In short, we were painted as the big bad bullies whilst Spartans were treated as the innocents who hadn't done anything wrong. Everything from their side was believed without it being checked, whilst Saints view on things was dismissed out of hands.
Now, you could accuse me of some sort of Old Firm paranoia here. I find it laughable that they swallow everything they hear from their clubs and criticise papers and journalists as being "one of them". However, it really did seem as if the papers were out to get us.
Take the issue of where the game was to be played. After the SFA and Police decided it should be moved, Spartans went crying to the press about some of the claims Saints had made and some of the things we'd done. I was embarrassed and annoyed by our actions.
However, Saints then issued their side of the story: it was a police decision, they hadn't asked for the game to be moved and they didn't bring along a guy from Strathclyde Police. Of course, the well balanced press treated this the way they always do: by ignoring it.
No one at Love Street had been quoted after Spartans had had their whinge, nor was there any sign of an attempt to. The fact that something was wrong came after the game was moved back to Spartans ground when one of their officials even said it had been a police decision! Don't let that get in the way of a good story though, eh?
It continued before the replay as well. Saints wanted to charge £10, Spartans £15, so that's what it was. Saints made it quite clear on their website whose fault it was, only for a Spartans official to be quoted the following day about the disappointment such high prices were to be charged. Even the lazy journalists in the Scottish football media can check a website, but had chosen not to, or ignore what they read.
Even after we'd finally seen them off, The Scotsman continued to get stuck into us. Apparently the £25,000 for fielding an ineligible squad was lenient. I'm sure the fact a Spartans player works for The Scotsman is just coincidence.
The Scotsman's finest comment came after we were beaten by Gretna. According to this fine, east coast publication, their west coast counterparts had been bleating that Gretna's success was only down to the masses of money they were spending, which was hypocritical considering how they fawned over the Old Firm. Had this been the case, the person in question would have been right with his view. However, I didn't read one article about this, most papers were fawning over the apparent fairytale.
As someone hoping to go into the sports journalism business myself when I finish university, I was staggered by the willingness of the journalists to accept everything from Spartans without getting a response from Love Street, as well as the way they ignored Saints view when it did come out.
I used to be paranoid, but now I just think everyone's out to get me...