Adapting to a new football culture is a challenge for any player or manager.
One thing that Ange has had to become accustomed to is the peculiar officiating rules on Planet Fitba.
For example, the attrition on Celtic players from, let’s say, highly enthusiastic opponents and tolerant match officials could become a deciding factor at the business end of the season.
This was the first game of the season at Tynecastle.
The match official was Bobby Madden.
Here he is a few months earlier in a clearly jokey mood with the chap who he didn’t send off for taking out Calum McGregor.
A few weeks ago, a well-placed Celtic source told me that there were back-channel discussions between the Parkhead board room and the chaps at Hampden.
My information is that the subject of the communications was the conduct of match officials.
What I took from it was that the people in leadership positions at Celtic were passing on concerns about the apparent open season on their players.
Well, whatever has been said, it clearly isn’t working.
This “tackle” on Yosuke Ideguchi apparently only merited a yellow.
It is almost as if the Alloa players knew they had a degree of latitude against their opponents.
Almost…
The referee at Alloa was Don Robertson.
In a previous match, this on Celtic’s David Turnbull only merited a yellow.
Just like the lunge on Yosuke Ideguchi, it was a potential leg breaker.
Next up, Celtic travel to Tynecastle on Wednesday and this chap will be officiating.
It would be fair to say that he is very popular amongst a section of the Ibrox klanbase.
The optics of this are, to say the least, unfortunate.
What would be the reaction of the FA if this was an EPL referee seen drinking in an Everton pub after he had refereed their match against Liverpool?
The stance of the Stenography Corps is that Planet Fitba has unearthed a unique section of humanity that does not require any journalistic scrutiny apropos any possible bias.
Therefore, the unarmed combat continues anytime the Hoops take to the field.
This state of affairs will continue until folks in the Parkhead boardroom finally realise that the duty of care to their employees is more important than their Old Firm business plan.
Obviously, Ange will feel a responsibility for all of his players, especially those that he brought in from the other side of the world.
At the moment he is getting a feel for the local state of affairs.
We are back to Commonsense Inventory dear reader.
Although the board have backed him with acquisitions they are guilty silent as the same players are hacked down with impunity and sidelined through injury.
The unknown variable in the equation is just how long the tough Australian with the immigrant backstory will accept this state of affairs.
For the avoidance of doubt, he should be very clear that the Grey Brigade on the Celtic board does not have his back on this.
“The headbutt Duncan Ferguson planted on Jock McStay in 1994 while playing for Rangers may not have earned him a red card – or even a yellow for that matter – but it earned him a 44-day spell in Barlinnie prison…” How did this ever happen? Kent punched Brown and it became an iconic poster in today’s climate. We have regressed as a society.
Oh come on, if you are claiming that Tackle was even a card is harsh. He played the ball and as his foot went through the ball the Celtic player ran into his foot. It was not even a foul!”
As stated in the other thread, Celtic get away with decisions that the rest of the league don’t and some of the tackles Brown did before he left were worse than that, so for Celtic fans to moan they really do have a cheek.
Lets not forget the famous statement by Celtic fans is they have superior players therefore they get more fouls and penalties, well the boot on the other foot, these guys are armatures and therefore they don’t have the same standard of skills when making tackles.
Come, come James Thomas. Do keep up. The “played the ball” defence has long since gone. A player can endanger an opposition player in the manner of the challenge whether they touch the ball first. The days of Gregor Stevens, Terry Hurlock et al where they would come in and take the ball, the man and anything else in the vicinity are gone. Whether or not the player is an “armature” or professional the same rules apply. However, the player is not an “armature” or even an amateur. He gets paid for playing football so cannot be. He may be part time but that’s it. Same rules. Unless you know otherwise regarding different rules in other levels of football. There’s much to be said for there being more cards in games where one side are earning 2 bob as a sideline against highly paid professionals who do this as their career.
JS
As a Wasps fan I have to point out it is not only against Celtic that Mr Ferguson has his side set up verging on the side of thuggery. He has been open about how he wants his side to implement the ‘dirty’ side of the game in the local paper. You only have to look at the red & yellow card count since he arrived at The Recs. Perhaps the ref. was more lenient in your team’s game but you cannot say the style of play was purely in place just for this game. The Alloa fans have been complaining that the side has changed from the entertaining, silky, passing, total, liquid football of previous managers to long ball ‘hard man tactics.
Phil, I have personally had Ibrox seat holders laugh in my face that every referee in Scotland attends all of their Masonic/ Orange Lodge meetings purely to discuss how they can next ‘nobble Celtic’.
And this some 25 years ago,
Even the cowed (souptaking) Catholics.
So why is nothing done about it?
Simply because the entire Scottish footballing set up is in favour of ‘The Old Firm’, as many of your non partisan readers have recently written.
However, I’d they were to take a step back from their own team’s football bias they would see that Celtic is behind any doubt the hardest hit by such decisions, as the all out full frontal assault of the Alloa game has proven.
Barry Ferguson clearly told his players to attack in every possible manner every Celtic player on the park and the referee has clearly been ordered to let it happen.
So what, I ask you, is the point, when our own board have shown for the decades that brave been in charge of our club that they will sit back and do absolutely NOTHING about any of it, no matter what your sources may say to the contrary?
I am one of the non partisan readers you have mentioned. Yes smaller clubs play aggressively against bigger clubs (witness Hagi injured in Stirling cup tie & Auchinleck manager complaining his players didn’t get booked). This has always happened& the lower divisions are more physical.
More generally re refs- I do think that if they have strong affiliations with a club (been a season ticket holder) this should be declared and they avoid this club- surely they would want this to happen.
I do not think refs are consciously biased but they are only human and will be subconsciously biased. If Rangers & Celtic fail to win it is big news therefore all decisions in a draw or defeat will be pored over- this is bound to affect refs. This was why Ferguson got Aberdeen to intimidate refs to counteract this effect.
Lastly Rangers are the MSM darlings (probably something to do with history) and I think they benefit from this even more than Celtic.
VAR can help remedy this bias but it is not a panacea as we can see from England – it will still help though.
The Celtic Board are nothing but a bunch of self preserved cowards who have no backbone to stand up for their Staff, our Chairman is the biggest coward of them all because He is afraid to upset the SFA and “The Old Firm” Brand, Celtic need a new Board who will stand up for the best interests of the Club, Staff and Supporters, this Board will never stand up for anything apart from Self Preservation and keeping the “Old Firm” Brand alive.
Sack The Board
“Unfair trade practice is the use of deceptive, fraudulent, or unethical methods to gain business advantage or to cause injury to a consumer. Unfair trade practices are considered unlawful under the Consumer Protection Act.
The consumers are all the supporters apart from Sevco’s. Time to bring in the lawyers.
Time for the 🤡🤡 on the celtic board to go we need people that will speak up for their employees when they are assaulted while doing the job celtic are paying them for, all we get from the corrupt sfa is lip service regarding the incompetence of Scottish referees but the team playing at ibrox get a meeting because they have a player red carded and a penalty given against them. Was keeping an eye on the swpl and those famous 3 words came out in the game between sevco and hibs women when hibs were leading 1-0 can you guess what they are?
No
Retrospective red for the Alloa thug?
Which one?
Looks as if it’s in motion. Just requires a unanimous decision of 3 whistle blowers to agree that a yellow wasn’t sufficient.
Let’s see how quickly the Ibrox club move to strengthen their midfield with Hagi out for the rest of the season.
In other news a transfer fee for Goldson might free up some cash to meet Hearts demands for Soutar?