BBC Scotland will today refuse to send staff to Ibrox after Rangers banned one of their reporters. Their boycott will begin with Rangers’ League Cup tie with Peterhead in Glasgow. The BBC said they had no choice after senior sports reporter Chris McLaughlin was told to stay away. He was banned after being accused of filing misleading and unbalanced reports by the Ibrox club. The Peterhead game was not due to be televised by the BBC but they will now have no staff at the stadium for live radio or online updates. Yesterday, the BBC said the ban was “unjustifiable” and that they stood by their staff’s professionalism. A spokesman added: “We are disappointed that Rangers have decided to ban our reporter Chris McLaughlin from Ibrox. “We defend our journalists’ right to report on the club. “While the ban is in operation we will not be sending any other staff to Ibrox to cover any activities at the club. “We’ll report matches in the same way, just not from the ground.” The boycott is set to affect Rangers’ games in the Ladbrokes Championship against St Mirren on Friday and Hibernian on August 23. A Rangers spokesman said: “The decision wasn’t taken lightly. It wasn’t a kneejerk reaction. “The BBC don’t seem to be applying proper checks and rules within their sports department. “Instead of taking this illogical decision, they might first have looked at the work that concerns us because from that particular reporter, we believe, there has been a consistent failure to obtain a balanced view.” He said that if the BBC failed to broadcast matches it would have “zero impact” on the club. He added: “Rangers have a massive support base, all of whom will be paying their TV licence to the BBC. Many of them will be unhappy. “All we are asking for is the right to have our business reported in a fair and balanced manner.” The club say their concerns with the reporter’s work came to a head last week when they claim he unfairly focused on the arrest of Rangers fans after the club’s 6-2 win over Hibs. The spokesman added: “At the game you had police praising both sets of fans but he led on the fact Rangers could be in trouble because two people were arrested for alleged sectarian chants.” The club also banned Times sports writer Graham Spiers last week after accusing him of unfairly criticising the club. He rejects the accusation. In May 2013, Mclaughlin and BBC colleague Chick Young were asked to leave Ibrox, after the BBC revealed an alleged plot to sack manager Ally McCoist.
Ally McCoist and Henrik Larsson were capable of horrendous howlers but no one remembers them because they always seemed to stick away at least one. It just seems like Scepovic has never been given his chance.
Wee kids holding up empty Warburton's loaf wrappers at Ibrox. Only the orange and blue packets though.
