Former Celtic striker and current media annoyance Charlie Nicholas has laughed off conspiracy theorists and told them there’s no grand referee plan to help theRangers get decisions in the Cinch Premiership.
Steven Gerrard’s side were in the spotlight again last week when they won one of the softest penalty decisions you will ever see hence setting up James Tavernier to score from the spot and secure a draw with Aberdeen that they scarcely deserved.
Social media was in uproar as supporters from other Cinch Premiership clubs discussed the amount of times theRangers seem to benefit from questionable decisions made by referees.
But Nicholas has piled in on the subject with his usual ‘nothing to see here’ stance, basically insinuating the rest of Scottish football is just paranoid. He claims it’s simply because theRangers are currently ‘winning’, and that Celtic also get everything when they are ‘winning’ too.
Aye right, that sums it up then Charlie, cheers for that morsel of wisdom. So tell me this Charlie? Celtic have been ‘winning’ this season, in fact we have only won one less game than the Ibrox club so why have they had a raft of questionable decisions go their way yet we have had basically none?
Anyway this is what he had to say in his weekly Daily Express column: “I don’t believe for a minute these refereeing conspiracies. I hear a lot of people say (the)Rangers get everything just now.They get the decisions because they are winning just now. It is the same when Celtic are winning.
“That is always the way it is and has been for the two Glasgow giants. The rest of our clubs are playing catch up and that is where could be a big benefit to them and officials.
“It won’t help the conspiracy theories because it will be the VAR officials who will then be hit with the accusations. If we want to move our league forward then we need to bring in the likes of VAR technology.
“It would also make very good television drama as well and adds to the spectacle. I was in favour of VAR in my final year at Sky Sports.
“I think Scotland must take it because when there are big games then you get big issues and you will get all these conspiracy theories.”
I reckon as Celtic fans we would all love to see VAR introduced but as previously mentioned by concerned fans, the VAR would need to be monitored by officials with no allegiances, preferably by referees from out with the confines of Scotland. Otherwise we are back to square one where the decisions are being made by someone who could have as much as an agenda as the referee on the pitch.
Nicholas then bizarrely goes on later in his article to admit there were times during his Celtic career where he did believe the man in the middle was out to get him. He also claims there were plenty of referees who were well known to be fans of the deceased club who played out of Ibrox during his spell in the hoops during the 80s and 90s.
Only in Scotland could this be regarded as ‘normal’. Strangely Nicholas doesn’t seem to think there is anything wrong with referees who are ardent supporters of a club officiating games that both that club and their rivals are involved in.
He said: “We’ve had some terrible days. I remember doing the game when Hugh Dallas got hit by the coins.That was a dark, dark day for Scottish football. I have played for Celtic and against Rangers and Celtic. I have seen both sides when it comes to referees.
“I remember the Hope brothers, Kenny and Dougie. We all knew they were Rangers fans but they were also pretty good referees.You could have a conversation with them and you could wind each other up.
“I also remember the Celtic manager Billy McNeill had a ding-dong with Andrew Waddell. We, at Celtic, always felt he had an agenda against us after that as Billy had challenged him during a game.
“When I went To Aberdeen I felt due to the lack of the crowd you never really got the big decisions. It was the big crowds who put the referees on edge. Did they miss something and it puts pressure on them?”
Yes Charlie I suppose it could be the big crowds that push them into making wrong decisions. Or it could just be that they are clearly bias and due to the way Scottish football is run they get off with making these ‘honest mistakes’ time and time again with no consequences.
Conall McGinty
