Ok so first thing first, Scott Brown should never have done Liam Boyce the way he did.
He is the captain of Celtic and should not have done it. It gave the ref an opportunity to do what he did.
Is it a straight red?
Borderline IMO, we’ve all seen them given as yellows.
Do I understand why he did it?
Yes of course I do.
Scott Brown has been with our club for ten years and seen game changing, cup changing, title changing decisions given against us.
We are – he is – on the verge of an historic season and he sees the same old ‘honest mistakes’ raise their head again.
Add with what, that disgrace of a footballer, Schalk (I will come to him in a minute) and what that other cheat Boyce did right before the tackle.
These are high stakes. The psychology of the situation got to him, he is after all only human.
No doubt we will repeatedly hear this all week about the officials so Scott Brown should be afforded the same level of understanding.
What we as supporters of our club and as football as a whole need to do is make sure this does not turn into the Scott Brown show because this situation was not caused by him.
It was caused by Schalk and the officials.
Of all the dives we have seen, this is perhaps the worst.
This strikes me as one of those, “I know I am gonna get it so I can do it” moments.
Why would he even consider that he could get away with it?
Unless he had at least an inkling it would be given?
As conspiratorial as it sounds you have to ask yourself the question.
That brings me to the officials, and they are the real issue here.
This guy has a clear view, how can he say there was contact? What excuse can you make for what he says he’s seen?
None. Simply none.
Is it policy for oficials to make snap decisions when unsighted? Does the SFA grade them on Sixth Sense?
Under no concievable circumstances was that a penalty.
Why did the assistants not scream like madmen and say “WTF are you doing? What have you seen? You are making fools of us!”
Because he was. He did.
He’s heaped disgrace on the SFA and the game here.
We must ensure that these points are the points that people keep bringing up, not the Brown side issue, cos the press and the other teams will try and ensure that Brown is made the fall guy here, that the focus is on the SFA appeals process and not on the real issue.
We will of course get the paranoia label thrown at us again, we will also be accused of trying to pressure the officials for next week. The press has already found a Useful Idiot in Johan Mjallby; he’s said there’s “no conspiracy”, but he did at an SFA-William Hill event, and I find it impossible to take him seriously as he sat at the side of Neil Lennon, a guy who wouldn’t agree with those sentiments at all.
All of this is an effort to detract from the fact that some are determined not to allow us to win the treble and be invincible without a fight from every corner of Scottish football, legal or not.
Because we have been so good the decisions, which have been mentioned earlier by James, haven’t had the impact that some wanted.
Be assured though; they are dying to cost us these successes.
These events, coming this week, offers them a brilliant opportunity.
We have to make sure everyone knows we see it coming.
And we have to keep the focus where it belongs; not on Scott Brown, but on the most corrupt officials in Europe.
David Campbell is a blogger and Celtic fan who knows a put up job when he sees it.