BBC Scotland has bitten back at the suggestion they had any bias towards Celtic during their coverage of the Scottish Cup Final against Hearts – something which will be no surprise for Rangers fans.
The Ibrox club’s supporters know all too well of a lack of impartiality from the broadcasters given a platform at Pacific Quay with Rangers on the receiving end for many years.
A highly-strung dispute with the broadcaster has supplemented celebratory coverage of Celtic as a clear line is drawn between BBC Scotland staff and the Ibrox side.
Commentator Liam McLeod came in for particular criticism for his fawning willingness for Celtic to win the match and his overexcited claims come their victory over Hearts.
It had many a Hearts fan cursing the broadcaster for their lop-sided coverage but the BBC have bitten back in comments made to the Daily Record.
Underwhelmingly, and in traditional BBC Scotland fashion, here’s the tame response the broadcaster gave license fee payers for their celebratory coverage.
“Our extensive live coverage of this exciting final was fair to both sides,” said a spokesperson.
Well, that’s not what most of Scottish football thinks as fans from up north to the borders railed against the pro-Celtic coverage.
Here’s a pretty extensive thread on the entire thing as one supporter described the coverage as an “utter embarrassment”.
Rangers fans are well used to this by now between severed heads, muckraking, unfounded attacks on the support and accusations of lying about racism.
Rangers have been fair game for the broadcaster in recent seasons with supporters completely losing trust amid sports coverage which has been in decline for years.
The situation with the Ibrox club doesn’t even sound likes it’s going to end any time soon, managing director Stewart Robertson giving an update on the situation which has rumbled on since 2011.
Robertson once again reiterated that the club feels they’re not getting “fair and balanced” coverage and admitted that in terms of a solution “we are not there yet, unfortunately” [Scottish Sun].
So if other supporters hoped that the broadcaster would ease up on the Celticathon anytime soon, all the sounds suggest things aren’t going to change in the near or distant future.
It’s something which is clearly a headache to the broadcaster’s bosses, with one claiming the Rangers dispute is a “matter of huge regret”.