As I had previously stated, I was looking forward to the Huddle Breakdown podcast forensically examining the recent derby match.
I wasn’t disappointed; even a power cut across the Pond couldn’t prevent the trio from getting together.
People who understand things fully can explain them simply, which isn’t an insignificant skill.
I wasn’t expecting Alan Morrison of Celtic By Numbers to give a devastating adumbration of how in-match decisions have been rather charitable to Sevco over the past few years.
He pointed to only TWO decisions that could be said to have gone against them in recent years before the Morelos goal incident at Parkhead last weekend.
The entire podcast is excellent, but Alan’s analysis of the furore around Kevin Clancy’s performance starts at the hour mark.
Full disclosure I know Alan and consider him a friend.
That said, dispassionately listen to his exploration of Sevco’s situation apropos match officials over the last three seasons.
Alan has a professional background in data, and he sifts the evidence.
I would wager that comparing his CV with a member of the Stenography Corps would be as cruel an exercise as McGregor trying to keep up with Jota.
Now, dear reader, consider this.
Can you imagine such an evidence-based analysis appearing in the mainstream?
No, of course, you can’t.
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Looking through old albums, one of the covers had the Beano on it and I thought back to when we were young and there was the Beano vs The Dandy debate which was probably the precursor to the Stones vs the Beatles and so on. As the bible says put away childish things ( I know) , I wondered what has replaced them and it donned on me, The Daily Record. Just for a laugh, their sports page is the first thing I look at when I switched on the PC making sure I don’t glance at the news page.
Today’s comedy gem headline they manage to include Rangers, Barcelona, prodigy and the Nou Camp all in the one sentence.
Now that is talent.
Well done to the Huddle Breakdown for calling it as it is regards the facts regards the club that feels entitled to intimidate and threaten .
They rightly said it’s disgusting the way the club in question knew exactly what they were doing when they said they were going to question the SFA .
They knew the reaction that they would get and it ended in a match official and his family receiving appalling abuse and threats .
They correctly said this was to deflect the issues no doubt surrounding their accounts which were announced late on a Friday night
And still not one media outlet has asked why they have not been shown
And they never will do .
Scottish football had a chance in 2012 to put this rancid club in its place but thanks to secret agreements and a compliant media the club played the victim card and we are now seeing the worst element of their support being used to intimidate and threaten people
As for the club complaining regards decisions against them the stats prove 99.9 % of decisions go their way more so when they are struggling in matches
How many penalties do they get how many opponents get players sent off
In those matches
As for them getting a penalty against them
The facts don’t lie
I watched thd Huddle yesterday. The analysis is superb and knocks into a cooked hat any suggestion that the Ibrox club has suffered any disadvantage either in the recent past or in the longer term. The stats concerning penalties awarded against them are both revealing and astonishing.
Whether the ref’s decision was right or wrong…( it was right btw) Scottish society in general…and Scottish football in particular… need to take a long hard look at themselves and ask why this Club is allowed to dominate the headlines and create chaos.
So they had a goal disallowed ??
For feck’s sake, how many of them has Scottish football had over the years?? Hundreds/Thousands??
And yet this Club manages to turn it into a war zone….again.
I just hope that the turmoil, currently going on in the background in Govan, turns into a death knell…and Scottish football can get back to normality.
They are a joke.
The thing is, I genuinely CAN imagine it. I can imagine demand for conventional sports media titles reversing towards an upward trend if actually skilled analysis were applied to the product. I can even imagine the product itself improving if more of the clubs and personnel started thinking that way and reacting thoughtfully to the conclusions of the data.
The Huddle Breakdown is the best Celtic fan podcast by miles (in an admittedly rich category, it should be stressed). I’ve never missed an episode, and it made its debut half season (2020-21) worth bearing. Celtic by Numbers is the best Celtic fan blog. It’s an honour to have such services available for free in the Celtic fan community.