Desperation And Hypocrisy In The Air As Celtic’s Rivals Blame Officials For Their Parkhead Defeat.

There is only one thing more satisfying than the reek of desperation at Ibrox and that is the reek of hypocrisy from that place. Both are wafting through central Scotland today in the aftermath of the game yesterday, and it stinks but at the same time it does smell fine.

I wrote earlier about the media and its ability to spin fiction over yesterday, and the imaginative suggestion that because they weren’t trounced that this is further proof that they have “closed the gap.”

But it’s not half as mad as the nonsense coming out of Ibrox.

They have told the media they will be writing to the SFA and “demanding” answers as to why the Morelos “goal” wasn’t given.

But isn’t that clear enough? The ref thought he fouled Johnson and he went and looked at it on VAR and came back with the same view. So there’s their answer right there and I don’t know what other one they expect to get.

I wrote in August of last year about Ibrox’s obsession with two refs; Willie Collum was one of them and Kevin Clancy was the other.

Why are they so suspicious of these two men?

Other officials have given decisions against Ibrox – not many decisions but they exist. So what’s the issue?

Why are these two single out? And it’s fairly easy to understand.

This will not be the first time Clancy has been the subject of a complaint from their club.

Collum has been the victim of their whinging more than once. Why?

They dislike Collum because he’s a Catholic.

They dislike Clancy because he went to a Catholic school.

There is an undisguised sectarianism at the heart of their attitude towards these guys, and I do believe that there’s a clear undercurrent of it in their decision to “complain” against Clancy again.

I hope they are at least honest enough to say what it is that really bothers them here.

But Kevin Clancy isn’t the reason they lost. We had the ball in the net four times in that 90 minutes.

McGregor kept the score-line respectable.

The Mooch can kid himself that they “deserved something” all he likes, and he knows that a lot of their fans are a willing audience for it … but the longer they are looking for excuses the better.

It means they aren’t dealing with the actual problems they have.

So yes, I like the reek of desperation and deflection.

But more than that it’s the sweet stink of hypocrisy I like best.

For the whole of this season The Mooch has smirked his way through interviews and press conferences praising VAR and praising referees, and we all knew full well that this attitude would only be sustained until something big went against them.

And here we are today with the screaming and moon-howling at full volume.

Here we are today with them demanding answers and casting doubts on the integrity of officials, and the hacks who for ages have been telling us to sit down and shut up are along for the ride.

You could not mark their necks with a blow torch.

For the record, I think Clancy is a dreadful referee and I’ve said that many times. I think Collum is like a bad joke which just won’t quit. But we are consistent in saying this and favouring reform.

What kind of reform would you get from Ibrox right now?

Refs have to declare their religious affiliations?

What a banana republic they would make this game into.

A bit like their own desperate, demented, hypocritical club.