MOTHERWELL, SCOTLAND - DECEMBER 05: Referee Andrew Dallas during the Scottish Premiership match between Motherwell and Hibernian at Fir Park on December 05, 2020, in Motherwell, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Foy/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Yesterday at Pittodrie, as everyone knows, Aberdeen blew a golden chance to really hurt the Ibrox club by securing us the league title.
Now, I refute the idea that Aberdeen were “winning us the league” — we’ve won this title ourselves — but they would certainly have put the ribbons on it and presented it to our club. And that would’ve been nice. It would’ve been nice for them. It would’ve been nice knowing the Ibrox fans who made the trip up there got well and truly stuck with that.
But Aberdeen aren’t a great side yet. They’re not anywhere close to being one. And although I’ll speak later today about why they’re a better team than Hearts and why they’re a bigger club than Hearts, we’ve got to acknowledge that this Aberdeen side is still prone to a lot of mistakes and has a long way to go. The two-goal lead that they blew — especially after going 2-0 up against ten men — will hurt them more than it hurts us, or helps the Ibrox club.
In the aftermath of the game, things were very muted in relation to the Igamane disallowed goal, which came just before half-time. That would’ve cut Aberdeen’s lead at the break to a single goal, and it might have provoked a different reaction from them in the second half than the weak one they ultimately delivered.
They might have come out with more discipline. They might have come out with more intensity. But as it stands, they went in at half-time with a 2-0 lead and thought the job was done.
Watching the footage, the goal itself seems to have been a very close decision. We already know, of course, that it’s impossible for an official to tell whether that ball is all the way out or just partially out.
We also know that there will be audio available — and I’ll be very keen to hear what’s on it. Because if it turns out that the VAR official made that decision off his own back, then that position is going to be very hard to defend. A standard has already been set by Willie Collum: officials who make those kinds of mistakes can lose their jobs.
I’ll be honest with you; Alan Muir lost his job for that decision at Easter Road. As a result, the VAR official from yesterday ought to be in a very uncomfortable position and I hope he is.
I don’t care how many of these people fall. I genuinely don’t. The more, the merrier.
But there’s a reason why we haven’t heard the same level of outrage over this one as we did after the one at Easter Road. And I’ll tell you what that reason is: the VAR official in this case is Andrew Dallas.
The Scottish sports media is perfectly happy for Dallas to stay exactly where he is. But there is nobody called Dallas who should be working at the SFA.
The fact that Andrew Dallas has risen so high in the “family business” is an insult to the rest of us, to be frank. And while I don’t blame the son for the sins of the father, we can certainly blame the son for the sins of the son.
I believe in being fair. I believe in being just. I believe in equality for all — even for the club across the city. When they’re in the right, I’ll defend their right to make noise and make demands.
If they want to see Andrew Dallas swing from a yardarm, I’m all for getting behind them.
If the audio says that Andrew Dallas cheated, that Andrew Dallas predetermined the outcome, then their club should take it the whole way — and Celtic should be right there with them, offering our support.
We should be determined that we root out cheating no matter who benefits or who pays the price.
If they want to take shots at him, Celtic should not get in the way of the bullets. If Andrew Dallas committed the crime, then he should pay the price — just like Alan Muir.
And if he doesn’t, then we are all entitled to ask why.
James – am I missing something? Surely Dallas did his job correctly (probably for the first time in his life) in confirming that the Ibrox Club’s goal be disallowed.
There was no video evidence available to factually prove/disprove the ball was in/out and thus he simply has to go with the on-field decision which in this case was that the ball had gone out prior to being crossed and thus no goal.
I bet it was like a dagger through his heart knowing he had no choice but to complete the check otherwise he would be a goner like Muir but as much as I’d love to see him removed permanently I can’t see why there would be an issue with yesterday’s decision and process.
That’s exactly how I see it
Whether the huns are right or wrong doesn’t really matter, it goes against the grain, and we should never back them up in anything they do. Fk them all, the long and the short and the tall.
The linesman flagged for the ball going out of play, surely then Dallas made the right call by not overturning the decision if he didn’t have irrefutable evidence the linesman had made an error?
They were cheats with WHISTLES then, cheats with FLAGS then and cheats with MONITORS then…
They are cheats with WHISTLES now, cheats with FLAGS now and cheats with MONITORS now…
They will be cheats with WHISTLES eternally, cheats with FLAGS eternally and cheats with MONITORS eternally…
Every division is highlighted because that’s exactly what they fuckin well actually are !
Dallas will never be removed from his current role, where he can and has had an impact on the outcome of matches for the benefit of one specific club.
Remember he’s the whistler who awarded Sevco 4 penalties in one match and every single one of them was of the extremely soft variety.
In season 2018-2019, 50% of all penalties he awarded in the league matches he refereed in that season, went to Sevco (TAVPENs)
Who decided that Dallas would be a full-time VAR official? Some questions need to asked about his competence and his professional currency as a referee. He has not refereed a match since 11 May 2022 that is just short of 3 years. This would not happen is any other industry where your experience and currency doing the job has clearly lapsed.
In his last match as a referee on the 11 May 2022 he awarded the obligatory TAVPEN in the 29th minute.
James, you’re haverin. Dallas acted correctly in not overturning the linesmans decision. No doubt he would have loved to but knew he’d sufffer the same fate as Muir if he did.
I was reading this very confused I didn’t see the game but friends who are dons fans spoke about it. I thought as the other comments say it had been an on field decision to disallow the goal & VAR couldn’t make a clear decision if that was factually the correct call or not.
In a way it makes it more satisfying that he couldn’t have overturned it even if he wanted to without putting his only livelihood in jeopardy.
I guess maybe VAR can be enforced more fairly now that someone has paid the ultimate price for it’s misuse.
As for the dons bottling it, it’s the same old against that mob by the rest of the league. They get spooked by going ahead. I totally agree if it had been 2-1 at half time Aberdeen would have come out ready for a dog fight but as soon as they scored in the second half you just knew it wouldn’t end a dons win unfortunatley. A win for them really would have spiced up the race for 3rd which is now likely secured for Hibs
Var is the worst thing to happen to football since Kenny Miller. It needs to be removed asap. Refs made bad decisions before var and they haven’t improved with its introduction. All that happens is you end up waiting and waiting on decisions and you can’t celebrate a goal because you’re just waiting on the screen at celtic park to say “VAR CHECK”. It’s ruining the game, the flow of the game, the intensity and the thrill of scoring a goal. Just my opinion but I’m sure I’m not alone
I have to respectfully disagree with you on this point JS1992CFC…
I’ve seen far far too many anti Celtic / pro Sevco / pro Celtic opposition (Not Sevco) on the day, getting appalling decisions in their favour over many many years to want rid of VAR…
I don’t go to games any more and used to hit The Hoops Bar at 5.15pm on a Saturday but I wouldn’t care about arriving there at 6pm if it meant fairness for Celtic through 100 replays if that’s what it took !
JS1992CFC, There are aspects of VAR that we all hate, quite a few that you point out I agree with, but it’s here to stay. Hopefully through time it’s implementation will improve, the goal chalked off on Saturday for offside was definitely of the controversial kind, I always record the games and I’ve watched the replay of that goal about 10 times and even with the so called lines drawn, the Celtic player deemed offside didn’t look offside. If that game had been close, questions would have been getting asked big time of the VAR officials.
I’ve got to say with all its faults there is no doubt it is coming up with mostly correct decisions, Even the cheating Scottish officials now know they are being watched closely and the Ibrox mob have probably had the least penalty kicks this season in their 13 year history, even the previous club with its 140 year history never had as few in a season.
This was in fact quite the opposite of the Muir incident. The on field decision was ball out of play, so VAR has to prove otherwise or step back. I think he did everything correctly, and I’m sure the audio will back that up.
Much as I dislike Dallas as a legacy/nepobaby, since Collum took over he’s actually been one of the better VARs. The high profile Muir stuff will also have served to keep everyone on the straight and narrow with this.
Your losing your beans man. Follow their lead ? WTF ?
We have nor never will have to follow any complaint or statement from the middenites. If there’s an issue we identify worth complaint we do it independently as a result on our own independent viewpoint.
While I’m no Dallas fan the decision was made that the ball was judged out of play by the on field officials not VAR that was unable to offer a comprehensive view that should be viewed as an error. That’s completely different from what occurred in the Hibees decision.
I think your all not following that massive lump in JF cheeck. Nice one