SNP MSP John Mason has been branded “despicable” after telling a disabled Celtic fan complaining about a parking ban at the team’s Glasgow ground, to go and support a “smaller more local club”.
According to Celtic Quick News, a supporter, and former season ticket holder, named Gordon, who travels to games from Newcastle, emailed the club last week, explaining that he is unable to walk for more than 10 minutes. He said he would be unable to attend games in future due to the proposed parking ban around Celtic Park on match days.
Gordon explained how neither rail or bus provision is adequate. He forwarded that email to John Mason, the MSP for Glasgow Shettleston.
Mason replied: “Could you think about supporting a smaller more local club that would appreciate your adding to their crowd.”
The SNP strongly condemned the remarks. A spokesman said: “No one should have to consider supporting another football club because of lack of disabled facilities – all clubs have a duty to ensure that disabled supporters can access their stadiums and fully enjoy the match day experience.
“Clubs should be aware of the particular needs of travelling supporters and should do their utmost to ensure they are fairly accommodated.”
Labour MSP James Kelly said: “This is an outrageous comment from John Mason. Rather than representing the interests of a disabled man who wants to bring his custom and spend his money in John Mason’s constituency, he is just telling him to go support another football team.
“If John Mason’s attitude is to tell people to stay away from the East End of Glasgow he’ll soon find the voters in Shettleston will send him packing too.”
Conservative MSP Jeremy Balfour said it was a “despicable way of responding to a disabled constituent with a very genuine concern”.
Mason defended his the comment and insisted it was “only one small part of my responses on the subject”, but he did say he was a Clyde supporter and would like to see more fans considering supporting smaller more local teams like Clyde.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel