Off the Record

Daily Record journo sacked for calling Celtic fans ‘paedos’ by Andy Muirhead

A Daily Record journalist has been sacked following comments posted on twitter in which he made anti-catholic slurs and labelled Celtic fans ‘paedos’.

Alan Clark, who had worked as a digital sports journalist at the Daily Record and Sunday Mail since August 2015, faced an online backlash on Thursday evening after two tweets he posted a number of years ago were highlighted by a number of Celtic fan accounts.

In one, he posted an anti-catholic slur saying ‘FTP’, an abbreviation of ‘Fuck the Pope’. While in another he commented: “You’ve got paedo on your mind. You must’ve been dealing with a lot of tims recently. I forgive you.”

Following Clark’s comments being exposed on social media on Thursday night, complaints were made to the Record and on Friday morning, Publishing Director Jonathan Russell confirmed that Clark was no longer employed by the Trinity Mirror owned paper.

clark2An email sent to a complainant from Russell, said: “The tweet you refer to was written several years ago before the person concerned was employed as a ‘casual’ reporter at the Record. His employment at the Record has now ended.

“I can assure you there is no religious or football club bias at the Daily Record, which abhors all forms of discrimination and sectarianism.”

Clark’s twitter account has now been protected and all references of working at the Record has been removed from his profile.

But it can be revealed that Clark, is a close acquaintance of former Rangers director Chris Graham who was booted out of Ibrox after a day in the role, due to the former fan rep posting a racist and homophobic cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo terror attack in January 2015.

Clark also wrote for Rangers fan website Copland Road, which has a history of anti-Celtic articles, for three years including when he was at the Record.

In one article from 2013, Clark admitted that he ‘loved’ the sectarian and bigoted Billy Boys anthem sung by Rangers fans at games. While adding that he did not ‘understand the meaning of the words’ in his youth.

The Record’s assurances of ‘not having religious or football club bias’ and ‘abhor all forms of discrimination and sectarianism’ are admirable, but one has to question their employment policy and the checks they do on prospective employees when someone like Clark is allowed to work for them despite a clear history of sectarian and bigoted comments.

Clark’s sacking has not only damaged the young journalist’s career in the industry, but it has damaged the credibility of the Daily Record further.

Comments (3)

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  1. c rober says:

    Got to love the twits , supplying their own rope.

  2. Willie says:

    Got to love the twits who are reported to have fired off a Trident missile intended to land in the sea off Asia. Went awry and headed for Florida instead. Lovely, absolutely lovely. God save the Queen and God bless our Royal Navy, for their strength, fortitude, and courageousness. Long may they keep us safe with their reassuring base right here in Scotland. You know it makes sense.

  3. Larry says:

    What credibility?

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