There was an interesting exchange on Go Radio’s Football Show yesterday between former Celtic striker Andy Walker and a chap called Frank, who spoke for the Celtic support brilliantly. Judge for yourselves and you can listen to the full show below…
Frank: “The time has come. The laughs and jokes have got to stop. We have to do something about this refereeing and the VAR. It’s beyond a joke. Andy, you were commentating yesterday, it’s utterly beyond belief what goes on in this country. We have to take a stock of how we set up our refereeing situation here. You can’t have in any sensible, anyone with obvious Rangers tendencies refereeing a Rangers v Celtic game. That’s not just yesterday as it has been going on for decades. We have to grasp this and until we do, the same things are going to keep happening.”
Andy Walker: “I don’t believe the game is corrupt Frank, do you?”
Frank: “In my almost 50 years of watching Celtic, I have been watching a rigged game.”
Andy Walker: “You know that Celtic have been dominant for the last, however many years. Utterly dominant Frank. What is rigged in that?”
Frank: “What’s rigged Andy is we have won it, despite the officials, despite what’s going on the pitch.”
Andy Walker: “Frank, I go to a lot of games. If I could make a case for every club. Give me the tapes for every club. I’ll give you some horrific refereeing decisions for every club.”
Frank: “Andy, we know that, that’s football. What I am talking about here and what I am saying is that you cannot have someone refereeing who has allegiances to one side or the other. Whether it’s Celtic or Rangers, you can’t have that. It can’t happen in a fair society.”
Andy Walker: “So what do you want to happen?”
Frank: “Same as in England. This isn’t some outlandish thing and happens in a foreign world. In England, you declare your interests. You must declare your interests and in England you can’t referee a game where your allegiance is to a particular club involved in that match. That’s common sense, that’s nothing crazy.”
Andy Walker: “Frank, I played for Motherwell and Hibs. We went to Celtic and Rangers, and there was steam coming out my ears with some of the decisions that went against us.
“When I played for Celtic, there were some decisions we got that I couldn’t believe we got them. We got them because of the crowd and I do believe there’s an element of human nature where you’ve got thousands screaming for whatever it is. There’s an element of being safe and there were some laughable decisions I got as a Celtic player.
“I played under Billy McNeill and played with Tommy Burns, I don’t think any of them believed there was anything untoward. I know there might be noises from people within the club that the SFA and referees have always been against Celtic. I don’t see it. Frank, I don’t believe our game is corrupt.”
Frank: “Andy, you just made a statement there that is completely false and actually you have to retract it, regarding Billy McNeil and other Celtic managers. Billy McNeill, in an article as I did my research, that there was undoubtedly bias from referees against Celtic in a game against Rangers. Undoubtedly. You can research it. You can find it. Tell me Andy, you go back to Jock Stein, I can go through them all and embarrass you.”
Andy Walker: “I’m talking about conversations I have had with Billy McNeill.
Frank: “Can I speak without interruption please?”
Andy Walker: “Fill your boots.”
Frank: “Jock Stein said ‘Celtic play against not 11 men but 14, the referee and two linesman. If you want to get David Hay, the most mild-mannered man you will ever find. He suggested Celtic leave to go to English football because of the refereeing. Do you want me to go on, Andy?”
Andy Walker: “Yes, keep going.”
Frank: “The reality is there. I have been to Celtic games home and away for 30 years. I can’t go now. But I did. I watches all the games. There’s nothing you can tell me that I’ve never seen. The point I am trying to make to your listeners is it’s not what I wanted to see, it’s not we are hard done by, it’s reality.”
Andy Walker: “You think the game is corrupt. I don’t know if the people inside the Celtic boardroom feel the same way as you. Why not?”
Frank: “Andy, Celtic supporters have asked for years, decades, for Celtic to step up and say enough is enough. The board under John Reid if you remember 10 years ago when they brought the Icelandic referees in, he said quote: ‘We are not any longer going to sit at the back of the bus.’ Since then, I thought Celtic would take the bull by the horns and sort this out.”
Andy Walker: “We will never get rid of controversial decisions in football but my beef with Frank is that he thinks Scottish football is corrupt. I don’t.”
Frank: “That’s fine. Can I finish? My point here is, I have seen corrupt referees down the years, trust me, and any Celtic supporter knows what I am talking about is common, decent justice. If you’re in a court of law or arbitration, you can’t have people making judgements who are aligned to one side of the other.”
Andy Walker: “Frank, your next port of call should be someone on the Celtic board. Honestly, get them on the side and see where you can take it.”
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The fact we aren’t the only club suffering this all for one club to benefit. And I said this yesterday. This wee root (walker) works for sky. Sky have a handle on this if there is no title race no one wants to watch Scottish football on sky and they don’t profit from viewers. Celtic don’t want to step up and say anything don’t buy anything Celtic for a month see how that goes. The guy Frank talked about the here and now walker went back 25 years to counter his point what a d…
Andy Walker has to take the “honest mistakes” line because his job depends upon it. Nothing to see here Timmy move along. To work in Scottish Sports Media you must not speak the truth.
The caller Frank could have mentioned the Jim Farry episode or Hugh Dallas and his anti-Catholic “jokes” and not forgetting the Dougie McDonald Tannadice shenanigans.
Explain how that fits with your “the games not rigged statement” Andy