Daily Record completes incredible rewrite of their Craig Whyte profile

The Daily Record has performed the most remarkable u-turn over the status of Craig Whyte.

Back in November 2011 the Glasgow publisher introduced a billionaire to their Army of Readers, backed up by in depth profiling from big hitters such as Keith Jackson and James Traynor.

Internet Bampots thought differently.

A quick internet search showed absolutely no sign of wealth off the radar, Whyte operated in the shadows, a dodgy character who preyed on distressed companies, held onto and sold any assets while ruthlessly ditching everything else.

He seemed the perfect figure to take over from Murray as owner of Rangers, the Record claimed that the deal would cost Whyte £30m with an immediate investment of £25m for incoming manager Ally McCoist to spend on players.

Lets just say that history hasn’t been kind to the Record.

Back in 2011 print circulation was around 300,000 a day, this morning just under 40,000 fools will part with £1.70 to read Murray’s rewrite of history. The Record just about sells 300,000 copies a week these days.

Introducing Murray’s excuses for trusting the lovable rogue from Motherwell the Record reveals:

But by the time mysterious Scottish businessman Whyte offered to take the club off his hands for a solitary pound coin, Murray’s Rangers were struggling to keep up with city neighbours Celtic, never mind competing with the continent’s biggest clubs.

If only the Record had used that description of Whyte at the time.

The billionaire status was trashed instantly across social media. Whyte had a mortgage on a rundown castle in the Highlands and rented an apartment in Monaco.

The Record constantly referenced that castle as proof of his off the radar wealth, when he stopped paying the mortgage his wife and kids moved out.

The fact that those issues were raised by Selik bloggers convinced Rangers fans that Mr Whyte was the real deal, hoops fans were terrified of a new era of domination led by the golden partnership of Whyte & McCoist.

By spring 2012 Sir Craig had earned legendary status with fans across Scottish football, his deeds and name were celebrated in song at all Celtic matches.

The Record stuck doggedly to the party line- whoever is in charge at Ibrox attains mystical powers over the Glasgow based publisher.

In June 2011, a month after a pound coin had been exchanged, Keith Jackson picked up on the Ticketus deal that had been discussed on Kerrydale Street over the previous fortnight.

After being published the Record quickly deleted the story, emailed an apology to Whyte and quickly picked up on the transfer swoops for Lee Wallace, Matt McKay, Juan Ortiz, Alejandro Bedoya and Dorin Goian.

All were given the sort of fawning treatment that greeted the arrivals of Oscar Cortes, Robin Propper, Nedim Bajrami and Max Aarons. Not much changes with the Record.

The phrase ‘wealth off the radar’ continues to follow Jackson who was named Scottish Sports Writer of the Year in 2012, 2013 and 2014 at the Scottish Press Awards.

Traynor was every bit as enthusiastic in promoting the billionaire from Motherwell, other titles like the Scottish Sun, Herald, Daily Mail, Scotsman and Evening Times followed with very similar editorials, almost as if they were somehow under instructions.

The blind obedience and devotion to those in power at Ibrox may ring a bell with recent events even if more than 80% of the people that bought the Record in 2011 are now finding their news from digital sources.

In his book Murray is sticking by his claim that he was duped, the autobiography seems to be another exercise in self-pity by the man that eagerly grasped the pound coin rolled across his magnificent oak panneled desk in Charlotte Square.