Hearts-daft BBC broadcaster Martin Geissler calls out the Jambos’ vile songbook at Celtic Park – it’s a pity none of the Ibrox-facing broadcasters will do the same…

I know this story has been doing the rounds today on Celtic cyberspace.

But I think it needs to be highlighted for a particular, which I’ll flesh out in this article.

Credit where it’s due, Martin Geissler was quick to call out the Hearts songbook at Celtic Park yesterday.

And I mean quick.

He took to social media to tell his own support exactly what he thought of them, and he didn’t dress it up.

The Jambos had just been on the wrong end of a 7-1 hammering from Martin O’Neill’s side, on their first visit to the east end of Glasgow since that dramatic final day title showdown last season.

Wouter Vrancken’s side were ripped apart, and some of their fans were heading for the exits when we went 5-0 up before half time.

Who could blame them?

But it seems the ones who stayed behind were determined to make themselves heard in other ways.

Make no mistake, Geissler was in the away end himself, so this wasn’t second-hand outrage from a man watching on the telly.

Here is what Geissler posted, as reported by the Daily Record:

“Some grim songs coming out of the Hearts support today.”

“I was there, it was excruciating and humiliating.”

“A small, small section of our support as a whole but vocal and well represented today.”

“Proud to support the club I’ve always loved but get that stuff out.”

“It’s awful.”

Geissler didn’t wait for someone else to say it, he said it himself

Now, Geissler is a BBC man, and he’s also a Hearts fan through and through.

That is not an easy combination when you’re about to tell thousands of your own people they’ve embarrassed you.

He could have kept his head down.

He could have waffled about a “minority” and moved on to the football.

Instead, he said it was grim, he said it was awful, and he said it had to stop.

Whatever you think of him as a broadcaster, that takes a bit of courage.

And the reaction tells you everything you need to know about how it landed.

When Celtic fans and Hearts fans both back the same man, you know he’s right

Hearts fans replied to say well called out.

One said he’d been sitting in the main stand next to the away support, and admitted that some of what their lot come out with can be unpalatable.

Another said his 81-year-old dad, a lifelong Jambo, had written to the club about the very same problem after a game at Fir Park a couple of years back.

Apparently Ann Budge was active at the time in setting the expectations, and the hope now is that Calum Paterson does the same.

Fair enough, that’s a matter for Hearts.

Celtic supporters jumped in too, and not to gloat.

They simply agreed with him.

One even added that almost every club has its share of “fans” who embarrass the rest, before wishing the Jambos well and telling them they’d bounce back.

Mind you, the bit about their owner having a solid strategy made me smile.

That is worth noting, because there are very few things Celtic fans and Hearts fans agree on after a 7-1.

Every club has a few who embarrass the rest, and every decent fan in the stadium knows it.

The difference is whether anybody has the nerve to say so out loud.

You can be damn sure nobody who supports the Ibrox side in the BBC would do the same

Which brings me to the elephant in the room.

Geissler has just shown what it looks like when a broadcaster calls out his own support.

So where are the Ibrox-facing voices in the BBC when it’s their turn?

I’m not holding my breath.

You can be damn sure nobody who supports the Ibrox side in the BBC would do the same.

And before anyone tells me that’s unfair, ask yourself a simple question.

When was the last time you heard one of them say “grim”, “excruciating” or “humiliating” about what comes out of the Ibrox stands?

Exactly.

They don’t call it out because they’re not embarrassed by it.

That’s the bottom line.

You only speak up when you’re ashamed of something, and there is no shame on that side of the city.

The Ibrox songbook will never change, and the people paid to notice know it

Let me be fair about this.

If the Ibrox people in the media were willing to do the same, I think fans on both sides would probably back them for it, just like they’ve backed Geissler.

That’s how this works when you do the right thing.

But we all know that is never going to happen.

The Billy Boys and the Famine Song will be heard at Ibrox, no matter what.

It was the same last season, it’s the same this season, and it’ll be the same next season.

And the broadcasters, the pundits and the columnists who are so quick to lecture everybody else will look the other way, as they always do.

Meanwhile a Hearts-daft BBC man watches a small section of his own support sing a few grim songs at Parkhead and says it’s not good enough.

Fair play to him.

Now try getting that from the other lot…

Not likely, is it?

End of.

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