The SFA has banned Jamie Walker for two matches, bringing them into full agreement with Scott Brown that he cheated during our match against Hearts at the weekend.
This hardly came as a surprise, but it will hopefully keep Robbie Neilson from making any more daft comments. Brown was fully entitled to have his say on this issue; it was one of the most theatrical things you’ll see in Edinburgh outside of The Fringe.
When our captain said Walker’s antics were more suited to Rio he was right on.
Now an SFA Disciplinary panel has said it agrees. Hearts appeal has been roundly rejected. The judges have held up their scorecards; a big fat zero, which is exactly what Hearts got out of the game and, in spite of Neilson’s comments, all they actually deserved.
It’s equally shocking that Hearts protested this in the first place. Anyone could see that this was not a penalty kick and that the player couldn’t wait to hit the turf.
I thought it was very poor form of Hearts to protest the verdict in the first place. The outcome was never really in doubt and they’ve made it look as if they were standing up for cheating.
I know full well these words could come back to haunt me but I’d like to think I’d be saying the same if this was a Celtic player. There’s no place in the game for this kind of stuff, and clubs ought not to be encouraging it. As bad as the incident itself was Hearts attempted whatabouttery after the match was done. That really was sad to see, especially from Neilson, a guy I have tremendous respect and admiration for, whose team is capable of exciting football and who last season excelled and exceeded everyone’s expectations of what they could achieve.
The events of the weekend sparked a fierce debate in Scottish media circles as to whether or not we take a wrong-headed view of diving in this country.
Oddly, the same papers, and even the same journalists, were not quite so forgiving in their assessment of previous incidents involving Celtic players. Their contempt for the rules is really shocking, except when they involve our footballers, in which case it’s not uncommon to see hacks waving rulebooks live on TV.
The worst of them, at least as far as the commentary went, was Andy Walker, who freely admitted that he was a cheat as a player, something he says would make him a hypocrite if he was seen to be criticising players for doing the same.
Andy Walker is a halfwit. Regular readers will know of my disdain for him going way back. He is the textbook “Uncle Tim”, a guy without a single scruple, who’s been known to stir the soup and offer criticism of Celtic that is not only unfounded but ridiculous.
This verdict damns him too, as it should damn everyone who’s spent the last few days telling us that actually diving isn’t so bad after all.
In Brendan We Trust.
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