Celtic Diary Monday October 19: So, It’s Not Just Fitba Refs.

Away from the football, Scotland played a rugby world cup quarter final yesterday, and in time honoured fashion, snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Although a spirited and inspired performance against a team of greater technical ability, the Scots put on a terrific show, and were only beaten by a dodgy refereeing decision.

In Rugby, a referee can halt proceedings and watch an incident again, in order to make sure he gets it right. He is aided by other officials in a wee room with a telly, and linked up by radiomike.

However, the incident which led to the last minute Australian penalty isn’t one that he could have called a halt for, and so controversially , the aussies got the penalty and won the game.

So it appears that tv reruns aren’t perfect either.

And anyway, if the facility had been applied to , say the Motherwell game on Saturday, and referee Alan Muir could have watched a rerun of say, the foul on Scott Brown, his colleagues in the wee room, say Willie Collum and John Beaton, supervised by Calum Murray, would have probably decided on a booking for Brown and a touchline ban for Neil Lennon.

Actually, the truth is that Muir felt a bit of rectal wind coming on, and asked a Motherwell player to pull his finger…

What you will notice is the clamour for the rugby ref to explain himself, and the demands for him to be expelled from the game. A bit like they don’t do in football, because in football these things even themselves out, you know. It’s just that anti Celtic decisions are on a two hundred year cycle, and we can expect to get a dodgy throw in sometime in 2188.

Although Campbell Ogilvie, still being kept alive to prevent any investigation into tax fraud at ibrox, , and consequently still in  in charge at the SFA, will probably cancel it on appeal.

As James MacLean, the Ireland winger who has been the subject of abuse himself, said on twitter;

Wail til wer goan for 10 n a row. Sevco refs will be thruwin da ball into our net!

Never mind. Celtic might soon have friends in high places.

Former defender Ramon Vega has decided he may stand for the soon to be vacant  Presidency of FIFA.

He said;

 “I come without baggage and I have substantial experience from both football and in finance.” 

I would have thought that mentioning anything about experience in the world of finance where FIFA were concerned would induce a sharp intake of breath at their headquarters, but it seems not, and they will discuss his candidacy later this week.

In political circles it’s not unheard of to go for the middle candidate, in order to unify all factions involved, and someone with a spotless public record might just be what the game needs to help clean it up.

With Blatter’s reign likely to come to an end, and allegations that Platini has been just as careless with money, then perhaps we will see the big man as the new boss of world football.

Bookmakers and league sponsors Ladbrokes are determined to move away from the controversy surrounding their refusal to take bets on under pressure Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes being the next SPL manager to be sacked.

They have a competition for “fan of the week ” , and just look at the delight on the face of the wee boy who won it when he was told his prize was two more tickets to watch Motherwell.

While Ladbrokes are obviously, in their minds at least, doing their bit to get kids interested in the game again, they could maybe have got someone else to write the piece which accompanied the article, which appeared in the Record;

But a quick bit of advice for the kid, no point getting upset by a Celtic defeat, wait until you’re being beat 5-0 at home to Kilmarnock on a freezing December night. 

Yeah, that should give him something to look forward to. Still, I suppose it’s better than having to go to Kilmarnock, without artillery support and helicopter back up.

Of course , heading to the football is usually safe , and we can rely on the police , for instance, to assist if you suffer some sort of medical emergency, perhaps in immediate need of assistance.

Such as happened after the Motherwell game, where a man collapsed and was in need of help as he left the ground. This was spotted by the police, who took prompt action and chased a supporter who had had his photo taken with a celtic player during a lull in play, as the Celt warmed up on the touchlines.

Thats pepper spray, presumably used in the absence of halls methol lyptus to help people breathe more easily, and thats officer 2358 who’s take on the incidents after the game should make for intersting reading.

Police Scotland.

Even as we speak, the high heid yins  are deep in discussion about the incident

The next ten  days or so sees Celtic battling in three tournaments, starting with the Europa Leaguye on Thursday, where the hoops face Molde, a norwegian side who everyone thought would be there to make up the numbers, but who have, in fact, recorded the only win in the group so far, a stunning 3-1 crushing of Fenerbache.

Match reports from that one indicate that the Turks couldn’t handle the morwegian sides  “strong, mobile front pairing “, which means we might as well see what else is on tv Thursday night.

But Celtics away form in Europe, although lacking in victories, isn’t bad at all, and it will only take the smallest of steps to lift it up and earn a potentially season defining win in Norway.

And with Ronny Deila being a norwegain fellow, then there’s no doubt he will be on personal terms with everyone at molde and probably know more about them than he does Celtic.

I thought i’d get that in before some clown in the papers makes the absurd connection that despite being at Celtic for a while, ronny still has his hands on the tiller over there.

No doubt Deila will not need to study footage of Molde’s 3-1 win over Mjondalen at the weekend, as he knew beforehand what the score would be and how they would play.

The rest of us, and the MSM , will be wondering who the hell Mjondalen are.

As for Thursday, I’ll wait and see who is fit for the game before deciding how far to sit away from the telly, and how many fingers i’ll need to cover my eyes with.

Though I doubt i’ll stay in that position for long. Especially if we score.

The picture quiz yesterday may have been a little easier than  thought, as I hadn’t noticed the answer printed on the side of the image.

Never mind, here’s a picture that needs an explanation.

And i usually bought all the official singles released by the club.

Must have missed this one.