The appointment of new Ibrox Communications and Media chief David Graham has been met with an unexpected wave of criticism.
Within hours of his appointment the Daily Record and Sun were running stories online highlighting the fact that Graham is a DUP councillor in Belfast and a Worshipful Master in the Orange Order.
Almost completely overlooked is the lack of experience he has for the job with his career as a schoolteacher being replaced by becoming a Political Adviser. The most basic qualifications for the job would be five years in the Scottish media or associated PR.
Readers of The Herald and Glasgow (Evening) Times were today greeted with a story that few would have predicted.
Graham Spiers and Angela Hagerty have learned to their cost that criticising aspects of Dave King’s club can create employment issues, some topics are best side-stepped rather than confronted.
Neil Cameron left the Herald/Times last year but contributes a column every so often. After falling over himself with dozens of apologies he gets to the hear of the matter as he discusses the new Communications guru at Ibrox:
We are talking about Rangers here and the appointment of Graham is, in my view, a bad call.
Why, when Rangers are supposedly doing their best to show themselves to be an inclusive club, have they given a job to a member of a Northern Ireland political party with links to many Unionist paramilitary groups that continue to haunt them.
The DUP is ostensibly anti-homosexual, has a pro-creationist faction within the party and aren’t keen on women having control of their own bodies. I had to check the calendar there to make sure this was the 21st century.
The reality is that it is not remotely an inclusive club, nowhere near it. ‘Everyone Anyone’ was a gimmick, a stunt knowing it wouldn’t come under any media scrutiny. Two UEFA sanctions for racism this season confirms the reality on the ground.
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Rather than criticise Graham the real issue is the person or persons that decided on his appointment. That is where the real problem lies, not with Worshipful Master Graham.