Misleading Record headline makes out that Celtic fans ‘hatred’ of Ibrox side is a one way street

Former Celtic player Georgios Samaras is in the Record this morning, speaking about the intensity of the rivalry between Celtic and the Ibrox side.

As a player Samaras gained cult status, but he was very much a player who divided opinion.

Some people loved him, others didn’t think much of him.

I was somewhere in between.

I guess his performance against the Ibrox side in January of 2011 endeared him to a lot of Celtic fans, myself included, and that’s why he gained a kind of cult following.

As a striker, he was at his most prolific with Celtic, scoring 48 goals in 156 appearances.

But that was really as good as it got for him.

For the remainder of his career after departing Celtic, he only managed to score another 4 goals while plying his trade at four different clubs.

He eventually retired at 33 after one season at Turkish side Samsunspor.

In this morning’s piece in the Record, he is speaking about the ‘hatred’ between Celtic and Ibrox fans.

But to read the headline, you would be given the impression that this particular hatred is a one way street.

Have a look at this and see what I mean:

I am Celtic cult hero who has played all over the world – and there is no rivalry that matches R*****s ‘hatred’

Now, when you look at that first, you’re asking yourself is it Samaras that ‘hates’ them?

You could also be forgiven for thinking that he is just speaking about how much Celtic fans hate the Ibrox side.

Either way, in that headline it is not portrayed as a mutual hatred.

It makes out that we hate the Ibrox side.

Or that those poor tender souls at Ibrox are the victims of our hate.

Don’t get me wrong, as a Celtic fan, I have very strong feelings when it comes to the Ibrox side.

But I’m also aware that those feelings are very mutual.

In fact, I think it’s fair to say that they hate us more than we hate them.

The fact that they didn’t allow Catholics to play for them until 1989 is a small hint as to how much they hated us.

Add to that the fact that they want us dead, because they sing about being up to their knees in our blood, and they ridicule an event that reduced half the population of the country our ancestors lived in, and you get a pretty clear picture of how much they hate us.

I think it’s fair to say that we do not have a songbook that contains anywhere near as much vitiriol.

So, to say that Mark Pirie’s headline is offensively misleading is an understatement.

Clearly Mark Pirie knew exactly what he was doing with that headline.

As for what Georgios Samaras had to say, well you can’t really dispute it.

Here’s are his comments:

I assure you that the hatred between the fans remains as unquenched as ever.

I’ve experienced derbies in Greece, derbies in England, but the hatred that you encounter in the matches between the two Glasgow teams I doubt exists anywhere else in the world.

The differences between the teams are not just religious. It is not just a Catholic v Protestant battle. It is something much bigger.

The religious divide may eventually disappear…the social one is almost impossible. A tradesman, a clerk, a worker who lives and grows up, for example, in the area near Ibrox, there is no way he can get a job on the other side of town.

You go in for an interview there and from your CV or the school you went to, they know which of the two teams you support.

All of the above is nothing new.

Why does Pirie need to push an article where Georgios Samaras is basically telling us everything we already know about this rivalry?

What’s the point to it?

What does it achieve?

In my view, it achieves nothing, other than to deceivingly stoke the fires of a rivalry that is already vitriolic enough as it is, all while using a headline that demonises Celtic fans.

It makes out that the Ibrox side and it’s fans are the victims of our hatred.

Samaras then goes on to compare English people to Scottish people, in what seems to be a strange conclusion to this rather pointless article:

Anyone who has lived in England knows that if you are a foreigner, no one will help you start your life there. No one will understand you.

They will expect you to successfully meet their demands. In Scotland, it is not like that.

They will be genuinely interested in you, they will open their home to you, they will invite you for dinner, they will help you solve any problems you may have.

The environment, the layout of the cities and the cloudy weather may be the same, but the warmth of the people is very different in Scotland.

Which is nice.

But once again, we have no idea as to which Scottish people in particular he is referring.

Is he saying both Celtic and Ibrox fans are warm people?

It’s all very vague.

And pointless.

Just like the whole article.

But I guess that’s Mark Pirie for you.