Celtic Only Wants Basic Fairness From Officials And VAR. Because Then We Win.

I know all of us are keen for the return of football, and that we are all up for it. I know too that all of us enjoyed the first part of the season immensely, although there were one or two shaky moments along the way.

I know too what concerns us about coming back.

The Mooch and his club are a minor consideration.

Only two things have ever been able to stop Celtic; some act of internal sabotage or stupidity and interference from outside … namely the governing bodies and their endless ability to mess with us.

Of particular concern, of course, is VAR and this hasn’t been lessened by the news today that Kevin Clancy will be in charge of the technology for the Aberdeen game. Worse is to come; most of us don’t even want to think about who might get the nod for Ibrox.

This is our biggest worry. Indeed, some might say that it’s our only worry.

We all believe that we’ll beat Aberdeen, that if the playing field is level that we’re good enough to win not only against them but against anyone else put in front of us.

But the nagging doubt is always how far unscrupulous individuals might go if they think they can get away with it. Every time the ball goes into the box you know that there is going to be scrutiny of every move one of our players makes. Every time an opposition player goes down they are going to rush to the cameras to see what they can find.

They are openly boasting about it. At a time when our club has been on the wrong end of half a dozen horrible decisions you have Ian Maxwell boasting that the system is working “as intended”, which I know is what a lot of us are afraid of.

How can it be that a system which was brought in to ensure fairness is already being wielded against us like a weapon? Teething troubles you expect … but one club which gets every major call given against them?

When does it start to smell bad even to those who have spent years calling us conspiracy theorists and paranoids?

The job of our higher-ups is to make sure that the governing bodies are on notice that we’re not going to accept being cheated. We need to keep the pressure on, not only right now but far into the future.

Inexplicable decisions used to be waived away. That is much harder to do now, and that’s where the technology does give us something to work with.

Officials might continue making these disgraceful calls, but we’re not going to let them get away with it any longer. We’re not going to allow them to duck questions and avoid scrutiny. There is no excuse for some of the more scandalous decisions … and from now on our club has to make the officials sweat every time they think of giving one.

Basic fairness; that’s all we want. A level playing field.

Because then we win.