The Daily Record has been banned from attending matches or press conferences at Rangers. The board’s edict was issued by chief executive Derek Llambias through an email and fax sent to the Glasgow-based newspaper on Monday evening.
The paper reports that Llambias did not give any reasons for the move, one of many such newspaper bans by football clubs across the UK. He wrote:
“Following recent reporting by your journalists in the Daily Record, I am writing to inform you that with immediate effect the Daily Record newspaper will banned from attending all Rangers press conferences and games at Ibrox Stadium and Murray Park”.
Rangers is in the middle of a takeover tussle at present, with three people evidently seeking to take control of the club.
They are Dave King, a Glaswegian-born businessman now based in South Africa; Mike Ashley, the founder of Sports Direct, and now its deputy executive chairman, who also owns Newcastle United; and - from left field - Lalit Modi, who founded the Indian Premier League cricket tournament.
Ashley’s Newcastle club has subjected the papers in the city, the Journal and Chronicle, to bans in the past. As recently as October 2014, it emerged that it was official policy for the club not to answer questions asked by its reporters.
It may be significant that the Newcastle papers, like the Record, are owned by Trinity Mirror.
Ashley may have taken exception to the Record’s coverage, viewing it as sympathetic to King (example here), but he hasn’t made any statement to that effect. Modi has received less welcome publicity in the Record (see here and here).
As far as the Record is concerned, it has pledged to continue reporting the Rangers crisis “without fear or favour”. Editor Murray Foote says: “We’re disappointed by this ban but will continue our robust, fair and accurate reporting of Rangers”.
The Record is not alone, of course. The Scotsman is also covering the unfolding story.
But it has to be said that the mainstream Scottish press has had - pun intended - a poor track record in reporting on the disintegration of Rangers. Taking sides in boardroom battles has proved to be counter-productive, quite apart from being poor journalism.