This week, officials are supposed to meet with the heads of the governing body to discuss Ibrox’s blatant attempt at referee intimidation. That meeting cannot pass without the SFA hitting the Ibrox club with a series of charges. Anything else and refs are fully entitled to be furious. So should the rest of Scottish football, starting with Celtic.
We’ve seen some truly backwards and bonkers stuff from the club across the city over the last couple of years, but nothing compares to what they did in the aftermath of our win at Celtic Park.
The attempt to force Willie Collum to quit was scandalous. Had the club done this behind the scenes that would have been bad enough especially as most people are fully aware of why they don’t like him. Had they announced it themselves, that would have been worse. But to give it to a fan media outlet looked an awful lot like whipping up the mob.
Officials have seen it for precisely that. They aren’t stupid. They know what it was that Ibrox tried to do here and they know that although Collum is a special case that if this is allowed to go unpunished then all bets are off and any club unhappy with a decision can essentially try the same thing. The SFA might dismiss the idea that clubs can pick and choose the officials they get, but if Ibrox is allowed to do something as blatant as this it’s license for clubs to do the same.
Everyone knows what this was. Nobody is stupid. The refereeing fraternity definitely knows what this was, and Collum either gets their full support or he will walk and if I were him, I’d be considering legal action against the SFA for constructive dismissal. What else is it if they violate their duty of care to him by not making sure that the Ibrox club is punished?
They have to be. We’ve said this countless times before and nothing has been done, but in this case, they are bang to rights and even their allies are running for cover. They have distorted the truth about the meetings, they’ve attempted to suggest that the governing body itself is covering something up and they’ve painting a bullseye on Collum’s back.
They cannot get away with that, or other clubs are entitled to ask why they’ve have officials and players and managers being sanctioned simply for questioning decisions … this was not questioning a decision but alleging that some sort of wrongdoing had occurred.
Furthermore, every club in the top flight knows that it might, at some point, come up against the Ibrox club whilst Collum has the whistle. What are they supposed to make of it if he gives a contentious decision against them? Can they believe that he would have given it the other way if the SFA effectively hangs him out to dry here?
This game will just have to live with Ibrox’s lack of faith in this guy, but you cannot allow other clubs to suffer a similar loss of faith because the SFA is too scared to stand by their man in an appropriate manner.
These are tactics we cannot have clubs adopting, it’s as simple as that, and the only way to make sure that they don’t is to impose meaningful sanctions on the club which has attempted to. And it goes beyond Collum; there’s no telling what this will do to refs as a whole if their club is allowed to do this and get away with it. Who will want to give a decision against Ibrox in the future, knowing the SFA won’t have your back if they turn the guns on you?
This shouldn’t even be a debate, and it shouldn’t take a blog to say it. If the SFA does not protect its refs by sanctioning Ibrox the game here – all of it – will pay a high price for that failure both moral and otherwise.
Under the ‘leadership’ of Ian Maxwell,
it wouldn’t be surprising – at all – if there is a strongly worded
SFA statement issued from Hampden about future conduct:
but, no action will be taken against sevco.
And Collum will quit.
[And both PL and Nicholson will be unavailable for comment.]
🙁
If the comment from PL and Nicholson isn’t to Sevco’s benefit then rest assured The Scottish Football Media won’t ask them the slightest question on the matter whatsoever !
Why bother asking this pair of jackasses anyway ?
No doubt they would come up with some startlingly witty response for the assorted hyenas.
Either that or they will say they are keeping their response for the Celtic AGM so they can slither off the hook of another loaded question !
I’m a Celtic season ticket holder living in England. Originally from Glasgow. If the SFA dont back the referee tjen football is done in Scotland. Collum isnt a good referee but he isnt biased. How dare the ibrox mob shout about referees? Everyone but everyone knows how it works in ” oor wee country” They intimidate everyone with their sad pathetic statements which their ignorant ( stupid) fans jump on. Even my hun mates are embarrassed by it. If every team shouts for “certain” refs to be banned fron their games then we are done. Referees are scared of the ibrox club and their marauding brainless fans. We all need to stand together on this for Footballs sake
The fact that it has got this far, together with other corrupt actions in the past shows that the SFA are totally incompetent and not fit for purpose. This is a bunch of old has-beens looking after their own lifestyles. The Ibrox club is a bully and perceives itself as being outwith the normal rules. There is one way to treat a bully and this involves discipline and bravery, something that the SFA is incapable of.
Why the other clubs don’t stand together to prevent this bullying escapes me? This is the second way to tackle a bully. If both the SFA and the other clubs had any guts and sense they would tackle this head on. Mr Collum deserves to be backed to the hilt here.
The sfa will do sweet f… All same as they did when they were liquidated secret five way agreement retained all trophies allowed a convicted criminal to be director of sevco ect ect so don’t hold your breath about backing a. Referee
If Sevco wanted people of the ilk of Brady and Hindlay on their board then rest assured that The SFA would wriggle some rule up to pass them as fit and proper persons…
That’s what every other member club is up against in not so Bonnie Scotland –
More like the ilk of Burke and Hare who were well accomplished of digging entities out of graves
The decision that Rangers have been allowed to keep their titles lies at Celtics door.
As a result of Celtic making no challenge to these titles I no longer have my 3 season books.
If you need anymore proof the Celtic don’t care about the fans other than their money.
£70 million in the bank
Would I be surprised if Celtic were being fattened up to be sold….not at all, but with this kind of money in the bank where is the pressure to improve and perform better ???
There’s none !!?
I hope to Christ you are right about us getting sold because l cannot envisage ANY alternative that could be worse than the mob of self rewarding bastards we have at the moment !!
Sorry, James, that’s wishful thinking. Cast your mind back to the Cinch scandal. Sevco got off scot free. If they can jeopardise a deal like that then it’s open season on refs rules and regs.
For all Sevco have tried to hang Collum out to dry, I bet Beaton, Walsh and co will just carry on as normal aiding and abetting their fav club rather than their colleague.
They weren’t sanctioned for the dossier fiasco which was a direct attack on the SFA and absolutely brought the game into disrepute. So I have absolutely no doubt that it will be business as usual when the games restart. And what sanctions can they give them? A fine? No chance, the SFA’s already sweating about the Ibrox financials. Points deduction? Not a chance when the leagues as tight as it is. The SFA have released a strongly worded email. That’s the only ‘sanction’ coming the way of the rangers.
If we think the sfa will do anything to the bigots regarding there referee nothing will happen Celtic won’t do anything they need the bigots to keep things interesting has been going on like this for decades both clubs take the fans for granted and keep up this pretence of bitter rivals. It’s just about money if no the rangers 2012″ or Celtic the spl would be even poorer and at present is not that great .
‘Move on please, nothing to see here. ‘
That will be the result of SFA v the PEEPUL! 2 cheeks of the same arse!
The elephant in the room for me is that the refs are biased in favour of Sevco. This tactic is just is just muddying the waters, a transparent attempt to suggest that bias is across the board. It is not.
74 matches without conceding a penalty, a world matching record; following on from a 44 match run.
On another matter, Sevco don’t need biased referees while Lawwell is back on deck. His usual approach to players recruitment of buy cheap, pay twice whilst funding Sevco through the donation of Champions League money is now in full swing.
He’s working against the customer. His job is the balance sheet; not doing what the supporters pay for which is improving the team. Lawwell and Son are just there to divert the flack from the majority shareholder.
They 100% brought the game into disrepute. Hammer the bastards.
And is anything being done about the Balogoon spitting incident? Nah. Didn’t think so.
The silence is deafening on the spitting incedent not a mention by the media or the SFA. What a joke!
The tribute act should not even exist, that’s the real issue here. Failure to address this enables all of this shite. Shut them down and let Scotland join the modern world.
If the SFA who are there to represent all of Scottish Football do not publicly hammer the Ibrox club then the game in Scotland is finished.
This is an attempt by one club to intimidate every referee in Scotland and destroy the career of one in particular. Every other club in Scotland knows that the Ibrox club have got absolutely no grounds of complaint when it comes to refereeing decisions spread over a season, one penalty conceded in 74 games says it all.
Supporters of every other club in Scotland, who pay a lot of their hard earned money to watch Scottish football will be dismayed if this disgraceful behaviour is not punished severely.