The faults
of others
The spring of 1991 was a trying one for
Celtic fans. The team’s promising start to the SPL season was all but over as
the dominant and big spending Rangers side of the era stepped on the
accelerator and left the Hoops miles behind. For a long time it looked as if
the Scottish cup might offer Celtic the only route into European football the
following season. The supporters did
glean some joy from a double header with Rangers in the SPL and cup as Celtic
won both matches. The semi-final tie in the Scottish cup with Motherwell took
on added significance as Rangers were no longer in the tournament and a cup win
seemed a realistic hope. The defensive frailties which had torpedoed Celtic’s
league hopes returned in an SPL match at Celtic Park just before the cup tie
which Motherwell won 2-1; Tom Boyd scoring against a Celtic side he would later
lead to glory.
Celtic headed to Hampden and before a crowd
of almost 42,000 endured a tense game in which they looked far better going
forward than they did defending. Motherwell were something of a bogey team for
Celtic in the early 1990’s with Dougie Arnott in particular prone to punishing
the Hoops’ defensive lapses. The game ended 0-0 and Celtic fans remained
optimistic that they could make the final. The replay the following week was
one of those matches which turned on a particular incident. Celtic started well
and took an early lead. Predictably a defensive mix up let Arnott equalise
before Rogan had Celtic 2-1 up. Then Celtic had a corner which was partially
cleared before the ball was knocked back towards the goal. As the Motherwell
defence raced out the ball spun to Paul Elliot who slammed it into the net.
Despite Colin O’Neil being on the post and clearly playing Elliot onside, the
linesman raised his flag and Celtic were denied a 3-1 lead which may or may not
have been decisive. Celtic seemed to
lose heart at that and went on to lose the game 4-2. In truth Motherwell with
players like O’Donnell, Boyd, Arnott and Nijholt were the better side in the
last half hour. They would go on to win the cup in an exciting final with
Dundee United and few grudged them their moment of glory.
That memory came back to me after reading a
host of complaints in the media and online from fans or various clubs about the
penalty awarded to Celtic at Fir Park on Wednesday night. For me McGregor was
barged over and the defender was very foolish challenging an attacker so
robustly when he was heading away from goal and posed no scoring threat at that
moment. Radio and TV Pundits talked about a ‘laughable’ decision and generally laid into McGregor for ‘going down very easily.’ A few such as
Michael Stewart and Tom English revised their opinions when other angles were
shown of the incident. One in particular shows the angle the Referee had and is
convincing proof that McGregor was indeed fouled. Motherwell released a
statement following the match which read in part…
‘It is
disappointing to see high profile decisions affect Wednesday night’s match and
the Betfred Cup final in the way they have. To that end we have made contact
with the Scottish FA’s head of Refereeing to express our views and seek
feedback.’
There is no doubting their disappointment at
losing the League Cup final and being denied a rare win over Celtic so late in
a game but a dose of realism is required when complaining about refereeing
decisions. In games against Celtic they have had some big calls go their way.
Most impartial observers agree that the shocking tackle by Cedric Kipre which
injured Moussa Dembele in the League Cup final was worthy of a red card. The
Referee didn’t even give a foul. Dembele Tweeted that evening, ‘Another game, another win. Almost lost my
leg there but we’re still unbeaten!’
The narrative that Celtic gets all the big
calls is utterly laughable when examined in any detail. Consider Nadir Ciftci
about to Score at Fir Park when a defender punched the ball away from him in a
most obvious manner. Decision: Play on. We also had an utterly horrendous
challenge on Kieran Tierney at Celtic Park by Bowman of Motherwell which could
have seriously injured the full back. We awaited the inevitable red card and to
the astonishment of most in the ground he received a yellow.
We had a Johan Mjallby’s shot which was well over the line and the Referee waved ‘play on.’ We saw a Motherwell player strike a Rangers
player in the face with his elbow to such a degree that it broke his nose in
this season’s League Cup semi-final. No action was taken by the referee.
Celtic has been on the wrong end of some very
poor refereeing calls in recent times which cost them important matches. The
most obvious being the Meekings hand ball in the Cup semi-final with Inverness
which would have seen Celtic awarded a penalty and the defender sent off had
the referee given the correct decision. He didn’t much to the astonishment of
everyone else in the stadium who saw what 5 officials managed to miss.
We had
the Duberry handball at Perth, the extremely dubious Penalty given to Hearts in
a Scottish cup semi-final, the ‘Dougie, Dougie’ nonsense at Tannadice and other
calls which left us mystified.
All of these examples demonstrate that
Motherwell’s whingeing in recent days is at best ill-advised and at worse poor
sportsmanship. Their physical approach to the game and sheer effort against
Celtic has made the last two matches between the clubs close affairs but at the
end of the day Celtic are undefeated in 66 matches for a reason; they’re the
best team in Scotland by a long way.
Football is a fast, fluid and unpredictable
game and human error certainly plays its part in refereeing decisions. Anyone
who has refereed a game at any level knows how difficult it is to get every
decision right. This is especially true at professional level where players of
all clubs are out to pressure or even con the referee. Throw into the mix the
clannish and often spiteful nature of Scottish football as well as the strong cultural
identity some clubs possess and you have a recipe for suspicion. There is no
doubt that historical injustices were done to Celtic by certain figures over
the years. One only has to read books like ‘Celtic Paranoia’ to see incidents
like the ‘Flag Flutter’ of the 1950s or the inexcusable Farry-Cadete affair of
the 90s. In modern times football officials are scrutinised far more closely.
Incidents like the amateurish handling of the Rangers meltdown of 2012 or the
Dallas anti-Catholic email still cause concern but Celtic has grown into a
confident and powerful club who wouldn’t be slow to make their side of any
debate known.
The modern referee has a dozen cameras
tracking every decision he makes amplifying every error. Social media takes
clips showing such errors and they spin around an amplified echo chamber of
like-minded fans giving an impression of institutional bias that isn’t quite
fair.
Motherwell’s bleating in recent days has been
to say the least unedifying. There are always tough 50-50 calls to be made by
referees in the heat of games which could be given either way. Incidents happen
in a split second and have to be called without the benefit of constant replays
or multi-angled analysis. Players play acting doesn’t help and Motherwell have
their share of con men like all clubs. Perhaps Motherwell should be looking at
more constructive suggestions such as better training for Referees and assistants
or the use of video reviews for big decisions or better still consider some of
the big calls which have gone in their favour over the years and have a more
balanced outlook.
Hypocrisy is pointing out the faults of
others while conveniently ignoring your own. Motherwell has indulged in that
this week.
Good points, well made.
ReplyDeleteHe pushed pushed so hard he actually did rolled 450 degrees over the top of his head. Incredible ppl still claiming it wasnt a push. Pity MSM attempt to hide the evidence didnt pan out and vindicates CM completely
ReplyDeleteSry got pushed i meant
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