Today Celtic has done what some people didn’t expect. I had my doubts about it myself. I thought we’d wimp on releasing an official statement in defence of the club and the manager, but we have not. We’ve issued one that no only expresses our intention to appeal the decision to send off our winger Yang, but we’ve questioned the use of VAR.
Well done to the club for standing up here. There are people will say that our statement does not go far enough. It went as far as it had to. The real battle might be in front of us, and if we’re holding fire in anticipation of that I can’t say I disagree too strongly.
According to the media this afternoon, Brendan Rodgers is facing an SFA probe for his criticism of the officials in the aftermath of the game.
Everyone at Celtic should welcome that probe. They should welcome the opportunity to present a case. Our club might not do everything it can to seek reform but it has historically been very robust when it comes to defend our people from this stuff. This is an opportunity to go on the offensive. We need to rally the legal team for a start.
Because any SFA probe into us will open up a big can of worms. If they are fine with that then hey-ho, let’s go. But they better be sure they’re on solid ground.
Where was the sanction for the Ibrox club when they demanded that Collum get no further games against them? You could reel off a list of offences there.
Where was the sanction when previous bosses over there have been openly critical of officials?
Let’s put this plainly; if you want to go by the strict interpretation, Rodgers has breached the rules. He’s used the word incompetence. That’s one of the things managers are not allowed to do. But when you look at those decisions most people agree that incompetence is one of only two possible explanations for those calls. An entire industry is poring over the decisions and almost everyone agrees the penalty decision is farcical. Almost everyone thinks the red card decision is a joke.
Of the two possible explanations, incompetence is the least politically charged one, because the other is to say it’s down to corruption. When Ibrox has specifically alleged the second possibility and gotten away with it, it will be a disgrace if we can’t point out the obvious case for at least suggesting the first. That you aren’t “allowed” to question the professional skills of people who simply aren’t up to doing their job is an utter absurdity. It infantilises everyone in the game.
It would be shocking if they even tried to do this. The SFA Itself might not care, but the idea that managers can’t ask those questions when decisions as bad as this are being made in games is ridiculous, and not only must Celtic challenge it but most other managers and even the media should welcome it when we do.
I am very cynical when it comes to the Celtic board, but even I know we’re not just going to allow this when all Rodgers has done is express his shock at a couple of blatantly bad decisions. The club will not let him be sanctioned without putting up a fight, not when other clubs have gotten away with much, much worse. Letter of the law or not, this would be a step too far.
The SFA wants to wrap officials in cotton wool; we’ve long argued that this is one of the stupidest things they could do. For openers, if you want to improve standards and make officials earn their money you can’t have them be immune to getting scrutiny or stick. Any professional body knows that.
But this goes much further. This also creates exactly the conditions under which corruption can thrive, whether that’s match fixing or bias.
Our statement today is just the start, and I suspect we’re putting it out there as an early warning shot should they decide to haul Rodgers up for a chat. Yes, he’s technically in breach of the rules but we can all name other clubs which have done worse and gotten away with it.
Maybe the time has come to debate not only the performances of individual officials but the rules themselves, and that’s why we should welcome the chance to. This farce of protecting refs no matter how poor their performances are has gone on long enough.
What’s the best outcome for sevco?
The SFA diddies do indeed hit BR / CFC with disrepute charges?
Just to mess with our heads / cause a distraction which could drag on
well past season end?
We might be vindicated at the end of the process,
but the damage would have been done already?
Any reasonable person would think that the SFA would treat BR & CFC
the same way they treated sevco about its Collum complaints and demands.
…so the SFA could be unreasonable and raise charges?
So ridiculous that’s it’s perfectly believeable where the SFA is concerned?
Don’t know if it’s possible but if it is we should withdraw our money towards Var.
Yes we should and I’ve said it often enough. We pay more than any other club and it’s within our rights to stop paying.
The problem isn’t with VAR, but with the officials who are using it for their own agendas.
It’s now time for the club and supporters to make their anger known to the SFA at the incompetence, inconsistency and maybe even corruption amongst the refereeing fraternity. Some of the decisions I’ve seen by Scottish referees in the past 10 years are mind boggling, the evidence has been all over our TV screens. You can pause the pictures , run back and watch umteen times, slow down and watch the absolutely unbelievable mistakes or biased decisions, but still it goes on. Beaton especially, has given some really bad decisions against Celtic over this time and other teams suffer as well in the League when they play The Rangers. In fact I’m pretty sure he was the ref when the team he favoured yesterday suffered some terrible decisions late in the game, when playing at Ibrox earlier this season.
Fans in Scotland are forking out money for a tainted game, we are being treated as fools.
A biased Scottish Referee played his marked ace card yesterday, let us tell the SFA that he has played it on The Rangers behalf too early, and no more marked cards will be tolerated.
Let the Celtic players and supporters rally round and ram this cheating right up their royal blue arxes.
Every time I see that picture of Beaton celebrating a Celtic defeat in his local pub it makes me cringe. An absolute kip of a place with what looks like a gigantic Communion Medal on the pillar and cardboard on the floor. The Celtic’s Board’s continued silence on the ‘sanctioned cheating’ of referees has encouraged these bastards to think they can operate with impunity. Every time there is a ‘heave’ in the Celtic Boardroom the players ‘down tools’ and start losing games. Most of these guys formal education ended with reading the Beano and the Dandy. If they worked in the real world, say in Amazon or Google, and pulled a stunt like that, their feet wouldn’t touch the ground ’till they landed on the street. I’m seriously puzzled by the Celtic Board’s efforts, as I see it, to help Sevco get the £60 million Champions League money. A couple of years ago one blogger described Dermot Desmond as ‘a guy who would get into a knife-fight over a coin on the ground’. So why back off when £60 million is up for grabs? Perhaps there is a clue in the statement by Alex Salmond re: the demise of Glasgow Rangers all those years ago. He spoke of the “danger of social unrest in Scotland” if it were allowed happen. However wealthy Dermot Desmond is and however weird, wonderful and exotic his local Lodge is, he still has to toe the party line decided by his masters. The ‘powers that be’ have decided that Sevco must survive and flourish…. so be it. On a lighter note I recommend a book called Champagne Football, a classic account of the corruption in Irish Football. A brilliant story of all that’s wrong in the modern game.
If it is not incompetence, it must be cheating! Neither the red card nor the Hearts penalty were justified. I have the rules in front of me as I write this. It has been pointed out elsewhere on another site as well. VAR should only be used in the event of a clear and obvious error. That was not the case in either scenario.
To go further, I would suggest that Celtic now consider going to the law courts over this.
Yip – A great idea in theory indeed…
But with it being in Not so very Bonnie Scotland then it’d just be The Nimmo-Smith fiasco over again !
I do believe that we could be very well on the cusp of opening the proverbial can of worms. Which is good!!!
Regardless of the varying opinions from our fanbase, yesterday’s events, should prove to be seismic, if we really want to see change and a complete overhaul of refereeing and officiating in this country.
A lot of our fans want to have a go at our team’s lack of fight/bottle etc, and also blame the manager for yesterday’s defeat. For me, that’s the easiest thing to do, rather than focus on the ineptitude, incompetency and bias of two guys yesterday, that are ‘ supposed to know the laws of our game, and how they should be applied!!!’
VAR was brought in to ‘assist referees,on clear & obvious errors!’ It was not introduced, to allow fans with whistles, to influence games in a biased manner or work it, to their own favoured agenda!!!
We all know Beaton’s origins, his allegiance and how he performs. Forget the wailing about how he’s awarded decisions to Celtic, blah blah blah…if he can use his allegiance to benefit Ibrokes, he will, and he most certainly has on numerous occasions! He has done that, laughed at us and escaped any criticism or punishment. Whilst those at Ibrokes have continually harassed Collum and had him removed several times from officiating their games.
I’m fully aware of how poor Celtic have been this season, how our board has short changed our fans with lack of proper leadership and recruitment, and how we need more quality and consistency of performance.
We should have called out the dreadful standard of officiating when we were winning comfortably, to avoid scenarios like we are now witnessing. More dereliction of duty from our board.
However, it wasn’t done, and we have now, been most certainly done up, like the proverbial kipper!
The club’s statement should just be the start of complete change or a full investigation into what really goes on, in our refereeing circles ( of mistrust!!!)
Guys like Beaton and his fellow incompetent and biased cohorts, need to be chased out the door.
Nine games remaining, to retain our title !!!
I think its a certainty the SFA will double down and back their officials. The red will absolutely NOT be overturned. Not a chance.
Let the games begin! Incompetence or corruption, the Celtic Family know which one ii is. Cannot wait for the SFA to pursue this … they do not have a leg to stand on. Get the best lawyers out there, Celtic, and expose this for what it is. The Times they are a changing ..
Let’s hope Celtic go for the throat here.
What happened was match fixing. In such cases there is always someone who benefits and someone who loses.
The question is Cui Bono?
The benefit to Beaton and Robertson is at present unknown but there will be a financial aspect to this, not least of which is the huge potential gains for the Ibrox club if wins the league this season.
There may well be knock on financial rewards to those who have been instrumental in facilitating this outcome as well of course as the satisfaction of their favoured club progressing, particularly at the expense of their greatest competitors and chief rivals.
It stinks to high heaven and must not be allowed to succeed.
Let’s not forget this is a board of Tories nothing will change, Brendan will be hung out to dry blue pound is far too important.
We’re a captive audience so they only have to keep the blue pound onside.
Beaton is one slimy, slithering, sleekit bastard – but by fcuk he I still far from alone in the latest SFA cartel of dangerous cheats with whistles, flags and monitors…
I used to hate Bob Valentine way back when I was a teeny bopper 40 years ago and thought that he favoured Aberdeen –
But in comparison to today’s mob…
Jeez oh – Come back Bob… Absolutely all is forgiven !
R H Davidson from Airdrie around Jock steins time refereed 8 Old Firm games 5 Rangers wins and 3 draws. This Cheatin Beaton thing is nothing new.
Celtic ( plc ) need to get lawyers all over this .
You know all the compliant corrupt media will circle the wagons to protect the cheating in plain sight this is the corrupt land we live in no doubt some bigot politician will make a statement it is so predictable.
the league is lost and rogers will be paid off as a failure and reputation tarnished as a manager by Beaton , however i don’t think BR is finished on this refereeing cabal who have cost many managers their jobs over the years and we hope he won’t go quietly , Beatons buddies have come out and defended him and they saw fit not to do the same for collum , that alone tells the truth of the situation
I think whilst what the club statement has requested & intentions are we have to be careful on how this is handled.
If the club are allowed access to the audio & have discussions with the SFA we can not do what they did & release a statement to drive the narrative.
As much as there are massive issues within the SFA & refereeing if we go down the route there mob went then it will just end the same with everyone just looking at a bitter team making themselves look daft.
I don’t expect us to be a naive as they were in how they handled it but caution still has to be erred.
I
I am of an age when I remember my dad telling me about refs in Scotland his particular gripe was always about”. Tiny Wharton ” we have all seen the handshake with him and captain blood ( Grieg) let’s not kid ourselves we are going up against an organisation that runs police ‘ is also apparent in politics and through the whole of Scottish society.but it’s a fight the Celtic board must take on big Jocks words that we do it on the park have been well and truly eroded by the peepul it’s in all of our faces now and they know exactly what they are doing Celtic must take it to court if need be but I think it would have to be outside Scotland