Last week, a friend of this website, Auldheid of the Resolution 12 campaign, drew my attention to a piece that was penned a piece for the Sentinel Celts site laying out a brand-new project in which he’s playing a role; a shareholder resolution on refereeing standards.
The article on the site is tremendous and well worth paying attention to.
You can read the whole piece here.
Basically, they need 100 shareholders to commit and to sign up for it, and then the resolution can be submitted to the club. Beyond that, they’ve invited season ticket holders to get involved to add further weight to it, and that could be the bit that really changes the game here.
It seems especially important now, in the week of the Rodgers hearing.
This scheme has been promoted on ACSOM recently, where they also brought the brilliant Alan Morrison on to talk about the “pattern of assistance” you’ll doubtless have heard about.
I first listened to this evidence on one of Graham Speirs podcasts; as good as those shows are, their audience is limited because they are behind a paywall, although I believe that particular episode has been made available to anyone who signs up for Patreon.
But the ACSOM episode can be found just by Googling it, not that you’ll have to because you can go to it from this link right here and check it out.
Believe me when I say that it is as worth your time as everything you’ve heard about it is true.
Having heard Alan on this subject before, I put this off until this afternoon when I knew I would be able to fully focus on it, and I was sitting watching it when my phone started vibrating with the news that the Ibrox club had gotten their latest dodgy penalty kick.
How bad was it?
You can watch the reaction from Michael Stewart here; this will sum it up nicely, as does McIntyre’s effort to find some way to justify what was an outright shocker of a call.
And yet, it leaves me less than shocked.
Just disgusted that this continues to happen, but more to the point that it is permitted to keep on happening. As I posted earlier, Hibs even used their official Twitter feed to joke about it; it’s as if this is now just an accepted part of football in Scotland, like a match lasting 90 minutes (unless Ibrox needs a late goal.)
The Rodgers hearing – the fact of it, the timing of it – gave our club a shake, and we reacted aggressively by bringing in a top lawyer to represent the club, and I don’t think for one minute that we’re finished here yet.
Crawford Allan is gone; one of the most powerful things about Alan Morrison’s numbers is the clear line he draws between his appointment and some of these more ridiculous “anomalies.” It all seems to track right to his door.
Allan’s demise came in the midst of the Rodgers case; coincidence?
It would be a Hell of a one, would it not?
Regardless, it is not something we should be weeping into our beer about. The only issue we might have is that he’s there for the rest of the season and that could not have happened at a worse time; an unaccountable head of refs with a grudge.
We know what the stakes are here. We’ve got seven games left to play, two of them against the club from Ibrox. If we win tomorrow, we go back top but their team has a game in hand. We can’t afford a single slip, and the Hearts game proves that the officials are more than capable of throwing this race where they want it to go.
But I suspect that one of the messages we’ve sent behind the scenes is that we certainly won’t tolerate that. If an “honest mistake” cost us the league title then the financial consequences alone are potentially so severe that I don’t believe we could, or would, meekly accept that outcome.
This morning, I wrote about our big perception problem with Lawwell at the helm; one of the best ways to counter that would be for us to start getting the messaging right and the coming week would be a good one in which to put some of our concerns in the public domain. I just don’t know that Brendan and the players would welcome that distraction.
Still, if officiating costs us this league I do expect that there will have to be blood on the walls, simply because of the money that’s at stake and that’s a message I have no doubt that we will either have sent or will very soon be sending behind the scenes.
Nobody at Parkhead needed reminding about where the true threat lies.
The timing of the Rodgers case, as well as the mere fact of it, did that for us but nevertheless, we were handed another example of the “pattern of assistance” at Ibrox this afternoon with David Dickinson and Andrew Dallas on duty to make sure of it.
Winning tomorrow is crucial.
But beyond that, we need to start ramping off the pressure both on and off the pitch for the next two months, starting with sending that very clear message that an “honest mistake” will not just have consequences for Celtic.
For me, some of these officials aren’t lookin at an incident, no matter how soft, with anythin near an impartial mind. There’s individuals who are actually lookin at these incidents now, tae see if there’s a way tae GIVE an award or decision, that’ll favor that lot. Know how ‘far fetched’ that might sound tae some people, tho it’s what ahm suspectin.
Don’t apologise, you’re 100% right.
The fix has been in since the Tribute act hit the top tier.
It didn’t really impact us as we were so far ahead in terms of the talent within the squad and in the depth of the squad.
This Season thanks to Lawwell junior’s inept recruitment policy we didn’t replace the talent we lost from the first XI squad and were saddled with no marks that weren’t up to snuff when injuries began to pile up.
The MIBs and VARmen oan the Sky started taking advantage when we began shipping points. Not so Honest Mistakes are now the norm in every Tribute Act game to keep them in front while at the same time these corrupt officials are tying lead weights to everyone of our players as soon as they set foot on the park. If that lot win the League then Professional Football in Scotland is finished.
in bonnie scotland….nothing farfetched about that at all…..
It is not far fetched at all. It is exactly what thousands of Celtic fans and others have been “suspectin “ for years.
Yeah , watched the ACSOM clip, albeit over an hour long, but certainly it’s blatant that the SFA, Crawford Allen and MIB are corrupt, hopefully UEFA , FIFA or someone in authority has to see that for what it is , match fixing.
It’s scandalous that after the hearing for BR , we get the same referee yet sevco have not seen Collum since singling him out and they escape any action, AGAIN !
Crawford Allen must be removed immediately, why or when will someone in the media not respond or report on what could be a massive story about wholesale corruption in the SFA .
The ACSOM piece proves that this is an impossible coincidence.
Jim,
they won’t cover the story because this is the west of Scotland and most of the hacks are invested in the Tribute Act and want to see them back on top.
(They conveniently forget that all but for a period in the ‘90s / ‘00s the Cheating Years Glasgow has been Green & White since the ‘60s). The remaining hacks who don’t have a ‘dog in this fight’ submit to peer pressure or face the outright vitriol of the knuckle dragging brigade. That’s why they won’t touch it with a barge pole.
This is what has been artificially doppin this league all season,,, abundant mins at end of games when needed,stopping on 90mins when needed if they are struggling, the amount of free kicks in an around opposing box,, fluff pens,, but the lackeys bang on about sum rule book and this to justify why it should go 8n their favour and how it never finds in favour of opposition,,, then as martindale says well tav does wot tav does,
“Still if officiating costs us this league, I do expect that there will have to be blood on the walls,simply because of the money that’s at stake”
There can be all the blood of Ten thousand men, women and children or more on the wall (there won’t with The Celtic Board of course) but it won’t matter one little iota as Sevco will be away with the jackpot and spend it and more and rule the roost for years…
There is very little Celtic can say about what Sevco gain against other teams like against Hibernian today and I (and I’m sure every other Celtic fan) knew this was coming down the pipe to The Hi-Bees today…
What is coming our way tomorrow – We all know there’s gonna be something for sure…
And next Sunday it is the most sure and certain thing on the universe to happen –
And not that I buy them (The rags of The Scummy Scottish Football Media) but just watch Clement, Penalty Tav, plenty of their other divers and ex cheats get in there very very early all week to slag Robertson for September at Liebrox and Walsh and Collum for December in the two Glasgow Derby’s and pressurise whatever muppets Surname – Surname (cheers to whoever posted that brilliant wit) ! selects to cheat off the scale next Sunday !
17 penalties and there is still 8 games to go. There used to be 44 game seasons in Scotland but var has got them to a record after just 30 games. Wow
Why is there a photo of Dross at the beginning of this article?
Because the article is about cheating Tony…
And Dross is a cheat against whatever team is unlucky enough to be playing Celtic…
And Dross is a cheat against whoever is unlucky enough to have to pay income tax…
If 20 trophies doesn’t get you acting why should a mere 50M? Telling us how we’re going to do this and that just because we hire a top lawyer AT SEASON TICKET RENEWAL TIME is naive in the extreme. This board and Desmonds previous action is your clue not some token effort to throw the fans some crumbs to quieten them down. Wakey, wakey, how often do you fall for the same CON?
1) He’s a Tory Barsturd.
2) He’s a bent linesman.
3) He’s a Unionist flag shagging MP
4) He’s probably a MIB and or O.O. Member
5) and because he’s a whining, obnoxious, misogynist, toady.
Oh and he’s a bully of women.
Does that answer your question. Given sufficient time I could probably come up with a few more reasons to despise the Cant.
McIntyre interrupted Stewart and Dodds more often than Fiona Bruce does on an episode of Question Time.
Watching football since I was ten 56 years ago I honestly think that has got to have been the worst penalty decision I have seen, seems now they don’t care and in today’s case Ron Petrie in a position of power prefers to.keep his position rather than addressing the obvious problems we face in Scotland
Celtic should explore playing elsewhere, how much would scottish football lose if Celtic where not there, I know it will never happen but it makes my blood boil.
That link to ACSOM was absolutely mind blowing and, scary in equal measure.
A must watch for every other teams fans in Scotland not just celtic.
The resolution on referees is not one Celtic can vote against without justification at the AGM.
It presents Celtic with the opportunity to restore trust between now and the AGM by addressing the issue which will be easier if enough supporters make it clear the status quo is not acceptable.
This will provide Celtic with good reason as a PLC never mind a football club to bring about change by pointing out the negative impact on Celtic if nothing is done.
The ACSOM podcast also brought out the pattern of assistance affects other clubs, which has caused the SFSA, who represent supporters of all clubs, to comment.
There is a sea change at play here and it presents an opportunity to sail into a future where trust is restored
However that will depend on enough shareholders supporting the resolution which gives them a chance to have a say via the only route possible which is at an AGM.
If the required target of 100+ is reached then others can voice their support.
If the target is not reached the only conclusion can be improvement in referee quality is not that big an issue after all.
Here here brother, and nobody has done more on this than you. Nobody.
It’s very interesting. In fact to add to the narrative I am thinking of starting a new Type of Football Pool. All you need to do is fill in the actual time Rangers get their penalty each match. If on the rare occasion they don’t get one the prize is carried over to the next game.
Hibs season ticket holder .Every game against Rangers you are waiting for the honest mistakes you think there no point in going to the game
Terrible mate. There are other clubs who feel exactly the same.
The sooner our “leaders” get together and work on fixing this the better.