Willie Collum is being picked on because of his religion, that’s the damning truth…
Willie Collum continues to be a target of hate form theRangers supporters. Their football club isn’t any better and by asking him to be barred from taking any part in their fixtures, they are just as complicit in the hatred that’s being fired towards the match official.
I’m not a Willie Collum fan, I think he’s one of our most incompetent officials around, maybe not the worst, but he’s up there. His decision making has angered supporters of every single club up and down the country at one point throughout his refereeing career and Celtic certainly have never had any favours from Collum or indeed any of his colleagues.
That’s all it is though is incompetence, nothing more, but try telling theRangers supporters that. They are convinced he’s corrupt. Yes, they think he is biased towards their club. That’s despite him being rather generous in decisions that have benefited both of the clubs that have played at Ibrox throughout the years of his refereeing career.
In fact the first time he took charge of a Rangers game at Ibrox in 2007 he sent off an opposing player in the opening stages of the game. Not forgetting the spot kick he awarded them at Celtic Park despite not seeing the incident in question (apparently he heard the contact), and yes it was the wrong call.
He also awarded the old Rangers three penalties in the one game, not just once, but two separate occasions! He also sent off three opposing players in one of those games.
Collum sent off Jozo Simunovic at Ibrox in March 2019 and Jeremie Frimpong at Hampden in the League Cup final in December of the same year. The latter was a decision that led to a penalty for theRangers.
Guess what? They lost both games, why? Because they weren’t good enough, yes that’s the bottom line. They weren’t good enough then and they weren’t good enough at Celtic Park on 30 December..The trouble is that this is something they can’t seem to comprehend as a football club or as a support.
Pictures have recently surfaced on social media of Willie Collum doing a reading at mass, a Roman Catholic mass no less, and so what? Everyone knows he’s a devout Catholic, it’s not a secret. He also happens to be an RE teacher, something that’s also not a secret.
But there lies the problem. He’s a Roman Catholic and the hatred that is aimed towards him is influenced by that very fact. Are Catholics not allowed to hold high profile jobs in this country? Should catholics be excluded from refereeing top flight matches in Scotland? It seems not in the eyes of theRangers supporters.
That is not a wild accusation, it’s the plain truth. They might have an Everyone Anyone campaign ongoing at Ibrox, but it seems Catholics remain excluded from that. It’s the very same reason they don’t like Kevin Clancy, his name is too ‘catholicy’ sounding, and that’s me being polite.
It’s not a coincidence that these two officials are the ones that are always seen as the most hated in the eyes of theRangers supporters. Scotland’s Shame indeed.
Just an Ordinary Bhoy