Sevco and BBC back in harmony
Three weeks after denying the sports correspondent access to a Mark Warburton media conference the troubled club have withdrawn their ban.
A brief statement read: “FOLLOWING a meeting with the BBC the media privileges of Chris McLaughlin have been reinstated.
“Rangers has received assurances from the BBC that their reporting of Rangers; affairs will be balanced.”
Glad to see BBC back down over previous biased reporting. Hopefully they’ll now ensure @BBCchrismclaug and others report on RFC fairly.
— Chris Graham (@ChrisGraham76) August 28, 2015
@ChrisGraham76 speak to your sources again Chris because I’m afraid your tweet is nonsense.
— Chris McLaughlin (@BBCchrismclaug) August 28, 2015
It is now expected that the BBC will screen the Sevco v St Johnstone League Cup tie live rather than the more attractive ties featuring Hibs v Aberdeen and Kilmarnock v Hearts. BBC Alba will provide live coverage of the Sevco v Livingston Petrofac Training Cup tie.
After McLaughlin’s ban the BBC apparently pulled out of covering the Championship promotion hopefuls with their radio commentary coming from a studio rather than the stadium.
McLaughlin’s apparent crime was reporting on arrests for sectarian behaviour at the Hibs v Sevco Petrofac Training Cup tie.
Shortly after ‘pulling out’ of Sevco coverage the BBC invited ‘fans spokesman’ Craigy Houston onto their airwaves to articulate the grievances that the supporters have against the BBC.
As Kenny McIntyre and Dick Wilson sat on the fence Tom English was savaged by Houston who made a number of allegations including the unchallenged claim that Rangers (IL) won the big tax case. For the hard of thinking the club was found guilty on five charges with HMRC appealing against the remaining charges.
Since his Radio Scotland appearance Houston has published homphobic tweets, his brother in the Sons of Struth fans group, Sandy Chugg, has a court appearance scheduled for later this year in relation to an incident on the day of the League Cup semi-final on February 1.
With different PR companies spinning on behalf of their clients the impeding financial disaster at Ibrox is likely to be back in the headlines before the year is out.
A £5m loan to Mike Ashley remains unpaid, alongside other loans taken on by ‘The Three Bears’ with informed estimates suggesting that season ticket money will run out at some stage in November.
So far Mr King has refused to invest a penny in the new club but it’s unlikely that anyone at the BBC will be asking that question when the accounts to 30 June 2015 are published. Sevco remain without an auditor, nominated adviser or share listing with the club website continuing to list companies that have walked away from those duties.