For weeks now, the media has accused Brendan Rodgers of trying to instil a “siege mentality” at Celtic Park, and for weeks now we’ve been countering that claim with the truth that you don’t have to create something that exists already.
You don’t have to artificially invent something that’s real. What else do you have but a siege mentality when you’re actually under siege?
Two weeks ago, if someone had told us that we would lose at Tynecastle, Celtic fans would have been outraged at the team and at the club itself and ready for all-out revolt. At the start of the weekend, if someone told us that the Ibrox club would lose at home and that we would not be able to capitalise on it, I don’t think the mood would have been much better.
But today the mood amongst Celtic fans is grimly determined and angry, because we know what we watched at the weekend and it was nothing to do with the players not being up to the job.
What we witnessed were two of the worst refereeing decisions in years, and they had a definite impact on the match and on the result. This wasn’t the result of a bad display, at least not on the part of the Celtic players, and recognising that has kept us focussed.
The news that the SFA are considering disciplining Rodgers further reinforces the view that we are held to a different standard than certain other clubs. How can anyone doubt it after what the side across the city has done, and gotten away with, over the last couple of years?
And they are going after Rodgers for essentially saying what half the media has been saying, the half that cares about standards and isn’t just sniggering from the sidelines?
There are some – like Barry Ferguson and Souness, about whom I’ll write more later – who want you to think that it was a great weekend for the Ibrox club.
Forget about them for now. We would be top of the league had it not been for that stinking officiating, and although there will be concerns that we’ve not seen the last of the Honest Mistakes for the season that knowledge will keep morale high until the weekend and beyond.
All that stuff will be important as we head into the next few weeks. The fans the team and the manager are still united despite the best efforts of the media and the incompetence of our own board of directors, who haven’t been forgotten in all this.
If we win this league, the media and our external enemies will get theirs. The board … well, they best not think that they will share the credit. They have a different fate awaiting them.
Hearts were pumped 5-0 at Ibrox and were lucky to salvage a draw against Hibs. There is no doubt their form was poor going into the game and a full 11 man strength Celtic would have taken the points. What happened is season changing for us. It just depends on what kind of change. Proper Celtic teams would use this to galvanise and go on to win the double.
Everything you say here James is true ,they are a bunch of cheating bastards NOT incompetent because if they were incompetent they wouldn’t be able to apply the rules to suit their own agenda,they know exactly what they’re doing,ie fuckin cheating.The only thing I wonder about is if we had scored that penalty then Yang wouldn’t have been sent off how would Beaton and co manage to stop us , because I think at 1 -0 with 11 men the cheats in black would have had to pull off even more outrageous decisions against us .
As crazy as it sounds, that game against hearts could end up being a positive. It will anger the manager, the players and the fans and like you say, everyone is not more determined than ever to win this title. We are a wounded animal just now and its just a shame we dont have a midweek game to take our anger out on. The cup weekend couldnt come at a worse time in my opinion. I still cant for the life of me understand why we haven’t spoken up against Beaton sooner. The game at ibrokes when Moreloss stamped on Ralston and Beaton was spotted at a huns pub after the game was the time to hold this idiot to account, but as usual we stayed silent. Better late than never i suppose. Another guarantee is that Collum will be on VAR in the next derby and he will give them something to appease the hoardes of mordor and be welcomed back to referee their games. Put money on it.
We simply aren’t gonna be allowed to win the title this season come hell or high water and that’s the long and the short of it…
Watch Sky TV have them on every time before Celtic if Sevco get papped outta Europe –
This giving Sevco the chance to get ahead of Celtic either at 12.30pm on the Saturday if Celtic are on at Parkhead…
And if not then giving them the chance should Sevco lose to deliberately take the points away from The Hoops on the Sunday whereby even if the ref issues a yellow on the field of play, the evil eyes who have no place in Paradise will still destroy our competitiveness from their monitors in a room far far away !
A
Don’t agree with your reckoning James. The fans have been and continue to be very frustrated by the lack of quality in our team. We are a very ordinary team.
Our penalty was soft. Their penalty was a terrible decision but the sending off was 50/50.
St Mirren had a player sent off against us recently was debatable, no mention of that.
Focus should be on our starting 11 on Sunday. On looking at Brendan Rogers team of 4 years back CCV and maybe Johnson would have got into the team. The other players wouldn’t have got a sniff. We are in a worrying decline. That is the real concern.
Aren’t we all forgetting that Robertson was complicit in this as well he didn’t have the balls to stick to his original decision a yellow card also not seeing a so called penalty but I guarantee they both had a home win on their fixed odds coupon
Aye, it’s the same mob who probably jammed the samaritans hotline on Saturday night. Now they’re questionin OUR bottle. Big difference in losin tae a mediocre Motherwell at home, than us losin tae the 3rd placed team away, with the help of bogus decisions. Ah totally believe if we kept 11 men on that park we’d have won. Nae doubts there imo.
Celtic should demand a replay on the blatant cheating and if they don’t get it take all the way to the courts
Var video advantage rangers
I remember the days when if your next door neighbour was giving you
hassle which caused a reduction in the price of your property, rather than fall out with them directly, you applied for a reduction in your rates relative
to the reduced value. Celtic should do the same now. Lawwell or Nicholson needs to get a “motion in motion” and use whatever influence they have in Europe to set up independent VAR stations (or whatever)
in neutral locations. This would (allegedly anyway) be for the benefit of all and that would nullify the sour grapes allegations. The farce that it has become in Scotland is now not on. Celtic are running a multi-million pound business with people`s livelihoods at stake. It is now far too serious
a situation to allow this to continue. The more money that becomes involved, the more corrupt it has become. People like Beaton and his cronies now have the power to fix matches, which also means fixing some
poor soul`s fixed odds coupon. I don`t see why someone in this day and age can`t make a decision in Outer Mongolia just as well as someone sitting in a temporary masonic hut a couple of miles away. Celtic should demand change, arguing that they are being denied the power to even run their own business in compliance with the Stock Market. As far as I am concerned, not that that holds much sway, Celtic are the victims now of
something tantamount to criminal behaviour. After Sunday, they just can`t let it go. They could also argue that 60,000 people are being swindled on
a weekly basis. If there is no recourse in Europe at the present time for Celtic to turn to, then it is high time they demanded it. Horse racing has Stewards Enquiries so there is nothing to hinder football doing the same.
I wonder what the chat would be if Celtic asked for reviews to be carried out by local referees in Crossmaglen. After all, we are having something similar here.
And another thing, if a red-card gets rescinded, the suffering team should be awarded 2 points for a first-half sending-off and 1 point for a second half one. If Beaton and his cronies thought for one minute that a Celtic ordering off could result in an extra two points for them, they would be a bit
tardier in calling the referee to have a look. End of rant.
Apart from the blatant favouritism shown towards the latest Ibrox club, it is ludicrous that match officials are given celebrity treatment on the TV channels. Images of them on screen before a match as if it were the Brazilian team of 1970 are utterly ridiculous. An official worth their salt should not be the talking point after a match.
If we do end up winning the league this season it will have been against he odds and an unbelievable disrespect of our club’s supporters.
A board that has failed us.
Firstly in 1st team investment and recruitment they have shown nothing short of a know better arrogance of those unprofessional companies that disregard experts in their field. A pompous, pious disregard that’s the equivalent of a Tory leadership. Odd that when you examine their own personal political preferences.
A failure to add better quality to the coaching team.
An almost total lack of support for the manager that’s led to an over extension and use of existing players thus leading to unnecessary injuries and exacerbated existing injuries.
A disregard of the supporters that turn up regular as clockwork and those that purchase club kits, memorabilia, etc. The very people that pay the price that goes a long way to paying their wages and bonuses and that negatively affects the standard of play on show for those very same loyal fans.
Finally and against the backdrop of a midden full of trash and a conspiracy of corrupt discriminatory authority figures it’s difficult to see, with games rapidly running out, how we can overcome this unless we are nothing short of, what’s been missing all season, excellence.
Whether we are now able to overcome the barriers, some of them of our own making, will be down to a determined unity and raising of standards.
Yet we can and we have just about enough talent and nous to pull out 9 in a row. Victories that is. We’re only 2 points behind their outfit of ever increasing injury ridden squad.
As you say I’m now right behind the team if not the club. Bring on the SFA enquiries, we have broad enough shoulders to carry your best efforts. C’mon a Hoops. HH
Is any Celtic supporter really surprised at the events that took place on Sunday at Tynecastle? When I saw who the referee and VAR officials for the match were, I said to my son, “just watch what happens on Sunday, this will be episode 1 of make sure the Huns win the league.” As the events unfolded, it was even worse than I had imagined. We must be allowed to hear what transpired between the referee and Beaton, because there is no doubt in my mind that the referee was overruled on both occasions by Beaton. For the sending off, he first issued a yellow card, then after Beaton’s input, it was changed to red. None of these officials should be anywhere near the 2 derby matches to come, however, I won’t hold my breath. Our club should kick up the biggest stink imaginable and not let this disgraceful episode just fade away. HH
It’s worrying that so many would prefer to believe we were cheated on Sunday than see what actually happened.
We missed a soft penalty which was a gift at the time it was given. Would have settled the team.-Idah to blame
Yang’s tackle was ridiculous and gave the ref the opportunity he would have been looking for.-Yang to blame
The midfield not doing their job.-Rodgers to blame.
We should have signed Shankland and a keeper like Zander Clark – the board to blame.
Hearts had the audacity to attack and not play 11 behind the ball- Hearts to blame.
You get the idea. Sort the problems out first. Rodger playing the victim card is a clever move on his part.
Listen, your hatred of Rodgers is fucking irritating.
You hate the guy, we fucking get it.
That is a little harsh considering I spread the blame throughout the club. We blew it, no-one else. I still say Yang’s ridiculous tackle made a more than willing ref’s decision for him.
it is important a commander knows the truth and bases his tactics on it even if all around hin are burying there heads in the sand.
Rodgers has to fix the problems he has control over. e.g. the performance of the midfield for a start.
As long as the SFA can pull up freeze frame photos of a boot up in their player’s face and a ball hitting the hand in the box then we’re pissing against the wind. Even a downgraded red to yellow card is too late and the pen well that’s history now.
Those photos are all the evidence they need to mask any conspiracy complaint or claim of incompetence as Brendan so rightly said. Context or passage of play is not going to be considered, no more than past statements from similar to or worse than BR’s from opposing club managers or representatives should they choose to sanction him. Only a massive improvement in standards, finishing and consistency can rescue this league. Missing soft penalties or as many as we do is our own undoing. When we’re at our best and even if that’s with 10 men we can win but that really is now down to the players. The responsibility now lies with them.
But doing what we’re doing and we’ll keep getting what we’ve got. HH
Another good article as were some of the comments.
I again appreciate that some fans would rather blame the team and Rodgers, rather than the officiating.
Yes, we missed another penalty ( that’s a real concern,) and we scorned several chances. I may be in the complete minority here, but I thought our team worked as hard as they could in the circumstances, and big Idah put in a great shift.
We know we’re not brilliant, far from it …but regardless of the penalty given ( which I thought was the wrong decision too,) and subsequently missed…if we’d had the 11 men on, it would have been a comfortable win! I have no doubts whatsoever about that.
The complete focus on Beaton & Robertson’s biased aberrations, is as it should be. Incompetency was the word used by BR, but we also know what he was alluding to.
Hunsville inhabitants are up in arms, because Beaton was singled out…is this pot, kettle, black again?
BR’s use of incompetency could also have been referring to our board, and the fact that they’ve allowed these jokers with whistles and Sevco scarves, to get this far, without punishment!
If this episode does not result in an inquiry into refereeing standards, (in)competency, allegiances and ability, then we may as well all go home and give up.
Funding for VAR, should be withdrawn until there are clear and transparent reforms, with an independent review. As well as the bias we’re all aware of, we’d all like to know if there is genuine match fixing or attempts at it, going on?
As someone said in an earlier comment, it’s so annoying that we don’t have a league game this weekend, to get this out of our systems !
I still maintain the belief that we shall prevail in this title race, but it’s now even more of a nagging concern/worry, that the Lanarkshire loyal refs association will increase their efforts, to try and get the championship loot to Ibrokes.
Despite all these hurdles, we all need to keep the faith and stay hugely positive! HH
I cringe Gerry when I see this bloody sand dancing circular run up to penalties…
Lewis Palma was cringeworthy at it and his record was pitiful as well –
Adam was just as bad on Saturday…
That was a shockingly pish poor effort by him –
Missed penalties (amongst other things) may well cost Celtic bloody dear this season I’m afraid !
VAR in Scotland reminds me of the NRA slogan in the US that “guns don’t kill people, people do”. My response has always been then don’t give people guns. The same with VAR – it’s the operators that are misusing it.
And the funding of VAR is our strongest point of leverage – without domestic VAR our refs wouldn’t get their European or International jollies. So until we have substantive change then no more funding for VAR. Let’s see where the wider refereeing population put their priorities.
Blame brother beaton? What about father clancy or gollum ??
Rangers have had just as many dodgy var decisions in recent games . Always cheated ,never defeated. Var is a joke across the board! Why not get foreign refs in then who would you blame for being shite ?
Celtic now need to prepare for demolishing them in the head 2 heads which will decide the league & win every game from now on.
That will get it right up them, their media & cheating brethren especially PL whom I believe has quietly managed decline in an attempt to present the league & CL money as a lifeline to a dying toxic snake empire. Keeping alive the old firm bullshit rips money from supporters pockets, keeping the SPL life support machine on. Without Celtic, there is not SPL. Move to another league if possible. Irish league or buy a club just over the M74 border, rename it & start again. 2 hours travel south of Glasgow shouldn’t bother folk. We can watch the SPL die & laugh.