Willie Collum certainly has his work cut out in his new role as Head of Referee Operations at the SFA.
The former match official has already had to admit to early errors from his officials during the opening weeks of the season, as The Celtic Star covered yesterday evening.
However, the audio from this clip where the referee appears to be coaching theRangers Tom Lawrence through the art of timing the tackle really beggar’s belief.
From a Rangers account on X.com we got this assessment: “Fair play to the referee in this clip, he’s talking to Tom Lawrence like a true teammate”. Then there’s the the ref’s post tackle confirmation to one Ross County player that Lawrence got a “big touch” on the ball, despite replays showing there was no contact whatsoever and Willie Collum having to admit his charge got that one badly wrong.
Fair play to the referee in this clip, he’s talking to Tom Lawrence like a true teammate pic.twitter.com/iA2nWL6LOI
— . (@NotMatondoProp) September 11, 2024
Back in 2017, one of Rugby’s multitude of rule changes saw England team face Italy in the Six Nations and confusion reign. England players were in a state of in-game paralysis as to whether they could handle the ball without punishment under the new rules and appeared to ask the French referee for assistance, to which match official Romain Poite, politely – and perhaps sarcastically – replied ‘I’m a referee, not a coach’.
Collum wasn’t asked to clarify whether the role of his referees was to guide the players through the rules of the game or whether that extended to in-game coaching, but unlike the French Rugby official, the referee at Hampden for this incident – Ross Hardie – appeared willing to coach even without a request being made from the player, and was then willing to turn a blind eye when said advice was ignored and a tackle from behind floored a player he was expected to protect.
Unsurprisingly this error was further compounded with theRangers scoring a goal a few seconds later but apparently it was not part of the same attacking phase of play and VAR was unable to intervene. What was it Ange Postecoglou said about the verbal gymnastics used in Scottish football to qualify poor decision making?
Pattern of Assistance became the stand-out phrase from last season, thanks to Alan Morrison’s excellent work on Celtic by Numbers and it appears it may well get plenty of airing again this campaign.
Willie Collum has been very visible in the mainstream media and amongst football’s stakeholders since taking up his role, and that is to be lauded, particularly when employed by an organisation that appears to believe transparency, accountability and communication are best avoided.
For what it’s worth Willie Collum’s early attempts to communicate refereeing decisions and to hold his hands up to some of his referee’s errors should be commended as a good start, after all I think he may well be the first to do so in Scottish football, but it seems ingrained behaviours will continue and defending instances like this certainly won’t lead to anything other than an extension of that well-documented pattern of assistance for one club.
His predecessor rushed into the BBC radio studios after the incredible outcry on this decision shown below, to allow a Kyogo goal against Hearts, who felt that it was offside. Yet Sky Sports camera could not determine one way or the other whether Kyogo was onside.
Remember the outrage this goal caused? 😂 pic.twitter.com/gfNUNAq5FU
— 𝕭𝖎𝖑𝖑𝖞 🗿 (@billylowe67) September 11, 2024
Willie Collum last night also appeared on Clyde 1 Superscoreboard and discussed the elephant in the room in Scottish football which was covered on The Celtic Star this morning.
READ THIS…“Where do you draw the line?” Willie Collum on the elephant in the room in Scottish football
Niall J
READ THIS…Skullduggery is alive and well despite the introduction of VAR
COMING SOON ON CELTIC STAR BOOKS…CELTIC IN THE THIRTIES, VOL 1&2 BY MATT CORR…
Apparently the English Football Association can draw the line and make sure that referees are not compromised and have to declare their support for certain clubs. However, it seems to be too much to expect in this small bigoted little country of ours. I wonder what they are afraid of!
This is an example of mental gymnastics on the part of Willie Collum. We all know what is going on and there is a plethora of statistics from respected and professional sources and also videos to refer to and it is growing all the time. The cover-up continues. The patterns are all too obvious and the evidence is being added to all the time. The day of reckoning will come.
Collum has already admitted to recent wrong decisions, but the evidence gathered thus far will show a multiplicity of wrong decisions which have not been admitted to. We need to get away from the Glasgow and Lanarkshire cabal which appears to be absolutely incestuous. Apparently we have to trust these people without question. I have some advice for Collum. Draw the line. Stop the obfuscation!
Collum is the problem and his biased officials if he cant see it then its time all fans fans of clubs should e.mail the corrupt sfa.spfl and snow which teams gets mose decision against them and ill bet its celtic and the cheating club playing at liebrox benefits most games cant wullie see it no he cant dont forget he’s the same ref that gave the biggest cheats in Scottish football oldco deadco a penalty when his back was turned but said he heard a thump he’s a cheat and a biased scum ref thats why our officials never picked for CL games they’re stuck in masonic scotland thats why..