“Comparing Beaton in a Rangers pub v Collum in a Catholic church is crass” – Graham Spiers latest podcast lambasted

I’ll put it out there, Graham Spiers podcast is pretty decent.

I was subscribed to it a couple of months ago but, as a Celtic blog, there wasn’t enough Celtic content on it for me (which is understandable) so I cancelled.

If anyone has never listened to his pod, Spiers does tackle some of the most contentious issues in Scottish football and is not one of those journalists that believes the ‘new club’ hype.

Overall, I feel he is fairly balanced.

But on the issue of bias in refereeing, his guest, Andrew Smith dropped the ball when speaking about Beaton being photographed in a Rangers pub after he reff’ed a Glasgow Derby . Massively.

Have a listen:

An interesting point made by Andrew Smith about how John Beaton going to a Rangers pub can be the same as someone seeing a Willie Collum go to mass.
From @GrahamSpiers @HarryBradyCU podcast.

Is Andrew correct?
Is the comparison fair?
Is the conclusion fair? pic.twitter.com/hgXHzaSeeP

— Lint (@Zeshankenzo) January 11, 2023

Fair play to him for lambasting Beaton, but his comparison of Beaton drinking in a Rangers pub and comparing it to Willie Collum going to a place of worship was daft.

You moved on pretty quickly after that point. You know it was false equivalence, which is typical of the Scottish media. Comparing Beaton in a Rangers pub v. Collum in a Catholic church is crass.

— Liam (@LiamBronaldo) January 11, 2023

This surprises me.
The ‘equivalence’ allows the stereotypical ‘Kafflic’, Celtic sympathiser narrative to permeate, parallel to a person’s football club of choice
It infers that a Catholic (assumed Celtic fan) would be as likely to show bias as a ‘motivated’ Rangers fan.
That ok?

— Ozbhoyy67 (@ozbhoyy64) January 12, 2023

I get what you are saying & what Andrew is saying but it actually is poor.

Re Collum … is about how others could view that photo ‘ie wrongly’ & therefore any listenser could then think the narrative re ‘Beaton’ is similar & that the photo viewer is in the wrong.

— Celtic Trends 🍀📈⚽️ (@Tony_McLaughlin) January 11, 2023

A terrible comparison this. A ref going to a rangers pub or rangers ball boy or season ticket holder to a ref going to a place of worship. Also there is catholic’s who support rangers maybe in the minority but they’re out there. Ludicrous and an irrelevant comparison from AS

— Catrina (@C88UTR) January 11, 2023

I get the point, but 1. He said “say WC was ..” as in he wasn’t, and 2. You celebrate a game at a pub, not at a chapel, the reason for attendance is very different. Calling it a hideous comparison does not stop him making the comparison and putting it out as a false equivalence

— chris (@ch_barr) January 12, 2023

Presumably the same people he references being intolerant of Collum’s religious practices are the same people who cheered on Amoruso & co?

Ridiculous comparison and trying to factor in such demonstrable idiots into the debate as justification for it is p*ss poor.

— Lynch CSC (@67Grohl) January 11, 2023

Complete nonsense arguement.

Going to a Rangers pub would mean- in all liklihood- you are a Rangers fan.

Not all catholics are Celtic supporters.
(and not all protestants are Rangers fans- including me)

— Danny Bhoy 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇪🇺🇵🇸 (@dannybhoy170) January 11, 2023