Well, give it a couple of days and the media will have ramped it up a bit.
Domestic invulnerability came to and end at Easter road yesterday as Celtic failed to overcome a resilient Kevin Clancy who stubbornly held on to earn Hibernian a point.
Scottish referees are noted noted for their ability, which leads to questions about their loyalties, and there can be little doubt that there should be questions asked about the whistler.
The poor man couldn’t make up his mind which of the clubs with Irish roots he should upset the most with his decision making…so he decided to even out the mistakes, although it’s notable that he saved the most inexplicable ones for Celtic.
Hibs boss Paul Heckingbottom-you can get ointment for that- got sent off for kicking a water bottle at an official, but still found time to moan.
“Listen refs have bad games, make bad decisions, and you know I don’t’ come up here and moan about that. We should have had a free kick then straight after that, Glenn Middleton goes through, Mortiz Bauer gets across slips and brings Glenn down, but they get the free kick so it is building.
“Literally phase of play, good press, we win the ball, break then five seconds later it is called back for something the fourth official has seen.
Could it have been an “infringement ” ?
“Then that is not transmitted to the players. Some of them think it is a drop ball and they are getting the ball back or something. Others understand it is a free kick so it was a shambles. A farce, that bit of play.
He’s got a point, referees do need to be clear about their decisions, especially during the game.
“I didn’t know that the water bottle had happened, I think it hit the linesman, so I shouldn’t have done that. But it was for confronting the fourth official, like I say because it was him who gave that goal.
“There’s a swear word in there. It’s his fault. That’s what I said.”
Then there was the Olivier Ntcham incident, when the Frenchman confronted a Hibs player with his fists and grabbed him by the throat, a clear indication that this set of players will not be bullied or intimidated, something which clearly affected the Hibernian game plan.
“He should have been sent off three times. For the three punches. That is the worst one and that is the biggest injustice. Refs get things wrong and we should have dealt with it after he gave the free kick, we will be looking at why we didn’t deal with it and why they scored.
“But that, everybody has been let down by that, everyone. All the supporters, all the players, everyone connected with the club. Listen, there is an incident, a couple of arms thrown. He can claim he hasn’t seen it fine but the fact he is actually stood right there between the two players when the third one comes in on the end of his chin, so you tell me why it isn’t a sending off.
“Everyone can see it, everyone. I am up in the back of the stand in the top row and I can see it, I saw the first two as well. Everyone makes mistakes, everyone has bad games. But there was something different about that. That wasn’t right, that. “That is what has let everyone at this club down.
“I’ve not spoken enough about the players yet about what they did well and why I am proud of them, but the overriding emotion is that we have been let down as a club by that.
“You know what you have seen, probably the wrong man is here, because only one man can say why it is not a red card. That is just the injustice that I am feeling right now.”
No point in asking Clancy, it’s not like he would know the rules.
Neil Lennon had something to say as well… which, of course , we can’t repeat here, but we can tell you what he said to the media.. after Celtic were denied two clear penalties which could have changed the game…
The one on Moritz Bauer is a clear penalty and the one on Christie is a clear penalty.
“We didn’t get a stonewall penalty against Kilmarnock, anyway, that’s not the reason, well it might be, why we dropped points.
“They were not debatable penalties, they were clear penalties and would have changed the psychology of the game.
“Our finishing in the final third wasn’t there, it was a little bit flat, we looked a little bit slack.
One could argue the European game was on their minds, or that simply it was just one of those days, but looking at the big picture, it’s still an away point at a difficult venue, and Celtic were never going to win every game this season.
Not with this set of referees, at least.
“The referee got a lot right but in my eyes he got some big decisions wrong.”
If you count turning up at the right ground at the right time on the right day, that is.
Lennon also conceded that Olivier Ntcham may well have been out of order..
“You’ve got to keep your hands down. ( no, not you, Fraser )
“I’ll speak to Oli about that, I don’t know what the provocation was. Maybe both players merited a yellow card.
“There was a lot going on out there today.”
Strangely enough, as anyone who ever travelled on Virgin trains going from Glasgow to Crewe will tell you, everyone remembers the reaction, but no one considers the provocation.
Players such as Vakoun Bayo also came in for criticism, which os a shame. The poor lad needs confidence, as after all he only made the bench because Leigh Griffiths has a clause in his contract forbidding him to play against his parent club.
Well, its done with now, and it’s allowed the Gerrard juggernaut to move within one point and one goal of Celtic, which has set some hearts all a flutter.
The new “rangers ” swept to a 5-0 win over an injury hit Aberdeen, helped by the SFA decision at shortly before three to lighten up on penalty claims.
It’s all good down Kinning Park way…
Whereas for Celtic, it’s just one problem after another..
The link up with an Indian club is interesting, it is a club, by the way, and not a takeaway on the Great Western road, as it continues down a path that many other European clubs have taken.. and every single one of them has gained absolutely nothing from it.
As for the Celtic support, some of them kept the faith by demanding Kris Ajer be dropped, Scott Brown be put out to pasture, and poor old Moritz Bauer to be sent back to Stoke, a punishment which no one deserves.
I found an old twitter thread from 1966 , when the hoops lost to Dundee United for the first time of two that season, and it makes for interesting reading…as you see, the more things change the more they stay the same…
Stein needs to be a bit more streetwise..this attacking football is pretty to watch, but leaves us exposed
Too right, mate, that defence is shocking…john clark is only using us as a stepping stone, he’ll be away at the first sign of a big cheque
Tell you something else, if Joe McBride gets injured, we’ll win fuck all this season.
Never mind Clark, what about McNeill ? Never a centre half ! And Gemmell needs to be told he’s a defender.
Heard Jinky was out on the lash again last night
Guys..calm down. Freak result…Dundee United won’t beat us again
Stein out ! He was a shite player as well.
You get the idea.
Never mind, back to the 21st century and there are tales of a takeover bid that simply cannot be ignored.
We hear-we literally heard someone say this-that someone is in the middle, or maybe at the start, or perhaps nearing the conclusion of, a move to buy out Dermot Desmond and take control.
The big question is, will Willie pay Peter enough to keep that heated driveway heated ?
Of course, it could all be bollocks, and remember where you read it first, but there are too many stories about new ownership in the ether to ignore them.
And they are increasing in frequency…
Scottish footballs search for investment and a new sponsor for the league continues, and it’s a relief to hear they won’t be considering this rather shady bunch…
Oil company Petrofac, owned by Ayman Asfari who has donated £860k to the tory party and met Johnson, has had a £1.6b oil deal backed by the tory govt and underwritten by the UK taxpayer despite being under investigation by the SFO over bribery, corruption and money laundering
Oh , hang on, let me re write that..
Scottish footballs search for investment and a new sponsor for the league continues, and it’s a relief to hear they won’t be considering this rather shady bunch again….
Oil company Petrofac, owned by Ayman Asfari who has donated £860k to the tory party and met Johnson, has had a £1.6b oil deal backed by the tory govt and underwritten by the UK taxpayer despite being under investigation by the SFO over bribery, corruption and money laundering
One would not like one’s club to be associated with that company, as indeed, no football club would like their name associated within the context of bribery, corruption and money laundering..
they can’t even use their usual excuse…
Two days of work commitments mean we have to go back to Thursday for this image..
Caption : ‘Hud on Shuggie, how about we just start a fire to get the kettle on
Today…