So there you go, Celtic have been ‘surprised’ – and not for the first time – by the decisions taken by the SFA regarding the Frankenstein club. Don’t they see the trend?
It took the non compliant Celtic blogs and the wider support on social media to point out to the club that their silence in these matters is far from golden.
Firstly let’s have a look at what the official Celtic statement says….
“Celtic Football Club is surprised that there will be no disciplinary action taken by the Scottish FA regarding the incidents during the match on 29 December, which have been widely addressed in the media.
“It is reported that no action was taken because the match referee saw all of the incidents in question.
“Given that the referee took no action at the time, this tends to suggest that such conduct, which in one instance led to a Celtic player, Anthony Ralston, being injured, is acceptable in Scottish football. That cannot be right.
“On the day, Celtic did not play well enough to win the match, something we accept. However, this issue goes beyond the result of the match.
“Celtic is not the only club this season to raise concerns regarding the standard of officiating at matches in Scotland, concerns which have also been shared by many commentators on the game.
“In order to fully understand what is going on, Celtic, our supporters, Scottish clubs and the general Scottish football public need transparency in these matters, and we therefore call on the Scottish FA to allow the referee, John Beaton, to explain these decisions publicly as well as any match officials involved in other similar circumstances.
“In the meantime, we have requested a meeting with Scottish FA Chief Executive, Ian Maxwell, and the Association’s Head of Refereeing.”
So in summary Celtic are ‘surprised’, Anthony Ralston has sustained an injury as a result of the assault on him by Morelos, Celtic wants Beaton to explain himself and have asked for a meeting with Ian Maxwell, the hugely unimpressive Chief Executive at the SFA.
Joe O’Rourke, the General Secretary of the Celtic Supporters Association, wrote to Maxwell today – see HERE – but admitted that he doesn’t expect a reply as he has previously written to Maxwell who did not give him the courtesy of a reply.
Let’s just reflect on that for a minute folks. Maxwell is just in the door five minutes and should be eager to make a good impression in his new job. He receives a formal letter from the games biggest supporters association and doesn’t even think he has an obligation to reply.
This failure to reply is a breach of professional courtesy at best and arrogance at worst. The truth is in Maxwell’s eyes Joe O’Rourke from the Celtic Supporters Association did not merit the reply.
So back to what Celtic said in their statement.
Is this enough? No, and it doesn’t even come close. It is going to take more and that us going to involve Celtic supporters acting together to hit the SFA where it hurts.
This isn’t about one game, as we have pointed out the festive plan as in operation at Pittodrie when Willie Collum awarded those penalties, failed to end off McGinn and allowed a free kick on Craig Gordon to go unpunished. A late goal flurry from Celtic, frustratingly for Collum, meant that his efforts were in vain but Beaton took the second bite at the cherry and he was never going to allow Celtic anything at Ibrox.
This is going to be the case for the rest of the season.
The Monster club had a plan hatched in the summer. They started to attack football executives at the SFA and the SPFL. They announced the vast reduction in away tickets for Celtic supporters for the two games at Ibrox, they announced their grievances with the referees from the first game when Gerrard (disgracefully) alleged that these miscarriages of justice had been going on for years – lines he had been fed.
The result is that the lot of them – Celtic directors included – have been running scared of the monster the lot of them created in 2012. Hell mend you, some might say but Celtic means to much to us not to fight for her and fight we will.
Anyone remember what Celtic did next after the last time they said they were surprised? SFA…
This was published on The Celtic Star this morning and for some reason has been censored in some places. Please read it HERE, it is important.
