Sunday 21 October 2007

Chic Young - Celtic damned by faint praise, Rangers sycophancy reaches new heights (depths?)

Since I am a petty paranoiac and Celtic are currently preparing themselves for another testing Champions League tie abroad, I thought it might be a good time to draw your attention to an interesting piece from one of our upstanding Scottish media professionals.

Chic Young, that well-known St. Mirren fan (cough!), had a lot to say after Celtic and Rangers' last outings in the Champions League.

It would be interesting if someone was to do "an Allan McDonald" and hire a psychologist to assess the psyche of the author. As this is sadly not available, I myself have carried this out in my capacity as enthusiastic amateur shrink.

No doubt you are aware of the context - recent revival of the Scottish national team, Celtic have just defeated the current European Champions, Rangers (whilst not facing opposition of the same calibre) won against strong opposition away from home but by a greater margin.

Chic Young used his column on BBC website to laud these achievements. I think it makes interesting reading, particularly the excerpts I have selected below. Now remember, we are constantly fed the mantra that the "Old Firm" (hate that term) dominate Scottish media coverage in equal measure.

On Celtic's result -

"Here was a team who toiled for another result that piled higher still this country's towering reputation.

They shrugged off a ludicrous penalty decision that made you wonder if the Mafia were now in the business of delivering horses' heads to the pillows of referees.

They beat the champions of Europe fair and square and kept a remarkable dream alive - that of Scotland flourishing at the highest level of club and country football. "

And on Rangers -

"Lyon, the champions of France, 0 - Rangers, the second best team in Scotland, 3.

Astonishing. Remarkable. Breathtaking. You choose the adjective. They all fit.
It was fantasy football and I had a recurring scary thought in the back of my mind as I commentated on the match for BBC Scotland that I was actually making it all up, that I was hallucinating.


But there in the corners of the Stade Gerland were my comfort blankets, the huge electronic scoreboards that confirmed that, indeed, we were witnessing the carving up of a quality French side by a Scottish team on their side of the Channel, the likes of which hasn't been seen for, well, three weeks actually.

Rangers were awesome. I will not have it that they merely humbled an ordinary team, although, in the end, that is exactly what Lyon looked like.

They looked tortured souls, ripped asunder by the energy and rhythm, the fitness and drive, the shrewd tactics and management technique of Walter Smith and his swaggering stars."

I would venture to say... (now remember I am a card carrying paranoic!) that the author is ever so slightly more excited over one result than the other. Can you work out which one?

My amateur shrink analysis:

Celtic are praised for winning, credited with "toil" and the fact they "shrugged off" adversity. Metaphorically this is a wee patronising pat on the head. The author is someone who is happy to see Celtic win in an "it's good that the Scottish team won, as it helps all the other Scottish teams in Europe" manner.

Rangers, on the other hand, are showered with superlatives that give the impression that they are a team of gazelle like super athletes bonded together by a mastermind coach possessing the intellect of some sort of Einstein/Stephen Hawking hybrid. This is someone clearly overjoyed at some occurrence that is very close to his heart. He even lapses into a pre-emptive defence of anyone who dares to question the sanctity of this win - "I will not have it that they merely humbled an ordinary team...". A cursory glance at the match statistics would quickly lampoon the contention that "it was fantasy football", "Rangers were awesome" or Lyon were"ripped asunder by the energy and rhythmn, the fitness the drive blah blah". Unquestionably the author has a partisan view of this result.

I rest my case your honour.

I suppose I could've saved myself a lot of typing and just said "Chic Young is a hun". Would you have argued??

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