Celtic are tonight furious over the club’s treatment at the hands of the SPFL, and in particular by the way the decision was reached. Not only was Celtic’s request for a simple ballot turned down, but Peter Lawwell was actually told he could not be present for the discussion or the subsequent vote. Celtic has described this as “irrational and discriminatory.”
I have criticised the club tonight for their continued support for Neil Doncaster; I trust that support is now at an end. Others will have to answer for why they believed Celtic, one of the four clubs who this decision was meant to “satisfy”, were not even allowed to participate in the discussion. This is simply unacceptable.
Celtic fans should be gravely concerned by this development.
I have never heard of any instance where a representative on the SPFL board was denied his or her seat at a meeting. Even Rangers was allowed a vote on the decision to put Sevco into the SPL back in 2012. This has gone from being a farce to being a scandal.
Celtic’s statement radiates anger. That our club has responded so vocally, and publicly, should let everyone know exactly how we feel about this.
The problem is not the decision itself – on balance, Celtic playing at Murrayfield is not in and of itself a bad call and I wholly understand why Scottish Rugby would not wish to be anywhere near the other tie – it is the way this has been done, and our club feels that it has been handled in a fashion that is absolutely unacceptable.
I repeat this over and over again; we are one club, with one vote. This is the closest others in Scottish football have come in a long, long time to challenging the way things are done. As usual, though, it was not done for the good of the game but out of self interest, and the way they have excluded a representative from our club from that process is diabolical and speaks to the inherent corruption at the heart of decision making in this game.
Be under no illusions that this is done at the connivance of and for the benefit of others.
Some clubs are allowed to stamp their feet and make demands, and they get their way.
Others are allowed to bully, intimidate, harass and threaten directors and administrators without consequence.
Celtic makes a simple request and you can see the result.
No wonder we do not trust those who run the game.
Celtic fans have a choice to make about how long we continue to fund this charade.
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