White & Jordan clash over Rangers’ handling of title celebrations
Jim White and Simon Jordan have clashed over Rangers once again in light of the criticism of fans celebrations from the Deputy First Minister John Swinney.
Supporters gathered outside Ibrox and in George Square in actions that defied lockdown restrictions.
The hosts approached the subject from differing perspectives on their talkSPORT show on Tuesday.
White began by reading out a fan question which read, “How can you expect the clubs to stop supporters from celebrating outside?”
That then sparked a big reaction from ex-Crystal Palace owner Jordan, who typically did not hold back in condemning Rangers for not behaving in the correct manner.
He said, “Scotland’s been very hard on sport and I think at times quite rightly.
“The allegation has been, ‘you were briefed that we want to see strong messaging from you as a football club to your supporters, have you done that?’
“What you can do is impart a message that is very clear and concise’ and what I heard from Sweeney is that they haven’t done that.”
White responded, “Rangers have said they have done that, they’ve written to Nicola Sturgeon just yesterday, saying they’ve done exactly that.
“Sturgeon’s been heavy-handed about this throughout the entire season.
“Rangers are saying they’re sending out all the appropriate message to discourage supporters coming out onto the street.”
Blame game
The incident of fans celebrating on Saturday was always likely to happen and the government was never going to waste a chance to bash the club.
They have criticised Scottish football as a whole and Sturgeon has never been a fan of sport returning in the first place.
Fortunately, it seems Rangers have responded brilliantly to Swinney’s comments.
The club has written a letter to Sturgeon suggesting the government’s claims were inaccurate and unfair.
That shows we lived up to our responsibility of warning fans against gathering on Saturday, and should lead the government to apologise or to at least withdraw the statement.
We can see where Jordan is coming from but it seems he does not have all the facts – luckily White was able to fight our corner and put him right.
Otherwise, we would have received more unjust and biased press against us.
In other Rangers news, White was also left baffled by a fan’s claim about Steven Gerrard.