A big well done to the Daily Record, and Michael Gannon!

For taking a wider look at an issue, and publishing the conclusion.

No, you’re not on the wrong site, but as the diary always says, if you are to be the first to criticise, you must also be the first to offer praise.

Referee Steven McLean hasn’t just riled Celtic..

he’s caused fury at nearly EVERY ground in the country!

MacLean article

It’s worth a read, and shows that perhaps controversial whistler Steven MacLean isn’t biased, or corrupt, but in fact he’s just bloody useless.

Which we suspected all along, because after all, theres a way of telling an incompetent referee in Scotland.

He’ll have one of these on his shirt.

“Handballgate “-look, I can be a lazy writer as well- took another bizarre twist yesterday when Inverness supplementary goalkeeper Josh Meekings was offered a one match ban for the handball which no-one at the ground noticed-at least according to referee chief JohnFlemming.

Thats how it works, so the beaks are only following the rules-a novel and refreshing outlook for them-and it’s Meekings, who is guilty, who is in bother.

There is no suggestion that he is being used as a whipping boy to deflect attention away from MacLeans performance. Nor is the quiet pushing of MacLean down to fourth official at the Hamilton game this weekend, where presumably the beaks thing he can do lesss harm. Good luck to both Peterhaed and Airdrie though, they’ve got Alan “Face ” Muir in charge of their game. How he will manage to read the signposts on the road north is a bit of a puzzler , though. And I’ll wager his passengers have been out buying crash helmets this morning.

It’s a bit harsh on Meekings, that he may now miss the cup final, but he committed the offence, and had the referee been up to it, he’d be banned anyway. So sympathy for him is in short supply.

Come to think of it, you could argue that had he been penalised, the rest of his mates would be missing the cup final as well.

It’s called taking one for the team, which is what he was doing anyway.

Former compliance officer Vincent Lunny claimed that the letter Celtic sent to the SFA regarding the offence would have had no impact on current incumbent Tony MacGlennan when he decided to issue the ban.

 “I don’t accept that. Tony is a very experienced Advocate with many years experience at the very top level in criminal legal circles.

“He will be making a decision based on the application of the rules. Just to put that to the side – the social media and the Celtic aspect would be a complete irrelevant consideration. It is a question of does the action match up with the criteria within the protocol? If it doesn’t then he will be cleared; if it does he will get the one-match ban.” 

It’s the first time that denying a  goal scoring opportunity has been the subject of a retrospective ban, but Lunny claimed that the possibility of such a scenario  had  already been discussed;

“It is the very first one in the four years of protocol, It has been discussed previously at the various annual reviews. It is clearly covered by the rules; it is a missed sending-off offence not seen by the match officials and that covers all potential sending-off offences, so it would be dangerous not to do it because you would then be making an exception that isn’t present in the rules.

“The rules are there to cover all situations where the match officials have missed a sending-off offence and you are trying, as best you can, to put that player back in the position that it had been seen at the time and he’d been red-carded.”  

Just one comment.

Why is Lunny doing the talking ?

Why not MacGlennan ?

As far as I can see it’s just another example of the SFA deciding that they have to explain their actions, as they survey their little fiefdom from their ivory towers.

And it’s another reason why the sooner we can clean the whole lot out and start again, the sooner we can get back to enjoying football again, on a level field.

Away from all that for now, there’s a game tonight. Celtic have to pick themselves up and get back to winning ways at Dens Park to at least make sure that the rest of the season goes to plan, and a fourth successive title is secured.

John Collins summed up the mood in the camp;

“I think the boys are professionals. Everybody will keep talking about it for a few more days, but the important thing is that we move on.

“We had a terrific session today, it was important the boys got back out on the grass again and were re-focused and ready for a big game at Dundee We’ve been playing well and we want to win the league, sooner rather than later.

Back on the grass ?

Fuck me. It’s only a couple of weeks since they were moaning about teacakes. I think I’m on the point of spotting why the players looked a little tired on Sunday.

“We’ve got to think about one thing, the next game. It has gone. We move on. It is painful because it was a massive, key moment in the season. If the correct decision had been given it was game over, and we would have been in the final.

 “That’s a fact, there was no coming back if the right decision was given, but it wasn’t.” 

Hopefully, thats just teacakes in the box.

Hopefully, the players will be hurting after Sunday, and we might get that 7-0 yet…

Though I have to admit to being less than optimistic. They have struggled in the last couple of games, and certainly don’t like it when the other side pressures them high up the pitch. add that to a defensive frailty of late, a lack of good decision making and the endemic woeful finishing, and we’ll be lucky to get a draw.

 The run in might not be as easy as we previously thought, and the experienced lads will need to lead from the front tonight. I can’t see Celtic chucking it away now, theres too much of a gap.

 but I can do without the squeaky bum.

 Elsewhere, there seems to be a story developing along the lines that Celtic have written to the SFA, and possibly FIFA or UEFA , about the granting of a licence to old Rangers so that they could play in the Champions League some years ago. As they owed tax at the time, that should not have happened, and it’s been a bit of a sore point with a lot of supporters, not only of Celtic, but of an entirely unheard of concept within the game called fair play.

 If you want to keep in touch with this, keep an eye on Phil MacGhiollabhans webblog.

As yet, Celtic haven’t commented, but we hear that no letter has been written, so its probably on Platinis desk as we speak.

 On the subject of Cheaters FC, now known as The Rangers, Walter smith, the legendary manager of the old club who didn’t make the jump to the new one, apart from a brief stint in the boardroom, where he decided not to get involved, has absolved his old pal Ally Mccoist-remember him?- of any blame for the current predicament the Ibrox franchise are in on the pitch.

They were very close;

 He blames the board, and not McCoistinho, and even goes so far as to add;

“I got great support from Sir David Murray but it’s not turned out that they have had the same support from the people who have been running the club. So it has been very difficult for them to show what they can do.

“That’s the crux of the matter, it’s the circumstances they have been in that have caused them as much trouble as anything else.” 

 And , true to form, the journalist didn’t think to point out that the support given to Smith by Murray was in fact, largely what killed the old club. Still, they don’t want to upset people.

Look at Prince Charles, he must have upset someone. He wakes up with a horses head on his pillow every morning.

 I knew that my  praise for the papers wouldn’t last long. But at least we have seen the beginnings of a little bit of investigative journlism. not quite Woodward and Bernstein, but its a start.

I have to admit its not what I was expecting, but theres time for the death threat stories yet.

Colin Healy was the man in the picture yesterday.

Today, who is playing at Celtic Park ?