Yesterday, my colleague John McHugh published a very interesting article stating that Alan Muir continues to be out of favour with the SFA. I had a look at Joe’s piece, and I checked the SFA schedules—and indeed, Mr Muir is nowhere to be seen.
The expected question is: has Celtic done something behind the scenes that actually matters for once? Or has the SFA itself decided that Muir’s position cannot be defended?
If Celtic has made such a strong case that Muir has been properly punished, then his credibility is zero, and he’s finished.
If the SFA itself has decided—even without pressure from Celtic—that Muir has made a mistake so egregious that he can’t possibly continue as if everything were normal, then as far as I’m concerned, he’s done.
His credibility is gone, and he can’t go on.
An information vacuum isn’t going to cut it here. The schedules are published, which means Joe McHugh and the Celtic sites aren’t the only ones who know about this. If this guy is being locked out, everyone who looks at those schedules will see it.
So, one way or another, Muir has had his legs cut out from under him. I’m not going to say he doesn’t deserve that—because in my view, he absolutely does. But the SFA isn’t doing him or itself any favours by pretending that this is business as usual.
Muir isn’t just another Grade One official. He’s one of the full-time VAR officials. That means he is among the most trusted and well-paid officials in the game. If that trust is no longer there, then he’s finished.
If that trust has evaporated, then Alan Muir is done.
The last time Celtic were in a standoff with the SFA over an official to this extent, the other referees had a full-scale meltdown and threatened to go on strike. Even as that was happening, we discovered that the head of referees had been sending sectarian emails around the office. A newspaper report later claimed that Hugh Dallas tried to bargain his way out by offering to end the strike if he could keep his job. Stewart Regan put a stop to both of those things.
The curious thing here is that nobody is standing up to defend Alan Muir. Even when Collum sat in front of the press for his little VAR review show, all he did was give a recital of the rulebook. At no point did he actually defend his official. And there’s nobody standing up for Muir that I can see.
To me, that means one of two things: either nothing is really happening with Muir, or whatever is happening, his colleagues don’t support him. By and large, they think he’s useless and that he’s embarrassing the rest of them. They know Celtic is right, and they know his punishment is deserved.
If Muir has been sidelined for this long, then confidence in him within the governing body has collapsed. It may be that this is his final warning and that he’ll be back refereeing before the end of the season. We may even see him in a high-profile game before long. But I can’t remember an official being out of the rotation for this length of time, not for ages.
That suggests we’re not just seeing shadows on the wall here.
If this is just a slap on the wrist, they should say so. They can send all the smoke signals they want, but sometimes people need to see what’s actually going on. No more nods and winks to the wise. If Muir is being punished, the SFA should have the guts to say it, and we should know its full extent.
Because this raises serious questions. Muir has a very high-profile position and earns more than most other officials in the game here. If they’re saying he’s incompetent or that he can’t be trusted, then how long can he last?
How long should he last, if that’s the case? Surely to God, not much longer.
The latest Trinity Tims podcast is out now.
If the SFA has decided that his position is untenable then they should make it public as a warning to others with the same bigoted agendas.
I won’t hold my breath on that one though. More likely, like Beaton in the past when they rewarded him with high profile games after obvious fk-ups, they will give Muir an official appointment in the Cup Final, presuming we get there. 🙁
Maybe the SFA would prefer him to resign rather than sack him.
If he had any semblance of pride he would go.
Someone put on X weeks ago that he had been let go and they wanted zero fanfare. Never the much of it at the time but maybe it was accurate?
It doesn’t mean a lot until we know why he isn’t officiating. There could have been a wee steer to hide behind a sickie until it all dies down. Inaction and silence seems to be the modus operandi of the football governing bodies in this country of equals. Has Maxwell shown Muir and Cerny how to complete a self certification ?
Muir was finished on the day of the game. He made a factual decision based on his opinion, breaking not just the laws of the game but also ignoring VAR protocols. The clubs can’t trust his ability to apply the rules fairly and evenly and won’t accept his appointment, his fellow referees can’t trust him not to put them in a compromised position. He’s done.
They won’t announce anything and he will retire at the end the season due to external commitments. In any other job he would have suspended while an investigation was conducted into possible gross misconduct. There is clear evidence of his misconduct based purely on this decision alone. He will be giving his opinions on the BBC before the year is out.
We all thought/hoped that VAR eradicate incompetence /bias in the Scottish game when it was introduced and to a large extent it has (or at least to the large extent that such incompetence/bias is not easily applied and/or is easily overturned)
The delicious irony is that Muir has used the VAR technology to prove his bias/incompetence and thus hung himself!! In so desperately trying to find a picture that proved the ball was not TOUCHING the line (and he did find one) he ignored/forgot the fact that what he needed to find was a picture that proved the ball was not OVERHANGING the line which of course without a goal-line/overhead camera is absolutely impossible. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy 🙂
Indeed, indeed, indeed, Woodyiom !
I would not be surprised if he’s just out of the limelight until this blows over. Normally it’s forgotten about by now but it was such a very clear and serious incident with absolutely no possible excuse to offer then he clearly has an agenda v us then it’s still being discussed. Fast forward to if and when it does blow over he will be phased back in again. However in the unlikely event he gets sacked it will be interesting to see what is said after it. Be some vague wishy washy answer no doubt. Really is pathetic.