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Celtic Diary Friday April 24: A Shift In Editorial Policy ?

First of all, without a hint of irony, lets congratulate Keith Jackson on winning Sportswriter of the Year again, beating off stiff competition from Matt Lindsay, Bill Leckie and Richard Wilson.

Winning  the award must come as a relief to Jackson. imagine how you’d feel if you lost to one of the above.

We cannot comment further on his celebrations, as we hear it allegedly involved standing outside a former editor and broadcasters house and shouting”  Up yours Fatty ” over and over again.

Which disturbed the occupant while he was trying to improve his own journalistic abilities

 

In the Record today, Jackson  has a pop at Stewart Regan, the current head of the SFA, and accuses him of incompetence.

Meekingsgate affair is a scandal..

so why is Stewart Regan brushing it under the carpet?

Its what they do at the SFA.

Its why they have a priority account at Carpets R Us. They are forever needing a bigger one.

Following the decision to dismiss Josh Meekings handball, as the player said it wasn’t deliberate, Jackson has a go at Regan and touches on what is wrong with Scottish football.

Meekings is now free to play in the cup final, but no-one is asking how the six officials missed the incident.

Despite video evidence that one of them commented on it at the time.

Debate rages as to what alan muir actually said, so I asked my mother in law, who is deaf and relies on lip reading skills for day to day conversation to view the footage.

I didn’t tell her anything about it, just asked her what was being said.

She said it was “bad language ”

Was Muir saying “Fuck, its a pen. ” over and over ?

Or was it just the one word, over and over ?

She seems to think so.

With the passing of Rangers, the older supporter might have thought that all of these “honest mistakes” -a phrase wheeled out again yesterday, were in the past.

Sadly , it seems the hatred of Celtic is greater than the love of Rangers, and the only revenge we can truly hope for is to win ten in a row.

And then we can look back on all of this, and laugh.

 

 

 

Now is not the time to shrug shoulders and say all’s well that ends well. Rather, this seems an ideal moment to pose some serious questions about why Meekings was placed in such a position in the first instance.

And to ask again, what exactly does this man Regan think he’s doing to our game?  

So, er, pose them.

It’s almost as if we’ve grown so used to having Scottish football glibly dismissed as a laughing stock that it barely even registers these days, far less offends.

But at some point there must surely come a time when enough is enough. When the likes of Regan have exposed us all to ridicule once too often?

I mean, seriously, what on earth has been going through the head of the chief executive over these past few days as the reputation of our game has been booted around from pillar to post? Just once, did he ever stop to think the very organisation over which he presides – the one that is supposed to protect our national sport and nurture it – was responsible for humiliating it on a worldwide stage?

And don’t think no one else stopped to notice because the back page of yesterday’s Record made it perfectly clear what the rest of planet football made of this latest self-inflicted farce.

You know you’re in trouble when a man from FIFA calls your actions ludicrous. But that’s exactly what happened in this instance and for that reason alone Regan ought to feel ashamed of himself.  

The MSM going after the SFA ?

It’ll never catch on.

Meekings is now free to play in the cup final, but no-one is asking how the six officials missed the incident.

Despite video evidence that one of them commented on it at the time.

Debate rages as to what alan muir actually said, so I asked my mother in law, who is deaf and relies on lip reading skills for day to day conversation to view the footage.

I didn’t tell her anything about it, just asked her what was being said.

She said it was “bad language ”

Was Muir saying “Fuck, its a pen. ” over and over ?

Or was it just the one word, over and over ?

She seems to think so.

With the passing of Rangers, the older supporter might have thought that all of these “honest mistakes” -a phrase wheeled out again yesterday, were in the past.

Sadly , it seems the hatred of Celtic is greater than the love of Rangers, and the only revenge we can truly hope for is to win ten in a row.

And then we can look back on all of this, and laugh.

 

Jackson has previous for sticking his neck out , he’s had a go at Regan in the past.

So surely Regan will hit back ?

Well, not exactly.

He refuses to talk to the man.

Regan, aged five, threw his toys out of the pram the last time he was publicly criticised, and if you want a laugh, ring the SFA and say you are Keith Jackson and would like to talk to Stewart Regan.

All you hear is the sound of hurried footsteps, a voice saying “give me that bloody thing ”  and the phone being slammed back onto the receiver.

I’ll try it now.

“Hello, Stewart Regan please, ”

” Just a moment, he’s outside with Neil Doncaster. Who is calling ? ”

” It’s Keith Jackson of the Record”

Finally, a member of the MSM is getting to those who are destroying our game.

If he were to turn the screw a litttle more, then we might just see the change we need.

I’ve got some tools in the garage if he needs a hand.

Jackson has a point. The SFA , and Regan are not fit for purpose.

Hopefully others will jump on the bandwagon.

Incidentally, things are changing at the Record. Note the lamb at the top of their twitter homepage, as they acknowledge their reputation..

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Bob Dylan said once that the Times They Are A Changin.

Who knows, maybe they actually are.

Yesterdays caption competition saw a few excellent replies, but the answer was given to us by a bairn…

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today, we have a blast from the past. Michael Duberry, who is going to remind us of an incident, and we invite yoy to a game of

Okay, it’s your first game as an SFa referee. what is the correct decision here ?

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If you are not sure, you can study it from this angle;

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Tam The Tim
8 years ago

I remember a match against Dundee United at Celtic Park, not long to go level pegging. Ball comes into the box, united player dives and punches the ball away, whole north stand sees it and I’m about fifty yards away but can see it clearly. According to supporters of other clubs we get all the decisions. Total pish.
hh

Charlie Saiz
8 years ago
Reply to  Tam The Tim

We do get the odd decision Tam that’s normal as refs do make mistakes.
However one thing I have noticed over the years is our decisions tend to come when they have no bearing on the game or result.
Several times this year I have questioned the timing of incidents that have gone against us?
The one where Thompson pulled back a clear break on goal by Griffiths for a late challenge on Brown o give a Free Kick instead of the advantage..You would have put a months wages on Griffiths finishing that.
The offside against Scepovic at Tanadump to draw the game level and most likely have us pushing for a winner in the final minutes.
Meekings joke aside there was the pull on Commons in the box first half then on 3 seperate occasions we looked to be breaking on the counter and McLean pulled us back for free kicks.
We are a side who thrive on playing on the front foot,who build pressure during games and who like to move the ball quickly into dangerous areas the refs can have a real effect on our game just by upsetting our flow in this way.
Our players get frustrated and normally this has and adverse effect on our rhythm.
These Incidents do not tend to happen when we are 3 or 4 up and cruising.
So we do get wee breaks but just not when we actually nhave a need for them normally.
The bad breaks on the other hand seem to come at the worse times?
Had they given a foul on Meekings he was off we would more than likely put away the resulting penalty and killed the game stone dead as a contest.
They that is the 6 of them knew this and I think it was a factor in their decision making process.
Of course none of that can be proved beyond doubt but in the words of the SFA on another matter “the balance of probabilities” probably say that there is some truth in that.
It’s more plausible than 6 Professional people failing to see what 22 players 10’s of thousands in the Ground and several million watching on did see.

Half_Fool
8 years ago
Reply to  Charlie Saiz

Spot on Charlie.

8 years ago

Easy…Free-kick tae Oldco, Samaras looks like he could be about tae handball it, and that’s all the evidence you need.. THE SFA, CHEATING CELTIC FOR 100 YEARS.

Paul
8 years ago
Reply to  Keighley Bhoy

Oldco ??? Can’t remember him playing for them and that doesn’t look like their badge ??!

binkabhoy
8 years ago
Reply to  Paul

Aye – it’s St J but it’s STILL a free kick to Oldco, Timmy! And a red card to the nearest Celtic player. Now, move along, Paulbrendankevinseandeclan, these things even themselves out….

Paul
8 years ago

Question … Are Regan Doncaster etc elected officials or is it more of a cabal type deal?
I ask because over here in Portugal the presidents of the FA and the Liga are all elected … Not by the fans unfortunately but by the Presidents or Chairmen of the member clubs.
About Regan .. Did he not write on his own Twitter feed that it was a PENALTY and that the AAR had made a mistake ?
If so …. How can they now say that “move along Timmy there is nothing to see” ??

mattgallscot
8 years ago

Throw in st johnstone. Obviously.

BoyneBhoy
8 years ago

Ball to face, not deliberate

Bhoris
8 years ago

Its not oldco we’re paying Keighley Bhoy but your answer is CORRECT!

mr greene
8 years ago

The ball hits him on the face , even me and my 5 assistants can clearly see that , no action required .

John Bhoyland
8 years ago

I think the decision was to play on despite the St Johnstone player handling the ball not once but twice. The ref may have been useless bastard brines.

Doc
8 years ago

New SFA directive: any team playing Celtic is allowed to have a secret second goalkeeper.

If anyone out there thinks we’ve had bad refs this season, then just wait until sevco get promoted. Fans with heart conditions should look away now.

The correct decision is a freekick to St Johnstone as Sammi has fouled the second goalkeeper.

Half_Fool
8 years ago
Reply to  Doc

Too true Doc.

the real anton rogan
8 years ago

Even though it is St Johnstone we are playing the chunts still gave a penalty to deidco

jebus
8 years ago

The correct answer is of course “A six game ban for Neil Lennon”

Steve Naive
8 years ago

I remember being taken to Cup finals at Hampden as a wean in the sixties and early seventies(once in the old North stand before I started going myself). It is everything about it, last game of the season usually, buses lined up along the street (Coatbridge), atmosphere the day before, morning of and walking up to the ground teeming with Tims, sellers, half cut men and singing, feck even remember getting a rosette ! Getting in and seeing the grass, the pish pipe band . Celts taking control and usually winning, lap of honour (until ruined by middens in 1980) anthem being sung and talking about the game after and getting the old pjnk or green citizen with the odd colour picture the next day. It helps form your reference points for the club and continues to foster our love of it. This is what was denied last Sunday for weans lucky enough to get to the final and for all of us. Given my fears about replacing current squad and further sectarian bias, because that what it was ,we might not get there again for a bit.

Charlie Saiz
8 years ago

On the Photo:
Samaras is clearly using the force to pull the ball into his opponents hand.
It’s an old Greek Jedi Football trick they teach in the schools.

mike annis
8 years ago

It’s obvious. Celtic player guilty of assault and battery, receiving stolen goods and war crimes.

hoopsbhoy777
8 years ago

sammi gets sent off for being deliberately in the vicinity

basqueceltic
8 years ago

Are yez all blind Sammi’s offside.

Lenny Bruce
8 years ago

Whatever happened in that game is irrelevant.

The correct decision was penalty to Rangers.

Brencelt
8 years ago

He has clearly grounded the ball with his hand. No doubt about it, SFA rule book, section 1690 states:award 5 scores to St Johnstone for the try with conversion to follow. Simple really. Now if Samaras did that, then obviously a straight red.

tom campbell
8 years ago

Serious question.

How many ‘officials’ were employed at Hampden? Everybody mentions six as the number but that means one referee, two linesmen, one fourth official, and another two ‘assistants’ (one behind each goal). Were there not TWO assistants behind each goal?

However, if a stubborn referee chooses to ignore advice from all of them, what is the point of paying these men surely exorbitant fees to watchh the game?

greenmaestro
8 years ago

Penalty try and a scrum 15 yards from teh touch line awarded to St Johnstone

deadhead67
8 years ago

obviously a red card for sammy,for forcing a defender to handle the ball

JonjoKSG
8 years ago
Reply to  deadhead67

Aye, very droll ya troll.

Half_Fool
8 years ago

The referee was looking the other way at the time. He was still tempted to give a penalty against Celtic, but it wasn’t a Zombie FC game. Went to a tribunal at the masonic temple….sorry, I mean Hampden. After lots of to-ing and fro-ing between the League and the SFA; they decided on death by crucifixion after flagellation for the King of the Greeks.

EffBomb
8 years ago

There appears to be a confluence of interest for the DR going after Stewart Regan at this moment in time. Regan needs to perform a fit and proper test on the glib one. Perhaps a different chief executive would be better suited for the task.

Cartvale88
8 years ago

The assumes bias of the MSM is unclear, just look at the Record’s latest news
Celtic player done for shoplifting a jacket in Harrods.
Could it be Broony, could it be Commons, no it’s a player who is currently playing for Blackpool and was at Parkhead for a short period, Blackman, enough said!

8 years ago

Ralph

Do you repeat yourself in the Diary so that your mother-in-law can be sure she got what you called her right? 🙂

“And to ask again, what exactly does this man Regan think he’s doing to our game?” – exactly what all the MSM award winners HAVE BEEN DOING TO OUR GAME FOR DECADES, b***y destroying it. That’s what, Jackass. I often wonder if I miss anything by not reading any mainstream papers. I now have my answer for two key reasons the content and the “writers”. I was cynically amused to read Jackass using the phrase “planet fitba” as though he had conjured up this nifty phrase all by himself. Phil Mc Giolla Bhain has used it in his blogs since he began. Nothing like a bit of Jackass innovation to get the juices flowing – or should that be the slabbers dribbling? – and display his regular hypocrisy. On Monday I would have raged about the comments proliferating in the media from such as Jackass and the many snivelling lice now crawling out of the “journalistic” woodwork and about every wanna-be arse licker drooling at the opportunity to “guff off” in the hope of a place at the mutton dinner table (lamb is off the menu now that Big Mike is the only cash cow in town and he is a media vegetarian). But now I am calm, cool and collected and can make my judgements without your mother in law having to read my lips to protect your delicate sensitivities, Ralph.

If hypocrisy is the fortress of contradiction then what we are witnessing and experiencing at this moment is the Stirling Castle of Scottish football journalism. I have not yet seen or heard from any individual commenting on how Celtic is destroying the game who has not played a significant part either directly or indirectly, individually or collectively in the slow disintegration of Scottish football in recent times, ex players and an old boys network of a now deceased club, journalists, officials, authorities etc., etc. It is this insanity that keeps me sane and this outrage that keeps my rage in check. A hint of truth in any of the accusations would so disturb my conscience, I would be obligated to reconsider my allegiance to Celtic. I hope the last statement confirms how ludicrous this whole media onslaught has become.

I know everyone at Celtic is hurting. An almost certain treble seems to have been “stolen” from us. In spite of the many opinions expressed on here, in truth we will never know for sure how or why it was done. However, one certainty is, in the final analysis, one incident will not assure the actual outcome. So, often the not knowing is harder to live with than the reality. But in spite of how we all feel, I think the more important consequence of last Sunday’s penalty incident is its defining impact on the need to challenge the football authorities more robustly, their status, their competency, even their necessity and their apparent agendas, but also our detractors in the media and footballing fraternities that have for such a long time worn a size-fits-Celtic-only boot on their right feet for as long as I can remember. It looks as though the club are annoyed too and we must channel that frustration into the action we have asked for for quite some time now. It is time to face up to this almighty challenge together and to fight against the bias (and bigotry) as a united front. The ring of the worm can has been pulled and the top is open wide now and it is in our hands what or what is not let out.

“I thought he was just checking if the baw wis bust and there’s nothing in the rules that says that’s a penalty.”
or “He says he’ll keep the baw if a gie a penalty”.

H H

Charlie Saiz
8 years ago

On Keith Jackson:
There tends to be good reason why Jackson appears to come out with seemingly fair calls now and again..
Generally what happens is the very seem week he will use the logig applied to the current SFA Debacle to justify an injustice his beloved wee team in Blue have apparently suffered from these same people?
Cue the Dave King Decision debate and Keith using the Meeking disaster as to why the SFA should come to the right decision and give DK his rightful spot at the top of the Marble Stairway to Mordor.

Just see if I am wrong 😉

Jackson a sleikit cunt.

Jb
8 years ago

I was at that game in line with the 6 yard box facing this outstanding tackle. I think he played on. If I remember correctly he bounced the ball basketball style. The ref was not that far away. Not much has changed.

8 years ago

CAPTION: To quote an old Tim down the pub … “Send Lennon off!!!” (He said it ironically any time a Hun fouled or dove …)

8 years ago
Reply to  kingsnake

Or, indeed, anyone from any other team. He was wee bit jaded …

M200KLB
8 years ago

In the old days, before rangers died, bad refereeing decisions always balanced out over the season for the “old firm”.

Every wrong decision against Celtic was always balanced up by a wrong decision in favour of rangers.

Thomas Boyle
8 years ago

Sadly I think think Jacko’s motives may be hidden. I think he is angling to destabilise Regans position while they are trying to shoe horn sir Glib and Shameless into the fit and proper mould. I think Jacko is hungry and he has a hankering for the most succulent Sud African lamb

Charlie Saiz
8 years ago
Reply to  Thomas Boyle

Indeed he does.

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