Once Again, Celtic Wins And Scottish Football Starts Squealing About Decisions.

And here we are … again.

it’s with a sense of amazement, even bewilderment, that I am back here, writing another one of these. How many times have I written this article this season, or an article like it? How many times in the aftermath of a narrow Celtic victory has the opposition manager squealed about decisions and the whole of the press corps wants to have an inquest?

I’ll tell you how pissed off with this nonsense I am.

I said last night watching the furore after we’d scored the third that I hoped it wasn’t tight, that I hoped it was blatant, that I hoped the decision to allow it was a shocker because I knew that the chorus of whingeing would be heard from every part of the media. As it turns out, the decision was tight and the officials actually got it spot on.

With their typical dexterity, the hacks moved on to the penalty Aberdeen “should” have had … I thought the ref got that one right as well. But still, the chorus of frustration and anger is loud on days like today and especially this season.

Notice that at times like these nobody bothers to waste your time with the hoary old argument that these things “even themselves out”.

Notice too that amidst the general noise about the decisions Aberdeen should have got that no-one wants to talk about Jota’s perfectly good goal which should have stood, or Ibrox’s amazing ability to get penalties and avoid conceding them in the same game, which Shaun Maloney is making a bit of noise about.

It’s only decisions in our favour which drive our media to this, that and opposition managers who know they have to face the wrath of their own fans and who could, therefore, do with a little deflection tactics, and Stephen Glass badly needs one of them of course.

As I have said in these pieces before, we want the debate on refereeing. I’ll be writing more on the subject later on today, so if it’s suddenly intolerable that Scottish officials keep making mistakes then let’s have the conversation, and decide what can be done.

If the implication is bias – and I expect Glass to be hauled in front of the beaks for his comments last night although I don’t think he should be – then let’s have refs declare their allegiances in a manner which prevents any taint.

Years of fan discussions on this – and I don’t doubt a few within football – have told us how to fix these things … if it continues I’ve got to believe it’s because some prefer it that way.