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Rangers FC Channel 4 Alex Thomson

Strathclyde Police confirm investigation into threats to Channel 4 newsman investigating Rangers FC is continuing

By Hamish Mackay

April 30, 2012 | 2 min read

Strathclyde Police has confirmed that it is continuing to investigate allegations that Channel 4 News chief correspondent Alex Thomson was physically threatened by a Scottish journalist while investigating the financial crisis at Rangers FC.

Media website Press Gazette reported that The Daily Telegraph had claimed the force had dropped the investigation and quoted a police source saying the allegations were “laughable”.

However Press Gazette points out: “...Strathclyde Police has since confirmed its investigation is ongoing and Channel 4 said it was ‘baffled’ by reports to the contrary.”

Thomson has been in Glasgow in recent weeks investigating the financial affairs of Rangers FC after the club entered administration.

As fully reported by The Drum earlier this month, Thomson said some football journalists in the region were “too lazy, sycophantic and incapable of asking awkward questions” over Rangers’ financial affairs.

He wrote: “I’d expected the paranoia, insults, spin etc – hey – this is ‘fitba’ after all and I welcome it good, bad and ugly, from fans within and without Glasgow.

“Indeed I’ve gone out and asked for it. What I didn’t expect were the insults (and in at least one case a direct physical threat) not from fans but from Scottish journalists.

“Sarajevo, Mogadishu, Kabul, Islamabad, Tripoli, Baghdad…I could bore you with more – in none of these places have I ever got this interesting reaction from local journalists.

“Only in Glasgow. So something’s up. Something’s different. Something about asking questions about RFC clearly angers some in the Glasgow media in a way I’ve never seen in 25 years of global reporting.”

A spokesperson for Channel 4 News is quoted by Press Gazette as saying:"Strathclyde Police have confirmed to us that the investigation into threats made to one of our journalists is ongoing. We were baffled to see inaccurate, unsubstantiated reports that suggested otherwise, and are pleased to see these stories now being retracted.

"We take threats to our journalists incredibly seriously and are satisfied that Strathclyde Police is doing the same."

Press Gazette noted that The Daily Telegraph has now removed claims that the case has been dropped from its website.

Rangers FC Channel 4 Alex Thomson

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