City council leader cleared over Rangers fan zone claims

SUSAN AITKEN has been cleared by the Standards Commissioner of intervening in a decision to refuse Rangers FC a fan zone on Glasgow Life pitches at Ibrox.

Ms Aitken, the leader of Glasgow City Council, and her deputy David McDonald were reported to the Standards Commission in 2018, with accusations of footballing bias being made on social media by political opponents.

Ms Aitken said she and her deputy have now been “fully exonerated by the Standards commission of any such actions and complaints against us dismissed”.

Ms Aitken has broken convention and Commission rules by publicly speaking on the decision because she said the accusations were “made and repeated” by opponents “all very publicly”.

She said on Twitter: “This was perhaps the first instance of what has now become a familiar pattern of behaviour; throw out an entirely unsubstantiated allegation; make a standards complaint knowing the person is unable to publicly defend themselves; amplify the false claims on social media. The consequences in terms of targeted harassment and abuse have been horrendous and of course as intended the original falsehoods are then repeated as

‘fact’.”

It was alleged that the leader and deputy had instructed Glasgow Life to refuse the fan zone application by Rangers.

A row later broke out over a photo posted on a closed SNP Facebook group showing Frank McAveety in the directors box at Ibrox suggesting members could share the photo. It led to accusation being made of “stoking sectarianism” for political gain with Labour and Conservative politicians in the city questioning the motives and behaviour of Ms Aitken and Mr McDonald.

Ms Aitken tweeted: “For a long time there was tacit agreement among mainstream politicians of all parties that community tensions in Glasgow and where they intersect with football should not be part of the city’s political discourse. That must be restored and all parties committed to it.”

She added: “I could not care less what football team anyone supports. I don’t follow football myself but I do know that my city is passionate about football and I want the game to play a positive role in Glasgow’s social, cultural and economic life. I’ll work with any team to achieve that.”

The consequences in terms of targeted harassment and abuse have been horrendous