punchbag on or off the pitch – get used to it. pic.twitter.com/phECRmt64y
— Graeme Hanna (@graeme818) March 8, 2021
Soon after his comments received some expected backlash, the previously open and public Twitter account was locked.
So let’s examine some facts around this situation.
Did a riot occur at George Square or anywhere else in Glasgow on Sunday? Categorically, no.
Was there some minor damage caused which Rangers fans have already responded to? Yes.
Did Mark Muir make up a lie for his own agenda? The motive/reason is up for debate but it is simply untrue.
Is Mark a Celtic fan and has he let his own allegiences get in the way of his journalistic integrity? The truth is out there.
VitalRangers can confirm that Rangers FC is aware of this online content.
The vast majority of Rangers fans welcome a free and critical press, but when a line is crossed in terms of lies and smearing, it will not be accepted.
It appears that the same now applies to PR at Ibrox, with the club getting its act together in more ways than one, in recent times.
Obviously, we are in a pandemic at present and that fact should be respected.
In the whole ‘debate’ over the scenes at the weekend, there has been a severe lack of context around Rangers fans celebrations which have been 10 years in the making.
An outpouring of human emotion and jubilation just can’t be stopped by Rangers saying ‘don’t do that’ or by issuing a tweet.
On varying scales, we saw similar scenes down in England last Summer with Liverpool and Leeds fans.
We even saw collective celebrations at McDiarmid Park from St. Johnstone fans marking their League Cup victory with injuries reported but that didn’t incur the wrath of the governing SNP administration. Funny that.
Rangers fans have suffered during the pandemic too, they have lost loved ones, not been able to go to funerals, etc.
Were the scenes best advised given what is going on? Probably not, no.
The mass celebration were however understandable, like it or not.
Detractors and enemies of Rangers and largely working-class expression simply can’t decide what is and is not important to other people according to their own approval and virtues.
There have been other events in society over the course of the last year as well.
In the coming months, we will await and see the expected mass exodus of Scotland fans to Wembley and the response of those in office who have been so vociferous against the 55 celebrations.
In a parallel universe, the fabled ten would have been achieved and Celtic fans would have marked the occasion with socially distanced picnics in their own homes. Of course.
They wouldn’t have already been on the streets this season to welcome their team to Hampden for the delayed 19/20 Scottish Cup Final or were they?
Graeme Hanna
@graeme818