With a consistency the Scottish refereeing community can only dream of, the Diary returns, just in time for Scottish football to go into meltdown.
It usually does when a few certain stars align.
Are they skint ?
Yup.
Are they going to end the season empty handed ?
Looks like it.
Are all their players about to walk away ?
Only the ones who can find new homes.
Shares issued to cover cash shortfalls ?
Millions.
And are they blaming someone else for all of this ?
Celtic winning 3-2 at the weekend has driven them not only over the edge but hurtling into the abyss below.
Ange Postecoglou , in the aftermath, praised his players and since then has been concentrating on the next game, a tricky fixture on at Carpet City , Kilmarnock.
He never stops, especially to talk about things he can;t change.
In the meantime, over on the other side of the river, “rangers ” wrote to the SFA demanding to know why Alfredo Morelos was adjudged to have fouled Alistair Johnson, which meant his early goal didn’t stand.
The SFA replied that Alfredo Morelos fouled Alistair Johnson, which meant the goal didn’t stand.
Not happy with this, unsurprisingly, “rangers ” had a moan about Jota handling the ball in the lead up to the second goal, when he didn’t, and demanded clarity on whatever it was they wanted clarified.
No one paid particular attention to them, which is a sign that the events of 2011, when they were shovelled into European competition despite having a crystallised tax payable, ( the resolution 12 issue ) isn;t going to happen again.
What might happen, and it seems to be what they want..or need….depending if you’ve seen their accounts…..is a referee who won’t apply the rules if they don’t favour the hordes in the upcoming semi final, another must win game for them where no doubt they will set up to frustrate Celtic, essentially trying not to lose the game , instead of winning it.
Though I’m not sure how their new superstar Todd Cantwell will go about that. He reckons Celtic didn’t win the last encounter, which could have led to some embarassment at the bookies when he took his “winning ” line in to be paid.
Incredibly, James Tavernier has said that we’ll see the real Rangers in the semi final, which is pretty much what he says before every game between the two sides.
Presumably he put a few quid on him reaching 100 goals for the club/company and is using his winning to bring the real Rangers out of liquidation.
Happy face painters everywhere.
The papers , or at least the clowns they wheel out to write for them are unanimous in their claims that “Pep ” Beale got his tactics spot on, and that the inconsistent refereeing is at least partly to blame for his third consecutive failure to win a Glasgow derby.
They have a point. It was inconsistent, and based on these two videos, it is a bit of a shock to us how Morelos had his goal cancelled.
So you can probably understand why they’re threatening and abusing Kevin Clancy, the hapless referee…..
Celtic’s ‘fouls’ v Rangers on Saturday part 1.
Amazing. pic.twitter.com/IDQouysDZb— Lint (@Zeshankenzo) April 10, 2023
https://twitter.com/i/status/1645503018232676363
This one, as they say, beggars belief…..
Davies taking out Kyogo from Saturday Celtic v Rangers game.
No red, no booking, no foul. pic.twitter.com/BhNBNtAJwE— Lint (@Zeshankenzo) April 10, 2023
Instead of getting into a slanging match, Celtic are just quietly going about their business.
The other lot, however, from boardroom to bar-room, are going doolally.
Even more doolally than usual.
And the media are right behind them…..
They can’t bring themselves to say that it’s “rangers ” fans doing the abuse, making the threats and generally steering the game towards the cliff edge…again.
Then again, when handed the evidence of wrongdoing the last time, the story of the biggest scandal in sporting history , certainly this side of the Atlantic and probably the other side as well, they refused to run with it.
The guilty parties, who presumably had their reasons……
…are as much to blame for the mess that if not already damaging our game, is certainly about to spill enough bile to choke it.
They include the BBC’s Tom English, Richard Gordon and Richard Wilson. At the Record there was Andrew Rennie, the tehn sports editor. He might still be, but like thousands of others, I don;t read it any more.
Grant Russel and Peter A Smith at STV, which could have run the story, and no one would have noticed anyway.
Paul Hutcheon, Grame Spiers and Gerry Braiden are also among the front runners for the Woodward and Bernstein bravery award, and lets not forget Matthew Lindsay, who at least has the excuse no one reads what he writes anyway.
We can never know if things would have been different had the story been taken up and investigated by what I hesistate to call professionals, but they refused nonetheless.
Maybe the outcome would have been a fresh start for the game, with an administrationthat cared about honesty and integrity.
Maybe even the perception of fairness and a level playing field would have been enough.
Instead we’re getting the same old shit in a different decade.
and that’s down to those who still wallow in it, because they haven’t got the balls to shovel it up.
Problem with the Media is that they know their demographic and feel that they have to play to it.
For most, given that they’re The Rangers supporters they embrace the Hun narrative.
One of the reasons why their circulation figures are circling the drain
Welcome back Ralph! Great read…..
100 goals 53 pens. Who would have thunk it?
Can you imagine if Johnston had pushed Fat boy the exact same way? Are you telling me that ‘they’ and the media wouldn’t have been screaming for a penalty
Here is an idea out of left field… As the UEFA competitions use neutral refs .. could that be expanded to the leagues ? In Spain Barcelona is being accused of collusion, In Portugal Benfica are being accused of collusion, Down south we saw what happened with Brighton .. yer man Conroy is talking about a possible ref strike.. so here is the idea.
Week 1 in Germany they use Spanish refs, In Spain use French refs , In France Dutch refs etc
Week 2 Germany then would use French refs etc etc .. so every week there is a different nationality and therefore fans could not complain about any possible bias, the refs would still ref matches therefore they would not be punished or anything, plus who knows with less pressure there may be less mistakes ?
I think that sounds like a great plan! Surely in view of refereeing complaints/issues from so many different countries UEFA have to get involved and start taking some remedial action? Mind you in view of the competency shown by the Scottish refereeing fraternity (pun totally intended) I have a feeling they would struggle to get gigs as they currently don’t get any ( I dont think) UEFA or FIFA ‘call-ups’ ! Maybe they will be offered some additional training in the rules of the game as they don’t seem to have much knowledge of these atm. The semi- final coming up will surely demonstrate this in glorious technicolour! Mind you if the safety of their families are at stake that’s probably to be expected! Wouldn’t count too much on Police Scotland doing much about current threat level either!
https://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/23346892.rangers-boss-michael-beale-fires-celtic-var-pressure-warning/
Hypocrite
It’s laughable to see the basket of assets asking for “clarification” of refereeing decisions. If all the teams who played them did the same after playing them the SFA would be very busy and actually find some real concerns. This is all about putting pressure on the semi final officials. An attempt to influence decisions before a ball is kicked. It’s real desperation tactic. We keep beating them and they will never admit that we are simply just better. Anyway onward to Kilmarnock
Comments still obscured by grey cross hatch pattern. Any explanation? Or fix?
They “greet” more than Neilson and at least he moves on and without any love letters to the SFA.
I feel there is an imminent implosion on the way as Park and some other director, which I can’t be bothered to look up, are moving on…Jelly & Ice cream anyone?
Hearts axing their head coach was the decapitation I’m here for and added to the weekend’s jollity.
And I bet the decapitated head is still greetin’ about Kyogo’s goal being offside.
Such a pity for Tavpen’s theory, that the ‘real Rangers’ died in 2012.
Hail Hail.
Still also can’t read because of grey bars, any update?
You don’t seem to get it Ralph…those names you quoted are not all afraid to write the truth, the majority of them are of the same “ethnic persuasion” as most of the refs and they hate Celtic and adore the blue and orange mob.
Fair point Funkyy, but the the salient point is that the Journalistic Profession requires them to be impartial when relating the News.
No bias, no subterfuge and no setting or fuelling of Agendas.
The Newspaper owners can legitimately set the tone for editorial skewing. It’s their paper and if you read it often enough you know the Political stance it takes and you have the choice of buying into it or not.
A Profession like Journalism requires Integrity as one of the main characteristics. FACTS are FACTS. All else is nothing more than PR Spin.
The journalists all have a choice to make. Do they want to relate the News impartially or do they want to be Marketing / PR Assistants?
We all have choices to make in our Jobs / Careers and there is always a qqtipping point when our own moral code is tested. Our responses are the measure of our self worth.
The are reporters are either Journalists or Churnalists. They can’t be both and still be worthy of our respect. That why the SMSM is headed for oblivion probably faster that the Print Media in general. There will be no successful transition to the Digital Media for them. All they are heading for is a limited employment printing Copy & Paste material.
Why would we trust their online output enough to subscribe?
Apologies for the Typos. When are we going to get an edit function?
Agreed.
Spot on sir. It does not help that they all drink from the same trough and self protection goes further than physical harm. To them Scottish football is gravy train.