Last night Celtic bagged all 3 points in Dingwall with a last gasp goal from Anthony Ralston in the 97th minute leading to mass euphoria amongst the away fans and my wife believing I was being murdered down stairs as I gave myself a sore throat celebrating the winner.
My better half had earlier left me on my own watching the match as she could no longer listen to me complaining about a certain individual on the pitch who was doing his best to scupper Celtic’s title charge, the man in the middle Mr Alan Muir.
This is the man who destroyed Ronny Delia’s chance of claiming a treble in 2015 by failing to admit he saw Josh Meeking’s blatant handball to stop a cross from Leigh Griffiths, which was right in front of him, denied Celtic a penalty and a chance to go 2-0 up as well as reduce Inverness to 10 men.
Last night he was an embarrassment. Ross County at times were reminiscent of a prison rugby team as they constantly roughhoused Celtic and broke play up with persistent fouling. Yet Muir did nothing. He didn’t actually book a player until the 71st minute and unsurprising that was a Celtic player. Amazingly the player in question, Carl Starfelt, was booked for complaining after his nose was bust wide open after a blatant elbow to the face.
Muir would then outdo himself a few minutes later when he sent the same player off for a run of the mill foul near the edge of the area. It seemed like Muir didn’t appreciate Starfelt questioning his ability in the earlier exchange and the red card was more a personal decision made in spite against the player rather than a footballing decision.
Muir later denied Celtic a penalty towards the end of the game when a Ross County player clearly used his arms to stop a goal bound shot and deflected it wide for a corner. Unfortunately for Alan Muir Celtic would use that corner to claim all three points.
We all got caught up in the euphoria at the end and went to our beds happy last night but I feel that the buzz of winning a game so late and all the joy it brought us has lessened the criticism that Alan Muir should be receiving today. He was atrocious last night. If it wasn’t for that moment of brilliance from Tom Rogic and Anthony Ralston we would be scorching the earth regarding yet another inept refereeing performance.
Last season Celtic imploded in our quest to win ten in a row. We were never at the races and we let our Glasgow rivals win the league at a canter. Yet because we were so awful last season and our focus was on our underperforming manager and players we tended to go easy on the Scottish referees who were awful throughout the season.
theRangers went through the whole of the league season without getting a single red card. They conceded one penalty, right a the end of the season. They were awarded 10 penalties. Yes, we had an awful season and didn’t deserve to win the title. But these statistics just go to show that even if we had of been in form and battling for the title the referees in Scottish football would have done everything in their power to help our rivals win the title.
The thing is this year it’s pretty much guaranteed that the league is going to be neck and neck right to the end. At the end of this season an extra incentive hangs around that Cinch Premiership trophy, automatic Champions League qualification. With it a handsome bounty of money that both teams will be desperate for especially the debt ridden club across the city.
Do you feel with all that at stake the referees will remain impartial? I don’t. I’m 100% sure they will play their part in trying to make sure the title remains at Ibrox. You can see it already and it will only get worse as the season rolls on.
Our manager Ange Postecoglou isn’t getting involved in this battle. He states he’s there to monitor what his players do on the pitch and will leave officiating to others. This is probably the only thing many Celtic fans disagree with Ange on and I’m going to look deeper into that in an article later…..
Conall McGinty
WATCH THIS…
AND THIS…
The boss 😎 pic.twitter.com/W5tzF6isK4
— Vicks Mc (@vicksmclean) December 16, 2021
