Dear reader, we live in strange times on Planet Fitba.
For example, it has not escaped the notice of your humble correspondent that something rather strange has happened in Fair Caledonia.
It would appear that members of the judiciary can be accused of bias towards clubs that play their home games at Ibrox.
Yet somehow, the match officials who also support the Rainjurzz are above reproach.
Consider this:
In a parallel footie universe in the aftermath of a Merseyside derby, the referee then turns up in an Everton boozer, sinking pints with his fellow Toffees.
The story runs in major newspapers with accompanying photographic evidence.
In response to the ensuing furore, a banner extolling the affiliations of the refer turns up at Goodison Park.
What would the Football Association do about that chap?
Would he ever be allowed to referee another Merseyside derby again?
Moreover, would he be permitted to officiate at a match involving Liverpool?
I think that you know the answer to that one, dear reader.
So, in Scotland, it is ok to point out the pro-Ibrox bias of a judge but not a referee who is making result changing calls in Sevco’s matches.
Have you got that?
It is an amazing achievement for an organisation that once employed Jim Farry and Hugh Dallas.
The Scottish Football Association has obviously unearthed a unique section of humanity that is utterly above reproach.
Especially when their beloved Rainjurzz are playing, and they have the whistle.
Of course, in that parallel universe, there are real journalists in Scotland working the story and holding power to account.
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On the question about referees being bias here in Scotland it is only fair that they are allowed to come from the country they live in. With money on offer for reaching the group stages of European Football Competitions would it not be better to have a European Refereeing Body from which referees are selected to officiate at football games throughout Europe.
This might solve some of the issues we have, sort of cast the net far and wide, to assure there is little chance of dodgy issues cropping up although there may still be contentious decisions at least they would be few and far between.
Penalties plus players getting tackles in different games trying everything this season watch see how referee’s do nothing players should take action against the referee’s for protection few court cases will stop the tackles D c o B
My sister suggested I watched something called “Yellowstone” so Googled the trailer and decided not too! However, it made me think about how these lowlife cowboys have more self respect than the Celtic board. I wouldn’t imagine you would get a second chance to cheat these guys at cards yet every season Celtic play in rigged game in favour of one party and do not feel insulted. According to one blogger, this season split is so biased it beggars belief. I don’t think the league is in the bag as you have the all the officials, the rest of the teams all rooting for Sevco to win access to the Champion’s League money…as well as possibly the Celtic board!
Addendum. Ang says the fans have helped with the victories. The board says let’s shut down the most passionate section for the cup game then. I was kind of just joking about the board rooting for Sevco!
There has never been a more important season in Scottish football with the winners going straight into CL Group Stages next year and opening the doors to the £40m windfall that goes with it.
The Ibrox club has been wracking up annual losses over the last few years, the most recent reporting a loss of £23.5m, a loss that had to be addressed by Directors.
Despite the Patterson fee, whatever it really was, that money would normally be paid over a two year period. Cue another significant loss in the current financial year.
Apparently Juventus are picking up the ‘bulk’ of Ramsay’s pay packet. It would be surprising that despite the generosity of the Italian giants on this regard that Aaron is not the highest earner on the Ibrox books.
Going back to last week’s ganne, there is no doubt that Celtic are playing a brand of football that no one in Scotland can match. The speed of passing, movement off the ball, an end product, are all there in spades and to quote Ange, once the newbies are all up to speed and the electric 45 minutes we have seen in the last two games is translated into a full 90 then someone is going to take a real hammering.
Securing the likes of Juranovic, Hatate, Kyogo, to name but 3, at what now looks like give away prices, is a tribute to Ange and the recruitment team.
More of the same please Celtic.
The sooner we introduce VAR the better, it will mean that our refs cannot be biased. I’ve no doubt some decisions will come and go in our favour or not but I’d rather an honest game than a crooked game. It may also send a message to the SFA they need to up the ante with quality control with referee’s.
I also happen to know Lyndsay Wood personally and know him to be one of the most compassionate human beings I’ve ever met, you just need to look at his work at Glasgow Sheriff court with the drug courts. Shame he’s a Hun tbf I’d never had known but then again we never spoke about football.
Let me start by saying I am not a financial expert or businessman,my question is simple,how can it take over 10 years and counting,to finally complete the liquidation of a football club?,this seems excessive and inexplicable to me,can anyone give a definitive answer?.
I would love to hear that as well. I wonder if the longer they can eke it out before “the fat lady sings” benefits both themselves financially and Sevco as the death of Rangers would then have a definite date. Maybe they are waiting for this year’s Valentine’s Day just to round things off.
There is not much any of us outside the game can do about the dodgy refereeing, we see it, we get angry about it, we talk about it, write about it and that’s it.
On the other hand, the main beneficiaries for the want of a better word in this situation are the clubs who are the victims of it, but when you put a price on this disparity in the rules being applied it amounts to the an unfair financial advantage being granted, plain and simple.
When clubs are playing in competitions that reward them with millions of pounds if they are the victors, it is safe to say that it’s the very life blood they rely on to expand and secure their futures. These cherries on top of the money gleaned from the support should be hard earned not gifted by the constant chipping and erosion of results by biased officials.
This being the case, why are Celtic playing ball here? When it is as plain as the nose on your face and there is a mountain of documented evidence, why are they not running with it and doing something about it? Why does Celtic allow shareholders and the support to be cheated out of these millions? Any other business wouldn’t tolerate it, why do Celtic annually?
I always find it amusing when those who call people out as paranoid when they raise the matter use the defence, “how can they cheat, we are all watching, we would see it” And that’s just it for me, it goes on in plain sight, we all see it, so to make a dossier and to raise the matter at a higher level outside Scotland shouldn’t be difficult if you are a club the size of Celtic.
Just addressing your final paragraph. It isn’t so much being a fan that drives them to send the opposition players off, award penalties at crucial stages of the match, chop off legitimate goals, allow brutal tackles on the opposition etc. but the climate of fear in which they carry out their role. Send off the first Sevco player in nearly two years and you find yourself reported to the beaks. Speaking of which a bone fide judge is now being investigated for showing bias towards the old Rangers in a criminal investigation. It is part of the fabric of this society.
Andy Walker, Hugh Keevins and many others are not Sevco fans but you wouldn’t know it by their media output.
Was this about my final paragraph, or Phil’s? Mine makes more sense as a question, I think.
I take your point. My final paragraph wasn’t particularly well executed and was really a segue into a different area of the argument.
My main point was that I don’t see this as an easy problem to rectify and that I’m not actually convinced that the Scottish system is unique. When I hear people say that it wouldn’t be allowed anywhere else, the evidence that accompanies that argument is usually English evidence, sometimes evidence from the other large European countries (with more large towns and cities and therefore a wider variety of large football clubs with sizeable followings). It is possible to be a Man Utd fan, become a ref and officiate top matches in your country without officiating Man Utd matches. For the record, I don’t think that in England, being a declared Man Utd fan would preclude you from officiating Man City or Liverpool matches or other matches which Man Utd could benefit from or be hindered by the result of.
In Scotland, if you’re a Rangers fan and become a ref and are told you cannot officiate Rangers games, that rules you out of a huge chunk of the highest profile matches available to you. If, as the article hints should be the case, this should also preclude you from officiating Celtic matches (and again, I’m pretty sure the equivalent does not exist in England – a Liverpool fan could officiate an Everton match), that rules you out of almost all of them.
Most European nations are not like England, Italy or Germany. Most European domestic football leagues are dominated by a very small number of clubs. The Scottish scenario, to this extent, is far more typical than the English one. So, a fairer argument is whether a Zagreb fan is prohibited from officiating their matches (and therefore most of the highest profile matches in that country, given that they’re the overwhelmingly dominant club). I don’t know the answer to this, but I suspect they wouldn’t be.
There is an interesting Hadith which is relevant in this situation, Phil – “If ye feel no shame, do as you wish.” There are at least two ways of interpreting this saying one of which is that people without shame will do as they please, because it is a sense of shame which can prevent evil deeds. The image of Beaton above exemplifies this. Shame comes around when we violate our shared social norms, so, in Beaton’s case there is nothing to be ashamed of, drinking in a Ranger’s pub, because it is completely normalised to manifest your prejudices in his social circle. Similarly with the Duff and Phelps scenario – it is not just acceptible to explicitly flaunt your bias, it’s normal. I can’t offer a solution in regard to the judiciary, but in terms of referees there is a precedent to recruit from beyond the border. If the SFA weren’t itself shameless, it would be a straightforward answer to the question of negating bias.
In the SFA rulebook it actually says that a referees allegiance or any question of bigotry cannot be called into question. So if you’re a sevco supporting bigot then refereeing is the job for you and no one can question your integrity and therefore you can referee without impunity. You can check that but it is a fact Phil, maybe it’s not worded like that but that’s the main gist of the law.
The answer is simple, We have an exchange system with English, Welsh or foreign refs for any matches involving Celtic and Rangers.
And the other teams also subject to pro-Rangers bias just have to put up with it?
Yet if they don’t play. Ball they can’t climb the GREASY POLE IN THE SFA. They would. Have nothing to brag about in their Lodge
How Manny would you think are employed in the SFA in all departments 80% or more have they one favourite team. Lanarkshire refs seem to hold preferences for one 3 have. Been found out big odds them
Perennial, dodgy match officiating is just one symptom.
As all Scottish football supporters observed in 2012, the professional game is corrupt, through and through.
A totally new, honest, independent and professional governance structure is needed to replace both the SFA and the SPFL.
Turkeys, Christmas, etc… 😦
I’ve never been convinced that this is such an easy problem to solve. First, I understand that this problem is unlikely to occur in England and other large European nations, but does it not occur in other, small European nations which are largely dominated by a small number of clubs? Is no Croatian who ever supported Zagreb allowed to officiate their games, or games of their main rivals? Most European leagues are like this to some extent or other. The English situation is not at all typical and so isn’t necessarily the best comparison.
If you are a young ref and you support Rangers, or Celtic and you are told that you cannot officiate matches involving the club you support or, as you suggest, either of those clubs, then you are being told that you cannot officiate the most high profile games in your country, regardless of how good you might be. This places a pretty thick glass ceiling on your career path.
This is a problem one way or the other. Referees come from the pool of people interested in football. More than half of that pool in our country supports Celtic or Rangers. You’re then left with, say 40%(?) of that pool who can officiate games involving either club. It’s hard enough finding competence from as wide a pool as possible, never mind reducing it by 60%.
And then we get into other issues. I know personally that Don Robertson is absolutely not a Rangers fan. Yet he was pilloried in recent weeks for pro-Rangers bias. Same story for Collum.
I have a brother in law who attained a good level referring, after a game he was approached and asked if he wished to go further, on answering yes he was advised to join the free masons. He has never refereed another game. He is a non Catholic
Sorry. Not the same story for Collum. He’s not biased, just totally incompetent. Eyes in the back of his head?
There’s one thing being a fan but to be pictured in a rangers boozer after the game that’s a bit too far
To be fair Don Robertson was pilloried for being sh1te not for being a Fan of Therangers.
VAR would solve many, but not all, problems with bias.
I totally agree with what your saying but the status quo can’t continue I feel that anybody in the game refs, pundits , commentators etc need to be almost pro sevco so as not to be seen as being anti if that makes any sense