Hampden Proves a Quiet Day for News Hounds

Is Scottish Daily Mail sportswriter, Stephen McGowan, today showing genuine sympathy for the news hacks who attended Hampden Park yesterday or showing his distaste for these journalists who home in on the sports scene only when they sense blood?

In his colour piece on yesterday’s Co-operative Insurance Cup final between Rangers and Celtic, in which the Ibrox team triumphed 2-1, McGowan points out: “The news journalists had turned up in hope and expectation, from television, radio and papers alike.”

As it turned out, both players and fans behaved well, in contrast to a Scottish Cup tie between the Old Firm clubs barely three weeks ago and which resulted in a summit – involving the clubs, the police and various others – called by the Scottish Government. 

Adds McGowan: “They wanted square-gos, set-tos and vivid shots of rancour. If it was controversy, snarling and bared fangs they were after yesterday, the Hampden pitch was the wrong place to look.”