{"id":6987,"date":"2015-04-21T11:56:55","date_gmt":"2015-04-21T10:56:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etims.net\/?p=6987"},"modified":"2015-04-21T12:02:03","modified_gmt":"2015-04-21T11:02:03","slug":"celtic-diary-tuesday-april-21-celts-protest-to-sfa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etims.net\/?p=6987","title":{"rendered":"Celtic Diary Tuesday April 21: Celts Protest To SFA"},"content":{"rendered":"

I said I’d be back to my normal cheery self today, and I was, right up until that song came on the radio.<\/p>\n

All about the base , no treble my arse.<\/p>\n

In the aftermath of the shocking standard of refereeing at Sundays Scottish cup semi final, where Steven Maclean continued his one man mission to ruin Celtics season, the club have written to the SFa demanding an explanation. I’m not sure what was in the letter exactly, but I do know they didn’t go with my draft, which began;<\/p>\n

Dear Cheating Hun bastards,,\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Though I can’t think why.<\/p>\n

By the way, for those who think I’m harping on a bit about this, consider this tweet from the Huddleboard, which has been described as one of the most thought provoking Celtic forums. ( Well, thats how I just described it, anyway, )<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n
\"\"The Huddleboard<\/b>\u00a0@<\/span>huddleboard<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00b7\u00a0<\/span>38m<\/span>38 minutes ago<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Don’t tell me I’m paranoid when the man who administered the majority of the hun’s EBT cheatathon is the fricken’ president of the SFA.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Celtics statement said;<\/p>\n

WITH the Club being inundated today, Celtic can confirm that it has written to the SFA regarding yesterday\u2019s match and in particular the incident involving Leigh Griffiths and Josh Meekings.<\/em><\/p>\n

First and foremost we absolutely congratulate Inverness Caledonian Thistle on reaching the Scottish Cup final. They are a fantastic club and reaching the final is a great achievement. \u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

However, given the level of reaction from our supporters and across football, we are duty bound to seek an understanding of what actually happened.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

We have not been given any other specific explanation so far and this is simply to understand\u00a0the circumstances of what went on and why such an obvious error was made.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Fair enough. Its the opening slavo, and we await their reply with interest.<\/p>\n

If they haven’t replied within a fair and reasonable period, say dinnertime, then may i suggest a gentle reminder…<\/p>\n

Oi, you cheating hun bastards, I’m talking to you\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"angry<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0This time is once too often, maybe it’s because its so obviously cheating, or maybe its just that MacLean, whilst cheating in the public eye, hasn’t been called on to explain his actions to the paying public, that its hit a nerve.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Others have sprung to his defence, though.<\/p>\n

John Fleming, the chief of referees in Scotland, had an excuse ready, straight from the SFA handbook. SFA meaning Stemming Fenian Aspirations.<\/p>\n

“I don’t think there was anyone in the ground who would have thought it was 100% a penalty and sending off until they had seen the replay.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

I can think of one or two.<\/p>\n

“When you watch it again on TV you can see clearly that it has a handball, no question about that.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

“But that is most apparent when the replay is slowed down and you watch it again.<\/em><\/p>\n

He’s in charge of the referees. I might be on the point of spotting why they are all bloody useless.<\/p>\n

“What we do is speak to the officials involved, we take their view on what happened, we look at a freeze frame on the incident in question and we then look at their positioning.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Embedded<\/p>\n

Yes. Could be tricky.<\/p>\n

“Alan was a very short distance from the incident when it happened. For him to see properly when the ball was headed goalwards, he would have had to see through the head of the player [Meekings].\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Or he could have spotted the arm flying up, blocking the ball and then the terrified look on Meekings face when he turned to the linesman.<\/p>\n

“So I can see why in real time it looked as though the ball hit his face.<\/em><\/p>\n

If that is his honest opinion, then he needs to be flung out on his arse with the rest of them.<\/p>\n

“Steven could see through the gap in play as the game unfolded but there was a millisecond, a click of the fingers when his view was not 100%.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

No there wasn’t.<\/p>\n

“You need to be absolutely certain and if you’re not then you shouldn’t give it.”\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Really ?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The only person who can tell us why he didn’t give a penalty is MacLean. Until he does, he should be suspended without pay.<\/p>\n

Oddly enough, Fleming then goes on to deflect attention away, by discussing the introduction of video technology, and manages to shoot himself spectacularly in the foot, which resulted in a booking for Scott Brown.<\/p>\n

\u00a0“Dutch football ran a pilot last season with video technology and next week when the International Football Association Board convene it is one of the topics that is on the agenda.<\/em><\/p>\n

“There will be an exploration into the potential of introducing video technology going forward.<\/em><\/p>\n

“The SFA would back the introduction of it but it is something that we would have to trial and analyse results. There are some instances which are factual – a handball, <\/strong>an offside, a ball crossing the line – but there are other situations where you could haveten officials watch the same incident 10 times and still not agree.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Thats the point. It was a handball. That is a fact. Six officials missed it. Or ignored it, and we need to know which it was.<\/p>\n

Actually, we do know.<\/p>\n

And MacLean ?<\/p>\n

He loves us really…and this picture shows us just how much.<\/p>\n

\"Embedded<\/p>\n

so does this one, in fact, although picture two might go some way to explaining the venom in picture one.<\/p>\n

\"Embedded<\/p>\n

Watch again how Stefan Scepovic learned how the offside rule is different in Scotland from the rest of europe. And guess who was the referee<\/p>\n

Scepovic goal<\/a><\/p>\n

At the very least, the SFA should have realised that MacLean is prone to making mistakes against Celtic, and chosen another referee, thus avoiding any possibility of controversy.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Thats what would happen elsewhere.<\/p>\n

By the way, an interesting comment from Andy Docherty in yesterdays diary replies. Paraphrasing, but if Gordon was sent off for denying a goalscoring opportunity, how come the Inverness player got his shot in ?<\/p>\n

The collision came afterwards….<\/p>\n

\u00a0On with the inquest, as we need to get it out of our sysytems before tomorrow nights visit to Dundee, where we hear Ally Mccoist will be the man in the middle, with Jimmy Bell and Ian Durrant running the line, and Frank MacAvennie, a well respected media analyst and highly intelligent observer , speaking at the launch of something called Frank and Friends-they are all presumably in this picture;<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

had some advice for Celtics players.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just one of those things. Get over it, it\u2019s done and forgotten about now.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I’m assuming the going rate for talking to newspapers is roughly thirty pieces of silver these days.<\/p>\n

It’s not done, it’s not over, and its certainly not forgotten about. Every man who pulls on the hoops between now and the end of the season should remember the words of a true Celtic great, and not one who used to get on theplane to London after every game.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0And never has that been more poignant than it is now.<\/p>\n

You know, last birthday \u00a0my wife gave me \u00a0one of those George Foreman thingies that she reckoned I needed.<\/p>\n

A swift uppercut.<\/p>\n

Time for Celtic to come out swinging as well.<\/p>\n

On all fronts.<\/p>\n

The last picture quiz showed Jimmy Johnstone and Dixie Deans in the clours of Shelbourne. Who is this former Celt, in the colours of another Irish side, showing a little more wear and tear than his actual age would suggest ?<\/p>\n

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I said I’d be back to my normal cheery self today, and I was, right up until that song came on the radio. All about…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":6990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/etims.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/angry-mob.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2J7If-1OH","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6987"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6987"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6992,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6987\/revisions\/6992"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}