Kilmarnock are out of the cup largely because of two…err…officiating errors in the first half.
A penalty was not awarded for the clear foul on Eamonn Brophy with the game just underway.
Then Killie had their keeper sent off with only 25minutes on the clock.
Steve Clarke made his feelings clear on the officiating, although his main focus was quite rightly on the abuse he received from the klan.
A few weeks ago a well-placed source told me that there was an ongoing correspondence between Celtic and the SFA about, among other things, the quality of match officials.
To get the sequence of events correct, this was BEFORE Sevco received four penalties in one match.
Yesterday I was told that recently some senior folk at Celtic had a sit-down with the world-class administrators at Hampden.
Today that was partly confirmed by this SFA statement.
However, the SFA said that foreign officials were not discussed at the meeting this week.
Yesterday my source also told me that a senior person in the refereeing world had an uncomfortable experience when he was shown a video package of Alfredo Morelos at Ibrox on the 29th December last year.
Quite frankly he couldn’t explain to the Celtic delegation why the Sevco player was not shown a red card on several occasions during that match.
Of course, the only remaining fig leaf at Hampden is the Incompetence Narrative.
Basically, their officials might be shite, but they’re not biased towards Ibrox.
That, essentially, appears to be the official position.
Now, it logically follows that if the SFA are correct then these incompetent officials should be replaced forthwith.
That is what normally happens in any large organisation that serves the public.
Moreover, if new staff cannot be sourced locally then they can be brought in from outside.
This is not complicated.
I believe senior people at Celtic are now of the mind that only outside officials will do.
Brendan Rodgers put this rather kindly recently by saying that the locals “needed some help”.
What could be a game changer is an increasing number of other clubs are starting to see it that way too.
Perhaps they have had it with how it is.
In a parallel universe, a journalist on a sports desk in Glasgow has already looked into the background of all of the current Grade One referees.
In that other part of the Fitba Multiverse, the intrepid reporter will have quickly discovered that there is a worrying bowling club sameness about many of them.
It is the sort of thing that brought Affirmation Action into the United States and informed the recommendations of the Patten Commission in Northern Ireland twenty years ago.
Of course, such major changes are usually driven, in part, by campaign journalism.
So, as you were.
The status quo suits the Stenography Corps just fine.
Consequently, the SFA know that they will not be subjected to any genuine journalistic scrutiny as this embarrassing shambles of a season unfolds…
That SFA statement is very curious and also shite at same time. It’s curious why there is a need to focus on FIFA accreditation and how well thought of they are. This may well be true, or may not, but there is no question being raised as to their bias or incompetence in Europe; the question is how DOMESTIC games are being officiated. It’s simply another deflection and confuse the isdue tactic on the refs.
Then the CO process. Are they not contradicting themselves. They state that if the ref sees something but doesn’t act on it, then that is it. But did they not just issue some retroactive punishment where refs saw it. Also, if the refs say they saw some of these incidents but didnt think it was serious they should be instantly demoted. If they didnt see them, well then they are either blind or lying because there is video or photographic evidence showing they clearly did. Just how are they allowed to get away with this nonsense!
Again Phil great piece, as they have always shouted from the terraces, “Who’s the mason in the black”. The whole system here is corrupt, it is now only that other clubs are beginning to squeak, now it might just be me being paranoid, but back in the day most of the other clubs were run or managed by someone of the rolled up trouser leg brigade, and of course that would mean, they would be attending a meeting or two. Clubs are noticing that this type of behaviour is not good for the purse string.
Keep up the great reporting Phil, and if you are ever down in desertegney, pop in to the centenary my brother is there he was one of the most determined Celtic fan I’ve ever met, he always likes to meet new and interesting people. HailHail 🍀🍀🍀
Thank god are gone the days of asking a potential employee the question ” What school did you go to ? ”
Now , when deciding who referees big matches in Scotland the question is ” Are you a member of the Lanarkshire Referees Association ?” Much clearer by far !
For years we e always been told how mistakes were ‘honest’ and evened themselves out over the season…
They don’t. The SFA know it. We know it. All the clubs know it.
If the ‘perceived bias’ amongst referees was purely incompetence… then why is there a greater perception that things favour any club playing in blue and with 5 dodgy stars ovr their badge? Not just by Celtic fans but by fans of all other clubs.
If it was simply ‘incompetence’ (which Phil rightly highlights as unacceptable) …, surely then if you apply the SFA principle of ‘even-ing out’ … then even the incompetence would even itself out over a few games and hopefully the whole season?
Would make sense eh!?!
So how do you explain 4 penalties in one match ? – a new Scottish record in fact (well they do like a record) .
How do you explain a complete absence of penalties awarded at iBrokes ( unless you are the home team) when there is cast iron evidence that several should have been awarded?
How do you explain one club racking up significantly more penalties in critical matches than any other in the Scottish league structure?
How do you explain one club finishing an astonishingly high percentage of its matches (particularly crucial games) against less than 10 men?
How do you explain that same team having more players cited for match offences (unnoticed by the referee) than any other team in the league?
If the answer is indeed ‘incompetence’ …
Then I can only conclude that even the ‘incompetence’ is incompetent.
Truly breaking new ground st the SFA.
Astonishing still is that the club in question and it’s fans all feel that they are the ones suffering from biased decisions.
Funny how their superiority and entitlement mentality sits quite happily beside one of victimisation.
If the ‘rumour’ and suspicion is correct…
There is only one club in the top tier that is against the ‘foreign refs’ idea.
I wonder if their chairman called the SFA to make sure the motion didn’t even get into the table?
When Celtic take their 8th title in a row at the end of the season it will be one of the sweetest yet considering the amount of cheating the MIBs have been and are continuing to get away with. HH
Ach away wi ye!!! We’ll take that title WELL BEFORE the end of the season!!!
The way things are going Celtic will need every one of the 8 points lead they currently have.
As you say Phil if, indeed , they are not biased then they are useless.
Sick of saying that under John Fleming, fast tracked or not, not a single official who has come through under his watch could be classified as half decent.
Thats a damning indictment of Fleming and his SFA bosses. He’s untouchable, why?
When was the last time an official was sacked, McCurry, or did factors outside football cause his removal?
Dallas? What a joke, now got a cosy jig with UEFA. Perhaps they are unaware of his penchant for sectarian e mails?
I remember the refereeing careers of James O’ Hare and the late Kevin O Donnel hitting the buffers after giving some decisions which upset the establishment team.
I doubt very much if the SFA employment selection process would stand up to any scrutiny from an outside body.
Perhaps Mr Maxwell could come out of hiding and initiate such a process and prove me wrong!
It was actually a complaint from Wallace Mercer, that ended Kevin O Donnels ‘career’. Diet establishment team.