Remembering Paul McConville

Paul McConville died unexpectedly last week aged just 47.  His is not a name that I imagine many liberals will have heard of (and as I have never met him I don't even know what his politics were).  He was a prolific Scottish blogger, but didn't often write about politics.  His main passion was football in general and Albion Rovers in particular.

But McConville's blog was arguably the most influential Scottish blog of the last few years.  He used his legal training to dissect much of the spin and wishful thinking surrounding the collapse and eventual liquidation of Glasgow Rangers.  He was one of less than a handful of people - all bloggers - who ignored the spin emanating from Ibrox and the corridors of the SFA HQ and told the truth about Rangers theft of tens of millions of public money through non-payment of tax.  He was miles ahead of the mainstream media in explaining the financial shenanigans and exposing the shady characters who were running the football club.

He did this while so called experienced sports journalists were enjoying their 'succulent lamb' on Rangers expense accounts and regurgitating the lies if not their actual free lunch. And he was called a 'bampot' for his trouble.

With Scottish journalism so compromised by this affair - and seemingly not learning any lessons with almost entirely unquestioning reporting of the not too dissimilar Hearts collapse - Paul McConville will be very sorely missed.