The BBC has carried a brief story confirming that the allegations of ‘state aid’ in favour of Celtic have been dismissed.
In January of this year the shameless state broadcaster was one of the few news outlets that gave credibility to the theory hatched by the most out of touch sections of the Sevco support.
Other news outlets with far less resources gave the story a wide berth realising that the issue had no substance like a number of other ‘burning issues’ that have surfaced online since Rangers went into liquidation.
When it comes to state aid the BBC really should be on firm ground as they are funded entirely from the licence fee while all other news and media outlets operate in the real world.
In January the story was top of the bill for the BBC with the state-run website claiming ‘Officials in Brussels said they had asked for detailed information after receiving a number of complaints.’.
Anyone with the slightest grasp of reality would be aware that land in the east end of Glasgow is among the cheapest in city and has been so for over 100 years.
Despite that the BBC covered the non-story with quotes from Glasgow City Council and the Scottish government in a story that ran to over 400 words.
Today with the claims thrown out as without any factual basis a brief five line story concluded with: “A council spokesman said: “We are pleased that the Commission has found in our favour following its consideration of the claims of State Aid.”
The lack of judgement from the BBC has become a running joke with the state broadcaster- who is barred from ordinary media conferences at Ibrox- but more than happy to pass on moonbeam stories from the spin doctors on the various sides of the League One champions.
Tales of imminent investment from Dave King and statements from numerous ‘fan-groups’ are routinely covered without any sort of analysis while the damage being done to Scottish football by a club that seems to be outwith the regulations of the SFA goes unchallenged.
Perhaps an investigation into the source of the state-aid complaints may be more news worthy for the state broadcaster to report on?