Celtic refusals help lead to scrapping of Rangers coverage in The Athletic
Rangers coverage in The Athletic is to come to an end and it appears refusals from Celtic to co-operate with the outlet have helped to cause the situation.
The company announced on Tuesday (7 March) that dedicated Ibrox reporter Jordan Campbell was moving onto another role, and would not be replaced due to it being “unfair” that there is no equivalent Parkhead correspondent.
But now it appears that it is the green and whites themselves who have helped cause that, with Kieran Devlin leaving his role amid an unwillingness from the Hoops to refuse access to games, press conferences, or the media team.
In The Athletic’s update on Celtic on Monday it states: “Since we launched football in 2019, we have tried to work with the club as we have with all the other big teams in Europe but, as is their prerogative, they decided not to allow us access to press conferences, home games or their media team to check basic news stories.
“That made the basics of our job almost impossible, though we hopefully managed to provide some insight for you through analysis of matches, use of data and features…
“It really saddens us to take this step but it’s not something we have faced with any other club so it is best for us to move on. This isn’t to be critical of the club — they are obviously within their rights to work with whoever they choose.
“We will also be doing similar with Rangers as we can’t cover just one of the two great Glasgow clubs.”
But so what? If Celtic want to ignore a media outlet that’s their problem and it doesn’t need to have anything to do with the Gers.
There is no denying that the Old Firm rivalry is a heated one, with everything related to either side pored over for handing an advantage one way or another.
But there is no issue of fairness in coverage when The Athletic has attempted to report on Celtic but the club has prevented it.
Yes, they are free to choose which outlets they cooperate with, but if they refuse to do so then it is their fans that will miss out and is a gripe for them to take up with chiefs at Celtic Park.
That is no reason for Rangers supporters to lose the coverage of their own club, and pandering to the Hoops’ idiosyncrasies should not impact on the Gers fanbase.
It comes at a crucial time for the Light Blues as well, with the Micheal Beale era entering turbulence for the first time in the wake of the Old Firm in the Viaplay Cup final (26 February).
The supporters have major questions for the board and losing The Athletic’s reporting of the goings on at the club removes an avenue to get answers.
Bringing an end to reporting on a club the size of the Gers in any event is disappointing but as a result of a situation on the other side of the Old Firm rivalry is all the more so.
In other Rangers news, a rival SPFL boss and a Sky Sports pundit were both put in their place by a former Ibrox man over recent controversies.