A thank you...

So, as you'll probably know if you're reading this, yesterday I took part in a sponsored bungee jump in aid of Sense Scotland. I used Twitter a lot to promote the cause and encourage people to donate, but frankly I was astonished at the success of my fundraising campaign. In total (so far!) I've raised £576.34 and much of that has been from folk on Twitter, folk I don't know but who clearly have hearts of gold.

People keep saying "oh, well done, you should be proud of what you've raised". Well, these comments are nice and all, but frankly I've not achieved anything, really. All I did was post a fundraising link and jump off a bridge. The people who should really be proud are the folk that donated whatever they had spare to a fantastic charity who will do great things with it.

So, I just wanted to write this blog to say thanks very much to everyone who sponsored, or to those who couldn't sponsor but helped in other ways, like tweeting, promoting it, RTing my links and most of all, to everyone who sent me encouraging comments when I was frankly shiteing it! You've all been fantastic.

The link, for the last time: http://www.justgiving.com/StephO-Neill

And the proof:

Craig Burley - a retort

I've just had the misfortune to read Craig Burley's column in yesterday's S*nday M*il. Now, two things I don't normally do - pay any attention to Burley, and read anti-Celtic propaganda in that rag. However, having read the mass outrage on Twitter in the aftermath of the article, I decided I had to see what all the fuss was about.

Wow.


Now, we all know Craig Burley is an attention seeking tosspot. That's not in doubt. I'm of the opinion he writes outrageous drivel in the hope of getting a response, and he manages this 100% of the time. Now that's his prerogative, if he wants to do that, fine, good luck to him. However yesterday's article was completely beyond the pail. I'm sure it would have embarrassed even the most deranged "writers".


A few quotes which annoyed me most were as follows:


"The future of Scottish football placed in the hands of a few nonentities from the lower divisions."


"Muppets in charge of clubs that draw embarrassing crowds of 200 people"


"Chairmen of part-time teams who are nothing more than afterthoughts in the psyche of our national obsession"


And those quotes just come from the first couple of paragraphs. The rest of the article is the typical nonsense we're being fed about a witch-hunt against Sevco, internet bampots, financial death if they aren't punted up to the first division, etc. I'm not going to go into all of that because it's been done and done again by writers with far more talent that I could ever dream of.


My issue with his article is plain and simple. What on earth gives him the right to think he can talk about football fans like that? The reason he is where he is is due to paying fans. What he's saying is essentially that fans and employees of SFL teams are of lesser importance than fans of bigger clubs. And that is what I find utterly, utterly disgraceful. Because they are fans, chairmen, board members of teams that haven't had as much success as SPL teams, they are automatically "muppets"? "Nonentities"? "Afterthoughts"? How dare he make such statements.


I've been to a lot of football in my time. Obviously if you're reading this, I assume you'll know I'm a Celtic fan. However I've been to watch Clyde, Partick Thistle, Ayr, Alloa, Stirling, Livingston and countless other teams in my time. Because I am a football fan. And the passion you'll find for the game from the fans, no matter what team they're supporting, is the same.


What Burley is essentially saying is that SFL chairmen aren't intellectually capable of making the decision. They don't deserve the right to have their say on a decision which will affect ALL teams in the SFL. We should just leave it up to the authorities. And the fans? Well, they don't really matter, they don't support a good team.


A great man once said "football without the fans is nothing." Mr Burley would do very well to remember that.