Tonight, UEFA has “clarified” the position in relation to Juninho, the Midtjylland defender who played against us whilst his eligibility was, at the very least, highly questionable.
In an inquiry response to The Sun newspaper, they referred to Article 66 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code.
This is what they are basing their bizarre logic on; the idea that FIFA had to sign on off on a “global ban” before it was in effect, thereby legitimising his playing against us.
It sounds cut and dry, right?
I wonder how it would stand up if it was put to the test at CAS?
Look, our club will be looking into this. If there’s nothing to it, then fine, but its our responsibility to explore every available avenue no matter what some might think of it.
No, what pisses me off tonight is the headline the rag has chosen to slap on the story.
The almost gleeful tone of that is hard to take calmly.
Can you imagine the headline had this involved Ibrox?
Jesus, the media would have been all over this singing The Billy Boys. It was obvious that we were not going to get one iota of support from the press over this, and nothing makes it clearer than that.
Not only has The Sun gotten UEFA to “confirm” the eligibility of the player, but the they actually went to Midtjylland and got their side of the story on the record as well.
Some will say that’s just the paper doing its job; but come on, what exactly do they expect the Danish club to say? “Oh well, in truth, we probably shouldn’t have done this and so it’s a fair cop?”
God almighty, you would think they were the home side and our media was standing up for a domestic club. But of course, they aren’t standing on the side of Celtic at all and they never would have, no matter how this shook out.
As I said this morning, the player is under a ban. FIFA should have come to this decision well in advance of the Champions League game kicking off.
When did they become aware of this?
When was this issue raised with them and who raised it?
It smells funny.
It smells as if someone has blundered and has used the FIFA process to cover their own backside.
Celtic cannot simply accept this nonsensical verdict, we have to proceed on the basis that we might have a case, even if it’s not properly examined before our fate in the Europa League is decided. If this ends up at CAS midway through the season, so be it.
But we’ll do it essentially alone, without friends or allies, and we know this.
Too many of the outlets have paid Ibrox the £25,000 already and become “media partners”.
We should not look to any of them for support or encouragement, no matter what we do.