I wrote the basics of this piece for The Celtic Star on Sunday evening after the game against Rangers with the intention of tidying it up on Monday afternoon to submit for consideration for putting up on the website.
Having done so I looked on the site to see if there was anything new from the afternoon and read “Naw it isnae.” That had dealt excellently with much of what I wanted to say, in very similar language and most clearly.
My first reaction was to abandon my piece. After a few moments consideration I decided, with all respect to the author of “Naw it isnae” to let my words stand mainly because I had expanded my thoughts to give some technical legal, in the football sense, back up for my opinion. Also I am dealing with the attitudes that permeated the old club and which still infect the new and their fans.
As a much younger man living in Glasgow I had notions of Liverpool being bad losers. To a great extent that was confirmed when I moved to Manchester. It was never their fault and there was always an excuse. In some ways it reminds me of a sense of entitlement.
Isn’t that strange!
On that basis I think that Steven Gerrard’s appointment at Ibrox is entirely apposite.
I believe that it was after the match at Aberdeen that he criticised the referee for sending off Morelos when there was no other decision that could have been given once the incident had been reported by the assistant.
Then he seemed to blame the officials because his team had not won the match.
Clearly he had been well tutored by the Ibrox powerbrokers and their hangers on as to how to behave to ensure that he said the correct things to keep their fans onside especially with regard to his remarks about that sort of thing having been done to his team for years. I have message for you Stevie. Your new club is only 6 years old and in its present and previous incarnations it has been treated with kid gloves by the football authorities and any other institution or person who might have been able to assist.
Now let’s have a look at the match on Sunday against Celtic.
Gerrard is very upset that his team was not awarded a free kick for a supposed foul by Tom Rogic on Ryan Jack at the start of the move that lead to Celtic’s winning goal. He hammered the point in his post match interview with Sky TV.
All great stuff for the fans and imperative to keep them, I nearly wrote happy, but I suppose I should say something along the lines of believing that they were cheated. In addition it is excellent copy for the Rangers leaning press etc. He also claimed strongly that the fourth official was shouting down his intercom to the referee about a foul.
So far we only have his word for that and will never know if that is true. Let’s consider the incident. The referee was two yards from the action with a clear view and happy to let play continue. The positioning of all the other players is such that the fourth official probably had an uninterrupted sight of the challenge but he must be at least thirty yards away.
Before considering anything else we must examine Law 6 which along with other matters deals with the duties of the fourth official. Mostly the duties are administrative dealing substitutions, maintaining order in the technical areas etc. There is reference to assisting the referee in dealing with fouls but only when he/she has a clearer view.
In the circumstances I would argue that the fourth official had no grounds to intervene but by stressing the point as he did Steven Gerrard continues to provide ammunition to those seeking an excuse for the defeat and to support those who would wish to argue that Rangers had been cheated.
If he knew the Laws of the Game as well as he would like us to believe then he would be aware of the overriding position which is that EVERY decision is given by the referee and the referee only even when acting on his assistants’ advice. Equally he will disregard his assistants’ advice if he is in a better position to judge. In this case that is not in doubt.
Over and above that, television replays showed that the players hardly touched each other if at all but in any case Jack slipped. Legitimate goal for the Hoops!
Where does that leave us? Plainly the sense of entitlement and of having been cheated constantly are both still going strong at Ibrox. Certainly more strongly than their supposedly great new manager and team but of course that was only paper talk to keep the Bears quiet.
Talk? Once again we did ours on the park. Long may that continue!
DidsburyCelt
Here is Chris Sutton’s view on BBC 5Live…
"It was a mismatch."@chris_sutton73 says "in every area of the pitch #CelticFC dominated #RangersFC" – but that Steven Gerrard must be "given time"????#BBC606 pic.twitter.com/qhDLd4zQlY
— BBC 5 Live Sport (@5liveSport) September 2, 2018
FANCY writing for The Celtic Star? You can write about any Celtic related subject of your own choice. Simply email your article to editor@thecelticstar.co.uk and we’ll do the rest…
