15/03/09 CO-OPERATIVE INSURANCE CUP FINAL 2009 .CELTIC v RANGERS (0-0, 2-0 aet).HAMPDEN - GLASGOW.Rangers Chairman Sir David Murray (Photo by Alan HarveySNS Group via Getty Images)
Alex Thomson has called out the Succulent Lamb Loyal as the vultures of the English media feast on the Manchester City cheating scandal.
Back in 2012 the Channel 4 News presenter was one of the few from outside of Scotland that took an interest in the administration then liquidation of Rangers.
It was a huge story but for most London based media outlets a 24 hour wonder. Administration was a shock, liquidation a formality. Next please.
Thomson wanted to dig into the story, find out how it started, how the scam evolved and how two critical aspects were played out.
The role of the Scottish football authorities and how it was ‘missed’ by the Scottish media. The Manchester City story has been brewing for seven years after being uncovered by Football Leaks and published by Der Spiegel.
FOR THE LOVE ON MURRAY
Thomson found a parallel story. The compliance and blind obedience of the Scottish media to Rangers.
Mainly to Dave Murray who knew how to keep every legacy media outlet in the loop, Pesky Internet Bampots were tougher for Murray to control.
From tabloid to broadsheet, from radio to television every aspiring reporter had to be part of Murray’s groovy gang.
The more you obliged the more you were fed. Obesity was rife.
Mention his French vineyards as often as possible. His booming business empire and of course the private jet.
Players joining Rangers through the nineties always snubbed last minute offers from Manchester United/Liverpool/Arsenal.
They bought into Murray’s dream/vision. They arrived to dominate Europe, were amazed by the splendour of Ibrox and the ambitious plans for the future of the club.
James Traynor and Graham Spiers were among the elite group of messengers. Often fawningly referred to by their peers as Commanders.
To celebrate 10 glorious years of Murray at Ibrox Spiers, Traynor and a select few others were invited out to Jersey for some quality time with their hero.
On his return Traynor over indulged as he profiled Murray. He celebrated the succulent lamb than red-meat man Murray sunk his fork into.
It caught the mood of the time. Oh how they celebrated. The spirit of Drumcree was alive and well and coursing through the veins of the Scottish media.
Welcome to the land of succulent lamb. The entire Rangers cheating episode does indeed taint Scottish football to this day, for a number of good reasons. Happy digging!
— alex thomson (@alextomo) October 1, 2026
ALEX THOMSON- THE OUTSIDE LOOKS INSIDE SCOTLAND’S MEDIA
In any story outside his usual beat Thomson would find some local media contacts to give him the background and true story. The stuff that they knew but couldn’t publish.
Not in Scotland. Not a chance.
Thomson found that not only were doors closed on him but he faced hostility and threats.
He was daring to upset a long standing cosy relationship.
True Murray had passed the baton onto Craig Whyte who took the club into liquidation but still no-one would point the finger at their hero in Charlotte Square.
Charlotte Fakes put the evidence on Twitter and the big hitters of the Scottish media looked the other way. Internet Bampots were all over it.
THOMSON DISCOVERS THE CLIMATE OF DENY & DEFLECT
Thomson was amazed by the compliance and cowardice of the local media.
Rangers denied HMRC £20m as they went into liquidation. 275 other creditors also lost out. All this was before the Supreme Court ruled their ‘EBT’ scheme a scam, describing it as disguised remuneration.
Instead administrators Duff & Phelps came under scrutiny.
Charles Green, Paul Clark and David Woodhouse were arrested, spent time in cells and were charged.
Upon investigation they were released and compensated. A classic deflection.
Meanwhile Murray kept the bones of his fallen empire.
In March 2012 he invited his inner circle of messengers to a special audience.
The Scotsman reported Murray saying:
I was primarily duped. My advisers were duped, the bank was duped, the shareholders were duped. We’ve all been duped. Is duped the right word? Duped is the right word.
And off he laughed.
In November 2011 when the Daily Record broke news of billionaire Craig Whyte buying out Murray they were selling 270,000 copies a day.
Recently circulation of the Record slipped under 30,000.
In contrast the English media are all over the Manchester City cheating scandal. Attacking them from every angle.
You went full Woodward and Bernstein on #Ch4news all those years ago, top journalism.
One of your finest moments ?https://t.co/WRGYlod8Aw
— Neil (Eco-Zealot Marxist)?? (@neilmcg1963) October 1, 2026
Rangers indulged in years of cheating on an industrial scale. The Scots media and the SFA absolutely failed Scottish football by not punishing them correctly. Titles should have been stripped.
— SÃne na daoine ??????????? (@TheEvilGenius3) October 1, 2026
Signed players that Alex McLeish said they otherwise couldn’t afford, no sporting advantage though, all done for the love of the game ?
— KR (@KR1888C) October 1, 2026
Hopefully the English press do a better job reporting on this than the Scottish press did.
I imagine anonymous threats put a lot of them off sticking neck out though!
— Judging EBTs:guilty (@AitkensDrum) October 1, 2026
Complicit media
— James Cairney (@yenriacsemaj) October 1, 2026
Watch the hand shakes
— Billybhoy999 (@billybhoy999) October 1, 2026
Remember him on SSB destroying Hannah and Keevins
He absolutely fucking destroyed them
I listened Live to this back in the day. I’d complety forgotten all about it. It’s absolutely brilliant to hear it again. Highly recommend. Thompson wipes the floor with Haudit and Dodit and they sound like rank armatures compared to him. His point regarding how the pundits who were on the night before were unable to condemn the threat made to Alex Thompson by the mystery man (sic) is superb. Keevins does one of his classic attempts to dodge the issue and Thompson skewers him by saying, “The moral ambiguity of what he is saying is unbelievable”. Hugh nailed in a way that no caller to the show could ever match. They were so relieved to get him off. These clips perfectly sum up the parochial “banana republic” like nature of Scottish football “journalism” that we are stuck with. They are all friends, they cover each others arses in a way that a consummate journalist like Alex Thompson could never understand.
As an aside Murray’s resemblance to the serial killer John Christie of 10 Rillington Place is uncanny.
Joe K @7.43pm…
He is a fu**in serial killer as well Joe…
He murdered Rangers as they were then and also Airdrieonians as they also were then !