“It’s not a good look, is it?” That was not this blog, nor another Celtic fan site, commenting on Ibrox’s latest game-saving penalty decision yesterday. It was the manager of Aberdeen. For once, a manager on the other end of one of those decisions had acted accordingly and refused to mince his words or to make out that the “statistical anomalies” aren’t now towering over the game like Everest. Outside of Celtic, I didn’t think anybody cared.
Late last week, after the Celtic AGM, a lot of us were frustrated about the Celtic board once again laughing and cracking jokes about the scandalous state of Scottish officiating. These people aren’t blind and they are in charge of a multi-million pound business, so they know that this is neither normal nor right. They will have spotted the pattern.
Every club which comes up against Ibrox knows Warren Buffet’s metaphorical cop is on their tail, watching for anything that justifies a negative call. Celtic knows that cop is always right behind us, keeping a watchful eye. In all the time that VAR has been in operation, every club in the country has suffered from penalty calls which can only be spotted with instant replay and a very strict interpretation of the rules. Only one club is an exception.
How many penalties is that since Clement became manager over there? He’s got four extra points on the back of the late ones; no wonder he was singing the praises of VAR after the game today. He could be at Ibrox for years without changing that tune. It works for some clubs. Theirs being the main one. It will never work on behalf of the rest of us.
After the Hearts game, I said that I’d rarely seen a jersey pull penalised by a penalty kick. We got one for that yesterday; I was flabbergasted. In the aftermath of the game, the Motherwell manager said a very strange thing; he said he attended an SFA seminar where he was actually told that those weren’t always penalties. That was the basis of his complaint yesterday.
Barry Robson said exactly the same thing today. Exactly the same thing. So that seminar took place. There is no doubt that they were told that, and it comes as no surprise to those of us who said we honestly couldn’t remember the last time they saw a penalty awarded in those circumstances. We’ve all seen shirt pulling in the box without it happening; Robson said he saw an incident involving Goldson right after the penalty where it went unanswered.
The only reason why you’d put a cop on someone tail for 500 miles is if you want to catch that person out and you know that given enough time on the road you will. That’s how VAR works here. In the same way not every 50/50 where you don’t win the ball is a red card, not every handball nor jersey pull is a penalty; two managers have confirmed that this very weekend … but every one of those against Ibrox will be given as a penalty and we know it.
Because that’s what the cop is there for. To penalise every infringement.
And its not even the number they get which is the giveaway, its that ever growing number of games that passes where the interpretation in their favour is grossly different to how the rulebook is wielded like a broadsword against anyone they play.
It took a long time for Walsh to give that yesterday. A long time. I can easily imagine him standing there telling the VAR room “I’ve made the decision, this is going to look suspect if we award this now” only for someone on the other end to remind him that the Ibrox club is a goal down, with a minute to go, and Celtic are about to extend their lead after dropping points and so looking stupid or even bent is a lesser consideration.
As I said yesterday, nobody at the SFA is all that bothered how ridiculous or corrupt they look; these people have passed the shame threshold, they will give these decisions every week as long as Ibrox needs a hand, and they will not worry about looking bad.
At the end of the day, who is going to hold them to account? The media? That’s hilarious. If not the clubs then nobody, and it was good to see Barry Robson venting his anger yesterday and as he said, he held a lot back because he knows the consequences of doing otherwise. The consequences are part of the problem; this protective shield around officials is there explicitly to prevent people like Robson, on the end of these decisions, from even stating the obvious.
And it is now obvious, and embarrassingly so. The more managers start speaking out about it in clear, unequivocal terms the better. These people won’t be shamed … but they don’t like proper scrutiny either and if the clubs start saying enough is enough, and if managers start calling this crap out, then the media has no choice but to cover it and the pressure is on.
Robson was right yesterday. It’s not a good look. In fact it’s dreadful, and something’s got to give.
Until a ‘suit ‘ from Celtic FC or another club goes completely mainstream public and calls out the disgraceful fact that there are apparently 2 sets of rules in Scottish football – the Rangers rules and another for the rest – , then we will be having this outcry every single Monday morning into the next millennium and beyond . Wise cracks and funnies will not cover it any more !
We are NEVER going to win this argument whilst it’s based on subjective and anecdotal evidence.
The facts are clear. We’ve had more penalties than them this season and we’ve conceded the same number. ZERO.
There is no point moanining until we can articulate our gripes in a fashion that provides clear patterns of behaviour that demonstrate a bias towards that lot.
Until then, all you are going to hear from “unbiased” outlets is that the pens they are getting are all penalties going by the letter of the law, VAR is making the right calls and oh …. by the way, Celtic have actually had more penalties than them this season so what’s your problem?
I seen one of The Rangers players do the exact same thing in their box and not a mention of it on sky why ?
Probably because there must be a helluva lot more or them than us that subscribe to Sky John…
That Sky don’t investigate their losses is not really to their advantage as we found out when Rangers died (c.2012) –
That Sky don’t investigate Cheats with whistles, flags and monitors is VERY MUCH to their advantage and is why it’ll never happen…
They certainly seem to wield some bloody power in this corrupt and rancid football country for a football club that’s only 11 years and 121 days old as of today…
Never let them forget their age – It’s great fun being truthful to The Sevco Huns (Mark II) !
Ye run the risk if ye pull a Jersey in the area, ah agree with that. Tho yesterday, the fact that walsh clearly never even took intae consideration, that the tug was absolutely minimal, was’nt nearly enough for the player tae go down and goldston hit the ground after he let go, is a disgraceful farce. Tho as soon as it went tae a var check, ye were just thinkin ‘here it comes’ ! Ah dont think Barry Robson’s the only other manager either, who’s noticin the monotonous regularity that this shit is happenin.
I hope we score the penalty.
It’s the clubs that are at fault. They should be saying to whoever is responsible “Enough is Enough!!”
If Aberdeen miss out on a place in Europe or in the top six this season by a point, this decision can be pointed at.
Like with the old club, the new club is costing other teams money and the other clubs just stand around doing nothing.
Yesterday’s ref didn’t apply the laws on more than one occasion to benefit of Rangers 2.
Can UEFA not get involved in this it was funny before but now it’s downright cheating by the officials who are behind var
For every 1 Robson or 1 fan saying about what(seems) to be going on the broadcasters,, radio,, media outlets and of coarse the hand picked pundits are ten fold ridiculing who ever puts their head above the parapit it’s not being allowed to take hold as a narrative, it’s stinks to high heaven and all the while they are picking up points
Clyde Superscoreboard might be interesting tonight then once again regarding refereeing…
Two weeks ago Halliday defended the thug that attacked Kyogo but some other actually quite intelligent guy called Roger something or other got stuck into them about how lenient they were on The Aberdeen thug –
That Celtic got TWO penalties in the one match has probably got these Media peepil outta jail and off the hook this time regarding The Sevco penalty…
Although they’d have found a way to circumnavigate it anyway no doubt !
The celtic board are above embarrasing with their silence on these matters. I honestly believe they are happy as Larry with var as it keeps our biggest challenger in the game (business). I cant put into words how I feel about this crap. Stopped going ages ago and I dont really feel llike going back anytime soon. In my case I have watched over 50 years of this garbage.
The solution is simple, if there is cause to speak out forcefully and call a spade a spade by the managers over the obvious bias then they must all do so and their boards all to a man prepared to pay any fine imposed by the SFA.
EVERY CLUB EVERY WEEK .
I don’t know if your comments regarding a conversation between Nick Walsh and VAR were as blatant as that. However, at the time we didn’t know what Barry Robson was saying to him after the final whistle but looking back on it.If that’s what Robson said and we now know that he did, the look on Walsh’s face said it all because he didn’t know where to look. Robson challenged his decision and had he been anything other than spot on, Robson would have been booked or sent off and he got nither. This scenario regards to Rangers receiving special treatment is nothing short of corrupt. The only way to resolve this is take official’s in from the other side of the border.
@ MC. Totally agree, thats the only way we’re goin tae get some sort of REAL impartiality, is tae bring outside officials, tho it ain’t goin tae happen. That would be the sfa admittin that they don’t trust our own officials tae be non-biased and there’s nae chance they’re gonnae go down that road. Even tho the examples and incidents are pilin up and starin them in the face.
I don’t tend to do stats within football as can be to misleading imo.
Yet some stats can’t be ignored either, especially when they continue to make a total farce out of the overall Scottish game, where only 1 club benefits from blatant cheating?
We are currently at a stage where the scum actually play for these decisions, backed up by the VAR and all of the scum cheerleaders within the Scottish media?
So the real question is just how much involvement has pepe le poo had since his arrival?
Aren’t these now become set plays upon a cheating process, that is backed from all within the scum camp?
We have seen plenty of players labelled as cheats in the past, with trying to con penalties, but can’t recall a whole team at it, to this level ever before?
If ourselves ever as a team, reduced ourselves to such a level, I personally would be calling for the head of a manager, for endorsing such an embarrassing manner of play into the team?
Yet this won’t happen for the scum, as its totally expected and even praised and defended by all of the scum cheerleaders?
The SFA should be held to account for the farce, but continue to get the free ride due to the success of the national team?
Only find it tolerable, which isn’t easy either, because we continue with the success even when the blatant cheating and corruption within the Scottish game, continues and actually grows?
So is it just a coincidence that the farce has grown since the introduction of pepe le poo into the Scottish game?
I think not
Unfortunately, pulling an opponents shirt is a foul and if it’s in the box, it’s a penalty. My concern is that in the Hearts game and the Aberdeen game, it’s debatable whether the defenders were fouled (blocked) just prior to the shirt pull. The VAR officials must have seen that if they saw the shirt pulls. Another point to consider, is why would two premier league class professional footballers do something as silly as shirt pulling right at the end of a game that was effectively won until that point? Just find that a bit strange.
If Celtic stop contributing towards var then these corrupt servo loving bastards can’t officiate in and European games,I know it doesn’t help our cause much but at least it will stop these cheating sick masons from earning more cash
The cheating around refereeing in Scotland to benefit the original Rangers and its illegitimate off spring has gone on since my grandfathers day, and I was born during the 2nd WW, that’s a long time.
Through the years I thought TV pictures will surely put a stop to this, then coloured TV must make the cheating too obvious, then slow motion and pausing, still it went on, Now VAR surely must force them into making fair decisions. NOPE! it has only given them two chances to give “The Rangers” a penalty.
When we were awarded two clearcut penalties on Saturday, it was odds on they would get a penalty at Pittodrie the next day, especially with 4 penalties Dallas on VAR duty.
The biggest issue with VAR is the referee in his wee dark room, miles from the action can decide what to flag up in the penalty box and what to ignore.That situation is an open invitation to cheat if you’re that way inclined, and by god there is a number of referees in Scotland with loyalty to the Ibrox team that way inclined.
How do we put a stop to it? I really don’t know. Surely with the money at stake in football these days our board should be doing more, not only from a fair competitive sporting angle but also from a fair competitive business angle.
It’s down to club chairmen Celtic included to say enough is enough but that won’t happen with the gutless wonders at our club and most of the other chairmen imo are of the funny handshake brigade so the brother will stick together and nothing will happen. We know uefa are no better than the SFA, but surely they should be looking into the SFA and how corrupt the SFA are and being run for the benefit of 1 team
This is for celtic and if other teams would do the same then so be it All celtic players should stop playing or walk off the pitch when completely obviously Bias decisions are given against them yes there will be fines for this action but it would make global headlines which the sfa and all it’s corrupt members would struggle to explain why these decisions always favour Rangers Drastic action I know but it’s the only way because the celtic owner Mr Desmond and his munching board and management are happy with 60,000 season ticket holders money year on year without standing up for the team NOT walk on BUT walk off.