You’ve got to grudgingly admire the Scottish mainstream media. In a season that the theRangers are going for a world record of penalty kicks awarded the hacks are doing their upmost best to play down any notion of ‘biased’ officiating.
They’ll go to great lengths to prove our officials have got the most blatant of poor decisions right. Whether that’s through their contacts of ex-officials or their many yes men pundits or writers, they get the message clearly through that there is nothing untoward going on with the officiating in this country.
It’s just a shame that they haven’t been that quick to jump to the defence of yesterday’s match officials after a controversial moment late in the second half that had Aberdeen fans and most of the country screaming murder.
It was of course the penalty incident that seen Cameron Carter Vickers commit a foul in the box while trying to clear an Aberdeen attack. Firstly at the time I feared the worst, and replays look damning and would indicate a spot kick to Aberdeen.
But more importantly secondly, it was clear to see that the reason it wasn’t given was because the ball was no longer in play as Alistair Johnston was fouled in the build up. Yes it was a clear foul. Alistair was clearly barged to the ground by the Aberdeen player who made no contact with the ball, case closed. It was a clear foul and one that the referee spotted.
Here’s the evidence. Judge for yourselves…
In the age of VAR why would he blow immediately? He has the safety net to check it, like they did and were happy it was a foul.
Cut this anyway you want, he makes contact with a player in mid-air at speed, no contact on the ball. Its a foul anywhere else on the park. pic.twitter.com/q6kxOxgHKl
— The Celtic Way (@TheCelticWay3) April 20, 2024
Even Don Robertson was indicating that with his hands as he pointed to the area of the foul and signalled a free kick in our direction. Even the much maligned VAR cleared it up quickly.
But why couldn’t our darling media do the same? Whether that was the Biased BEEB or Premier Sports who were both covering the game. The commentators and pundits on both stations were all caught up in the penalty incident and didn’t even bother to concentrate on the foul leading up to it, even when it became obvious.
Surely these guys who are paid for their football knowledge couldn’t have missed such a vital incident? Well they obviously did or were told not to bring it up. But why? They do their best to clear up any controversy when it concerns other sides. Makes you think…
Just an Ordinary Bhoy
It wasn’t even ‘a mystery’ – the scoreboards inside the stadium at the time quite clearly said ‘VAR – checking penalty – possible foul (by) ATTACKING team’. Any pundit judging the lack of a penalty award entirely on the CCV tackle is either thicker than two short planks or is working to a specific agenda – you can decide for yourself which is likelier….