Keith Jackson’s incredible rewrite as he blames Scottish football clubs for the 2012 liquidation that triggered Willie Collum vendetta
Keith Jackson has delivered a tear jerking account of 2012 to the Daily Record’s army of ageing readers.
Apparently the club that shafted 276 creditors including a face painter, Police Scotland, St Andrew’s Ambulance Service plus florists, newsagents and taxi firms were the tragic victims of a fly-by-night.
Rangers were crying out for help but Scottish football stuck its fingers in its ears and turned its back on them according to Jacko.
In his trademark fashion Paul Murray is portrayed in a heroic light although there is no mention that the blazer chaser was a high flying Borders Banker.
The fly-by-night was introduced to the Scottish public as a castle owning billionaire from Motherwell by the award winning Daily Record reporter, within 24 hours Internet Bampots had revealed that Whyte had even less money that Paul Murray with a string of business failures on his CV.
Whyte did attempt to use his business skills to pick out the few assets of Rangers (membership of the SFA and SPL plus shares in Arsenal) while finishing off the work of Sir David to put the club into administration quickly followed by liquidation.
In June 2012 the Record informed their Army of Readers that Rangers were dead, gone with 140, or maybe 139, years of history.
Drawing on his years of experience Jackson rewrites history as he calls out the 2012 Tribute Act for using the Heart & Hand podcast to demand that Willie Collum is banned from their matches.
In the Record Jackson links it all together in classic style:
And yet, by delivering this latest low blow, they exposed the full extent of the distrust and resentment which still courses around the foundations of Ibrox, just below the surface. It’s a toxic legacy from the club’s fall from grace back in 2011 when their world caved in around them.
At a time when people like Martin Bain, Alistair Johnston and Paul Murray were crying out for help and warning of an imminent disaster, Scottish football stuck its fingers in its ears and turned its back on them.
Murray even warned in advance of Craig Whyte’s takeover that the club he cared for so deeply would be in administration within a year if the ruinous deal was allowed to go through.
Of course, there is a counter argument here. The one that says Rangers were responsible for their own demise and that no one forced Sir David Murray to sell his stake to a fly-by-night. All of which is true. But even so, these scars run deep.
However, that doesn’t mean they are healthy or in the club’s best long-term interests. And when Rangers pandered to the lowest common denominator in their fan base by turning so calculatedly on Collum the official’s role in this debacle was reversed. In an instant, Collum went from villain to victim.
To make matters even worse, it wasn’t even an original piece of thinking. They played this same card on Collum way back in 2018 when making a formal complaint to the SFA after Daniel Candeias was sent off in a 2-0 win at St Mirren. The biggest tragedy of all is that, with that one crude, rather sinister misstep they lost an argument which needed to be won. For the sake of all Scottish football.
Perhaps Jackson or one of his Record colleagues could ask Philippe Clement for his thoughts on banning Collum when they are invited to preview the Scottish Cup tie against Dumbarton on January 20.
