PART II – How New Media danced on Rangers’ grave
By Mr Custard
Where was I? Oh that’s right, Old Media killed Rangers…
I was brought up with a newspaper coming through the letterbox every day in our house. We had a big family and it got passed about. We knew it was biased in places but we were intelligent enough to read between the lines and find the truth. I was a paper delivery boy for years too, I did the same round Joe Jordan did. I remember getting a bollocking for delivering the Evening Times Saturday night copy late because I had been at Pittodrie that day. When the internet came along it opened people’s eyes. It became quite clear the newspapers were feeding us lie after lie. Unsurprisingly, circulation numbers began to dwindle. Now I don’t miss them. On my commute to work I can pick up fresh news, with interactive moments from various sources. Right now I would never dream of picking up a ‘red top’. Why would I pay to read the jaundiced words of Traynor, Keevins and Hateley? Before this era they were the only show in town, empowered by their own ego and their words were given credence. Now? In this internet age (which they seemingly can’t understand) they have been shown up as dinosaurs, and their meal ticket has run oot.
Not only did the Old Media kill Rangers; they killed themselves.
Take the floor shiny New Media. New Media is people led, fan led. It sets the agenda and it runs with it. In this current ‘internet age’ someone can have a good idea and it can gather pace and spread like wildfire. If it strikes the right chord, it’ll run and run instantly. The best example of this is the well known Twitter account, “Rangers Tax Case”. It came into being due to Old Media not only ignoring the biggest sporting swindle to ever hit these islands, it denied, obfuscated, and deflected too. Ordinary people had concerns, a blog aired these concerns and very quickly, a light was sparked and everyone did some digging, shared information and made informed decisions.
For months and months the mainstream media ignored these new findings. Things that had been dug up about Craig Whyte not having ten bob and a packet of fags, the Ticketus scam, the crumbling steel empire of Murray, the proof of dual contracts. The mainstream media denied it all, paving the way for the illuminating light of New Media. This name in itself is misleading in the context of the old. New media is everyone connecting, sharing views and opinions and quickly realising that contributors were far more resourceful and intelligent than their antiquated predecessors. Obviously Celtic fans had the most reason to investigate but they were joined by fans of other teams and fans of fairness and justice who were similarly fed up by the open corruption and bored with the SPL cabal that hadn’t seen the league trophy leave Glasgow in over a quarter of a century.
Instead of buying a newspaper that was already redundant by the time it hit the newsstands, purveyors of New Media could read these articles immediately online, and within minutes form and dissipate this opinion to others, often hilariously. By use of Twitter articles can be easily aired, derided and parodied by fans of all teams. Rangers Tax Case led to Celtic tax case, Aberdeen tax case and St Mirren tax case… all with their own humorous contributions.
After year upon year of comedy reporting that had now been shown up for the joke that it was, the New Media fearlessly put the boot in, and what a wealth of material to choose from. Craig Whyte was openly lampooned which was like shooting fish in a barrel. The ‘Mr Custard’ debacle where Rangers Fighting Fund proceeds were transferred via Paypal to a clown was like something off Chucklevision. I’m purposely not naming names as would lead to cracking contributors being left out but in the midst of Old Media being dire, Joe Public was left to fill the void…and some humorous, well informed minds carried out this task. Each mention of “warchests” was derided. The comedy administrators Duff & Duffer equally got it for their shambolic dealings, as well had their long time conflicted interest in the case. Some clever peeps with too much time and too much Photoshop knowledge were given instant audience and infamy. Comedy “in denial” utterances from the “flat earth society” were also instantly shared with great glee. But amidst all the fun and joviality there was a serious and important message being shared.
From the old MSM claims of “nothing to see here” about the tax case (which bizarrely enough are now officially named as “the big tax case” and “the wee tax case” by all after being christened so on rangers tax case.) to “Craig Whyte is minted”…..we had Rangers in administration on Valentine’s Day, lying talk about being back out of admin for euro qualification, we had lying talk in the press about a CVA being do-able it quickly became clear that the only way to get near to the truth was New Media blogs, and twitter feeds from the footballing family.
Even now we are still being fed lies. Apparently Rangers didn’t get liquidated and are still in existence? Apparently the whole of Scottish football is going to hell in a handcart because “the peepul” aren’t there to scrape their knuckles across the landscape. So all SPL teams aren’t reporting record season ticket sales due to this cancer being cut out of the game?
I genuinely think this is a watershed moment for Scottish football. The schoolyard bully has been given a severe doing, the prefects who looked on have been similarly given a bloody nose. Scottish football has been given a shot in the arm due to new enthusiasm, lower league teams will see their exposure and coffers swell, SPL teams will have a better chance of silverware and there also seems to be a new found sense of “chumminess” between clubs over denying the passengers who wanted to keep the status quo and who served notice on their clubs guardians.
So here we are, Armageddon didn’t happen. Sky is still paying as it was, ticket sales are up and we’re all friends…the future’s so bright, I gotta wear shades!
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