Let’s Not Kid Ourselves About Why Clancy And Collum Are Under Ibrox’s Spotlight.

I think Willie Collum is one of the worst referees in Scotland. Period.

Some of his calls over the years have been downright shocking. He should never get a Celtic game again. I would have some of his decisions under a microscope and compare them to suspicious betting patterns.

I have always been very clear that I consider refereeing in Scottish football to be corrupt to its core; I am less concerned with whether it is bias or cheating for other reasons.

I think Kevin Clancy is a terrible official.

I would look into some of his decisions as well. He is basically incompetent and one of those guys who would never make the Grade One list in a country which actually had high standards and enforced them.

But that’s not why Ibrox’s fans are fuming with them both.

It is not why these are the only two referees Ibrox has expressed “concern” about in an official capacity these last few years. There is a bigger reason why that’s the case.

Clancy went to a Catholic school. Collum teaches in one.

I make no bones about that. I make no bones about it because the Ibrox fan-sites and the swamps of their forums make no bones about it. They are quite open that they don’t want their matches to be refereed by these “fenians.”

I am quite clear that I don’t want ours refereed by cheats.

The reason there will never be reform of refereeing in Scotland is not that Celtic or our fans oppose it; we are amongst the most vocal supporters of that reform.

It’s that Ibrox’s version of it, run by their lunatic fringe, would have an exclusion criteria longer than the Chinese telephone book.

Any ref who’d ever worn green or set foot in a chapel would be off the list. Foreign refs? Forget it. Imagine refs from Portugal, Italy or Spain doing one of their games?

Christ, you would hear the squealing in Morocco.

Out of all the refs in Scotland, why do you think Ibrox has only complained about these particular two? This is not the first time their club has stuck in an official complaint about Collum. Clancy was famously the subject of an “eight-point list” of complaints after a game with Aberdeen a year or so back. The SFA didn’t stand by their man either.

This is not a coincidence. Remember who drives the train over there. Remember the calibre of people we are talking about. Remember their past record.

These same loony board members have taken issue with several members of the SPFL and SFA committees for perceived “pro Celtic” leanings … they are rabid paranoids who see the Unseen Fenian Hand everywhere, and in everything.

This is merely the latest front in their undeclared war against the conspiracy theory in their own minds. Their stance here appears profoundly, nakedly, anti-Catholic and if you doubt that look at their forums.

If you doubt that their forums are a barometer for the mood inside the club you’ve not been paying attention these past few years.

What do you think “official media partners” means?