The SFA’s decision this afternoon to simultaneously investigate Steven Naismith’s neddish moment at the weekend and an incident involving Scott Brown that was so innocuous that it was barely mentioned in match reports, TV highlights packages or the after-match interviews, and which did not spark any response at the game itself … well it’s like a sick joke, isn’t it?
Operation Stop The Ten is now well and truly underway.
The media thinks Brown would miss Sevco’s visit to Celtic Park if he were banned; actually a two match ban – about the most he could get – wouldn’t result in that. It’d have to be three matches, but if you don’t think that’s there’s a little wishful thinking behind this sudden urge to have him brought up in front of the beaks you aren’t paying attention.
There were people who said in the aftermath of Saturday’s game that my venom towards Hearts was a consequence of anger at having lost the game.
Let me be blunt; if it hadn’t come at the end of a dreadful week that result would have been neither here nor there to me, appreciating as I do that the team selection was about the bigger picture.
When we played Hearts and lost heavily last season they were vastly better than we were on the day and were due the win. Likewise, when Hibs beat us to stop us from winning the title on their home patch. I appreciate good football when it’s played against us.
When we are trying to play football and the other side is trying to play Rollerball I will write that.
In a match so clearly characterised by the on-field violence of Craig Levein’s side it must have required imagination and a sick kind of brilliance to find an incident from one of Celtic’s players that over-rode a rash of them from men in maroon.
I want to applaud that in spite of myself; it really is quite something for them to have manufactured this charge.
Celtic has to defend Brown in a robust fashion.
They have to draw a line in the sand the way they have over at Ibrox, or we are weak and easy prey for the rest of this campaign. Say what you like about that bunch of unscrupulous sods over there, but they make life hard for the governing body however they can.
We ought to start doing the same because this isn’t going to end here.
This is just the start of it. We’ve got a season of this to come.