It was a full card in the SPFL last night and that meant a smorgasbord of Honest Mistakes to choose from.
Celtic continued with their perfect start to 2019.
Moreover, they didn’t need any unfortunate errors from officialdom.
Hibernian played well, but they can have no real complaints about travelling back east with nothing to show for their undoubted efforts.
The Hoops have yet to concede a goal and have scored 16 this year.
It is title retaining form.
Unlike the summer transfer window, Celtic emerged from January with a stronger squad.
Oliver Burke and Timo Weah have made an instant impact up front.
Right back Jeremy Toljan already looks to be a shrewd acquisition on loan from Borussia Dortmund.
The Parkhead crowd almost saw new signing Vakoun Issouf Bayo come off the bench last night.
However, his substitution was postponed because of the injury to Emilio Izaguirre.
Somehow this “challenge” only merited a yellow card.
The little Honduran with the Basque name is not one of Planet Fitba’s delicate flowers and he was clearly in some pain as he was stretchered off.
In Pittodrie, there were similar…err…common sense referring incidents.
This wasn’t even a foul in the eyes of ex-Ibrox season ticket holder Bobby Madden.
Across Planet Fitba it is now widely believed that a team playing their home games at Ibrox seem to have the support of officialdom.
The only other explanation is the “Incompetence Narrative”.
Essentially the officials are so bad at their job that this is what will just happen.
Of course, incompetence is random and there is no discernible pattern.
If there was one then that is where the Fourth Estate has a vital role to play in holding power to account.
Well, on Planet Fitba I think you can see a succulent problem right there…
In England, referees have to declare their club allegiance.
However, any suggestion that this practice is implemented in Fair Caledonia is greeted with the sound of wagons circling.
Sadly, the press pack are cheerleaders for this stonewalling against transparency.
Power structures, however monolithic they may appear from the outside do eventually crumble.
If a team playing out of Ibrox were to be subjected to the scrutiny of VAR and neutral officials then things would undoubtedly change in the home dugout and the press box.
I think we could call it the “incontinence narrative”.
As this season progresses, I am reminded of how the late great Turnbull Hutton responded on the steps on Hampden when he was asked to characterise Scottish football.
He answered with one gruff word and it started with “C”.
3 game ban for the Columbian man child and 2 for the goalie, to be appealed by the club which should result in another extra game ban for the serial kicker out.
The SFA really had their backs to the wall on this one with the TV evidence there for all to see.
Just as well because on the way home tonight I heard Keevins and co blame social media for encouraging people to keep going on about the likes of the McGregor and Morelos incidents.
According to Keevins, what a feckin dinasaur, all these cameras and angles picking up malfeasance on the park, and better informing the football public, is not good for the game.
He would rather prefer that like in 1957 when the TV coverage of the 7-1 game failed and ditto when 10 men won the league, that Joe Public had no access to coverage and we would be totally dependent on Keevins and his ilk for what happened.
There is not a single person in the Scottish media brave enough to stand up and tell it how it is.
They are the lowest of the low and no tears will be shed for any of them when they are signing on.
C’mon the hoops, bury them, if big Mike doesn’t beat us to it.
this is 2019 journalism in Scotland. a player raises his arm to protest that an offence had taken place, which it had. but the ref is 100% correct for missing it. which came first is the correct call.
Aberdeen were cheated by Madden and if we had var and no Brother Berrz in the booth it would have been different. How many bent decisions are Sevco going to get this season?.
Hmmn. Mr Fleming has obviously opted to keep the ‘heat’ off his cabal this weekend.
Beaton is ‘relegated ’ to the all championship highland game and Brother Madden is on Hibs watch!
Even Collum has been kept away from any premiership teams.
Celtic have Nick Walsh.
Now…. what are they up to!?!
Has Simunovic been cited so that when Morelos walks so does Jozo, showing there is no bias at the Hampden nest of vipers?
Is it the same masonic cabal that pulls the Compliance Officer’s strings as to who or what should be cited?
What qualified Ms Whyte for the job in the first place. Did she have all the ‘right’ credentials?
Maxwell is so far out of his depth that he’s drowning in the Hampden sewage.
Fleming is still in charge of the match officials without producing one, just one, decent ref in his years in the job.
When was the last time you left a match thinking ‘ the ref had a blinder today.’
We await with great interest the voting of today’s 3 man SFA panel of ex officials.
There’s a Twitter campaign against Burke and his fall inside the box last night for a citation on simulation led by Alex Rae. Shame they don’t know the rules on simulation.
For a player to be guilty of simulation the referee must clearly have given a decision in favour of the deceit. No decision was given and Thompson actually waved to Ollie or indicated “Aye right son” a good decision as he was flying at full pelt.
I know Alex personally and he’s an orange bastard. Nice guy but fucking deluded when anything hun gets mentioned. Loved it when Tom English ripped him apart and still remind him when I see him 😁
Celtic need to be racking up convincing 4-0 and more wins from now in so that honest mistakes in favour of the huns and to the detriment of Celtic have no real impact.
Sevco and the SFA both know it is the small margins can have impact where things are tight…
They know this is their chance.
But this is our chance to pull away and ensure that ‘honest mistskes’ make no difference overall.
Celtic have lost (read as cheated out of) titles by a point or even goal difference due to the ‘referees influence’ when competition has been closer.Although we know that even that was artificial due to them employing unaffordable players by illegal means.
We can’t let that happen again.
We need to be out of sight before we play Sevco at home. A hammering of them then would be the frosted topping on the dessert.
We won’t change the sfa stance any time soon so has to be done the Way Celtic can…
Win win win win win…. it’s in our hands.
That and seeing Killie doing them in the cup at the weekend would be just great!
English refs don’t have to declare who they support. Was a question I had contemplated so when I met one through work I took the opportunity off asking.
I often wonder if the SFA and SPFL recruitment practices fit within current employment law and the Scottish population demographic in terms of age, creed, colour and sex.
It can’t be a coincidence that to climb the greasy pole to Grade 1 ref you have to be a Freemason.
Can we take it from the above that the executive, middle managers and admin staff of both organisations also have to be adept at knuckle crunching otherwise forget about applying?
Come on Maxwell/Doncaster tell me I’m wrong and that the SFA/SPFL employment policies would stand up to a robust investigation by the Scottish Government or a suitably qualified independent body?
In fact commission one now!
Joe it is unbelievable that is still permitted in a modern forward thinking and a balanced new and improved Scotland.
It’s went on my whole life and I won’t be going back to CP,or even going to the pub from now on.The Celtic Christmas treats for all of the family will now be acquired elsewhere.My habit of contributing to a rigged game is over,finito,call it what you may.
Why do the strongest football board in Scotland sit by year after year and do bugger all about this age old problem?
I feel there must be goings on that we mere fans never,nor will ever,get to find out about. Why else is nothing said or done that the public can see that CFC🍀 are actually trying to initiate the changes that are way,way overdue.
Governing body=laughing stock
Referees (LRA)=biased beyond belief,corrupt to the core.
These things need addressed and yet it is ignored by the Club We a love.
Don’t get me wrong I’m loving the attempt to break Our own record,for the 9iar that lot attained was,as We All know now,won under a period of court proven CHEATING.
I’m done way wasting money on this farce,when Celtic grow a pair and do the necessaries then I’ll return to contributing.
For now though,no thanks.
I’ve thought the same, do we (Celtic) have a few skeletons in the cupboard. Fergus didn’t have any problems. I think that Celtic do not want to rock the boat and it all comes down money. As regards a boycott i go to Celtic park to support the team on the park, not the blazers. Same goes for Hampden. We sometimes need the 12th man/woman to see it through. Hail Hail
The Compliance Officer is looking at the Simunovic aerial challenge last night but not a murmur on MacGregors potential leg breaking tackle on Ferguson!
A penalty, red card, 3 all, different game.
Get your money on Rangers this weekend. By hook or by crook they will get through.
Watch the odds shorten with the news that Morelos is appealing and Ms Whyte hasn’t viewed the MacGregor horror tackle.
What about the tackle on Izzy last night, another potential leg breaker, a video of which the Hibs culprit has posted on social media, so proud he is of his work!
Our football authorities are doing their best to keep their favourite team in the league chase, after all if Doncaster is trying to sell a package of the run in, the last thing he needs is Celtic running away with it.
If Morelos walks, again, no action is taken against MacGregor and Simunovic is punished by the 3 man masonic referee panel, then the game’s a bogey.
This all smacks of desperation, the same desperation that saw Rangers waived through to the 2012 CL qualifiers by the SFA despite everyone and their auntie knowing that they had unpaid taxes.
This goes way beyond paranoia. The cheating is going on in broad daylight supported by the football authorities and with not one voice in the media calling it out for what it is.
The best wee country in the world?….I think not
Hail Hail
Isn’t it a shame that we have to refer to Turnbull Hutton to remind us of the corruption that goes on in Scottish Football…?
Our Board should be ashamed of their lack of action in this regard and I am baffled as to why.
Anyway I’ve been told that both Kilmarnock FC and Celtic Fc are thinking of changing their Club song…
Kilmarnock, in recognition of Steve Clarke, might go with…. A Voice in the Wilderness.
Celtic should go with….The Sound of Silence.
Maybe because we have Skeletons in our own closet we don’t wish to get out?. Like you, I’m baffled by our clubs silence on all matters SPFL and sfa. There has to be a reason for it and maybe that reason is why our lips remain sealed. Can of worms anyone?
Sevco are appealing last night’s red card Phil
Phil, VAR won’t work if the same secret society is making the calls.
Morelos-appeal, red will be rescinded, changed to yellow, action not violent enough.
After all he’s just a silly fellow.
McKenna missed him with his retaliatory kick yet the Colombian man/boy went down as if shot but still managed to have a wee peek to see if the ref was paying attention,
MacGregor, no action, he’s just one of the boys after all and kicking opponents is second nature to him. Even if the CO knocks on his door one of the referee panel will black ball any attempt to suspend him.
You have to admire his brass neck when the Aberdeen player left a wee bit on him causing the goalie to go berserk.
An often overlooked piece of the referee bias is that in many cases the linesmen are cut from the same cloth! Hence you get off-sides that are called when there is none, and off-sides that don’t get called when they should. Same with fouls, penalties etc they see/don;t see.
In an amazing coincidence, the only discernible pattern is that it mimics the way referee decisions do.
I agree that Thompson was blind sided with the tackle on Issy, I was at the game looking right down that line from the Jock Stein stand. The linesman however saw it and said nothing.
We had a few meaty tackles and tussles he let go but overall he performed well in allowing the game to flow and maybe a few decisions went with that mindset and backfired.
There was a blatant penalty on Ollie near the end of the 1st half that was missed.
Tojlan performed really well and once he gets his match legs will be a valuable asset. Young Weah will be a world beater and I’m getting a couple of quid on him winning the D’or in the next 10 years.
Burke was brilliant and the changes between him and young Mikey, swapping sides was a joy to watch.
Dominant again. Long may it continue
HH
The officials are in radio contact throughout the match.
Therefore, the linesman could have told the ref.
Maybe he did and the ref chose to ignore him.
It’s a pity it wasn’t Douglas (Dougie,to his mates doon the ludge)Ross on the touchline.
No doubt,the ref’s ears would have been assaulted with cries of RED CARD,RED CARD,RED CARD and the Green Brigade would also have been impressed with his flag waving ability.
Aye,right ! HH
Only problem there is, the ref’s tuned in to BBC Sportsound, while the linesmen are tuned in to either TalkShite radio, or Snide SuperScoreBoard, Phil!! 😂
The way Tojlan and Weah linked you would have thought they’d being playing together for years. Very impressive. In fact all three on loan players have been impressive since the second they pulled on the jersey.