Violence in Manchester exposes Daily Record bias

It's been obvious for years that certain sections of the Scottish press bias their coverage in favour of the Old Firm. Not just in terms of coverage - you'd expect those 2 to dominate the headlines, much as the Big 4 do in England - but editorially as well. Rangers have had the Daily Record in their back pocket for as long as anyone can remember, always handy when you want to unsettle a player at another club or promote your interests.

Yet, you'd assume that there are limits. No matter how cosy the relationship, basic journalistic integrity would ensure that at least an attempt at impartiality remained. Nope, not so. The Daily Ranger has been exposed for the propaganda rag it truly is.

Most media outlets described last Wednesday's violence in Manchester thus: huge crowds, unfortunate technical hitch, question marks over the planning of the event, shocking violence. While there were clearly lessons to be learned for the organisers and the police, it was clear that the Rangers supporters had gone way over the top. End of story.

Well, not in the Record, which last week led an impassioned defence of the Rangers supporters, while also claiming that it wasn't even Rangers supporters who were causing the trouble (work that one out). No, according to their editorial, "almost none of the ringleaders wore club colours or spoke with a Scottish accent. There were, however, many English and Northern Irish accents."

You can spot the obvious flaws. One being that casuals don't wear colours. Another being - roughly half the population of Northern Ireland are Rangers fans. And you also have to ask - how did the Daily Ranger know this? I'm not sure the police have identified the ring leaders yet (although you can bet they are working on it). How did the paper know?

Read an excellent article in the Scotland on Sunday by Tom English about the Manchester violence here.

And to remind yourself what happened, watch this. Or this.

Belatedly, the Daily Ranger put up their own video of the events, handily contextualised with vox pops of supporters saying how bad the organisation was, and an interview with the chief copper in Manchester cut off just before she starts to describe the violence of the fans.