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Meet the ref- honest Craig Thomson

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FES Celtic news Craig ThomsonSunday’s Rangers-Celtic match will be Craig Thomson’s first Glasgow derby since his atrocious display in October 2009 which saw Rangers win 2-1.

Since then Thomson has been consistently woeful and just as consistently rewarded for his performances with high profile matches and put forward by the SFA for international appointments.

Even amongst the recent catalogue of refereeing nightmares Thomson’s last derby performance stands out.

Twice in the early stages Shaun Maloney was sent tumbling in the penalty box but rather than award Celtic a penalty and send off a Rangers defender only Maloney found himself in Thomson’s book.

Within 24 hours of the final whistle shamed former referee supremo Hugh Dallas issued a half hearted apology saying that Celtic should have had one penalty.

With Rangers two goals up, due entirely to Celtic’s own defensive problems, Thomson finally did award Celtic a 25th minute penalty which Aiden McGeady converted.

Having set an early standard in incompetence Thomson’s proceeded to blunder through the rest of the match.

Davie Weir seemed immune from punishment despite repeated fouls on Scott McDonald, Kyle Lafferty’s x-rated challenge on Zheng Zhi went unpunished with Mark Wilson also booked for simulation.

The card count at the end of the day was the only contest that Celtic won which is a common theme in games refereed by Thomson.

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Casting a neutral eye over that match last October was Motherwell manager Jim Gannon who was amazed by the display that he witnessed.

Two months after the match in the middle of a war of words with Dallas the Motherwell manager claimed: “Dallas had to defend the referee because the result of the game might have been different if he’d got his decisions correct at Ibrox.

“Celtic might look back on that result at the end of the season and decide that Ibrox in October is when they lost the league championship.

“There’s a question mark over the standard of refereeing in Scotland and the mistakes that are being made are having an effect on the league table.”

Rangers won the championship by six points.

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Craig Thomson booking Celtic playersThomson’s performances haven’t improved over the last 14 months with his most recent Celtic match still to be fully dealt with.

Neil Lennon was ordered from the technical area by Thomson after the referee overlooked a deliberate handball by Ryan Stevenson that could have given Celtic a penalty and a chance to salvage something from the match.

A charge of excessive misconduct is still hanging over Lennon almost two months after the match.

In the spirit of The Scotsman newspaper it should be pointed out that Thomson is employed as a lawyer with Forth Electrical Services.

Click here for photo gallery of Thomson at work.

As a company with five offices throughout Scotland Thomson’s work takes him into contact with a number of different types of business with FES currently carrying out extensive repair work at Ibrox.

Why the SFA have put a referee in charge of a match in which the company that he works for has a working relationship with one of the competing clubs is beyond explanation.

The lack of suitable referees created under the Dallas regime is a major issue for the SFA to tackle but whoever decided that appointing Thomson for the Glasgow derby really should explain them self.

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Even the most famous referee of all-time Pierluigi Collina had his career come to a premature end due to a conflict of business interests.

In 2005 the Italian Football Federation decided to raise the retirement age for referees in order to give Collina an extra season at the top level.

Collina however agreed a sponsorship deal with Opel, sponsors of AC Milan, backed by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, which set off the alarm bells within the IFF who are well used to dealing with scandals.

Despite pressure from the IFF Collina refused to cancel his sponsorship deal with Opel which forced him into retirement.

After Sunday’s derby clash at Ibrox Thomson will return to the day job at FES with no-one at the SFA having the foresight to prevent a clear conflict of interest.

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0 comments

  • Mike Bhoyle says:

    Some things will NEVER change Joe…until there’s a complete clear-out of these cheating scumbags…
    In a perverse way…I hope he fecks up against us on Sunday…be interesting to see what happens then….
    Oh …silly me…I forgot…he’ll apologise on Monday !!

  • Tax Tambo the Antom says:

    The man is an out and out cheat who will do everything within his power to ensure that the 3 points stay at Mordor.

  • Scooter says:

    Excuses coming in already

    Scottish referees are the finest and most honest in Europe as all reasonable supporters acknowledge

    Excellent

  • marcella says:

    Scotland has had an anti Irish/Catholic agenda for years, how some people find it hasn’t been going on in football adds insult to injury,

    Why are rankers the only club happy with the so called grade 1 officials?

  • Joe says:

    Why are we looking for excuses even before a ball Is kicked?

    Rangers are awful. If we lose to them we can’t keep blaming the refs, IN ADVANCE!

    We all know there is still corruption at the headquarters, but we should be good enough to overcome a very poor Rangers side even with the ref being biased and corrupt.

  • seltikbhoy67 says:

    Kenny fa@nyBaws clarke says all you need to know in his column;

    The SFA by appointing Thompson are sending out a message, Yes they are clarke Fan@yBaws, its called a Two Fingered message, ‘ Back in yir place Timmy ‘.

    He also tells us how Thompson is the best ref in Scotland, Well there isn’t much competition clarke Fan@yB@ws is there.

    This guy will not be messed with f@nnybaws goes on to pre-warn us, he throws the odd rankers booking in from the past, but Me and you know what is going on here.

    A lot of people seem to be just focussing on Thompson, But the linesman is one Martin Cryans. I actually fear him more than Thompson.

    He runs a company, which isn’t worthy of a mention, and they offer crisis management services to the SFA in there times of trouble the last few months.

    This BagBaw is very Anti Celtic, He was very much active during the propaganda assault on our Club during the Dougie Dougie/Dallas comedy show.

    How these lot can be appointed to officiate a Celtic game again never mind a Derby game is beyond me.

    With Dullarse just having lost his appeal over last month’s RESIGNATION, yes appealing a resignation, they think we button up the back,Who is it that is actually doing Dullarses old job ?

    If a was a flush with cash with maybe a spare £Thousand pound or so, I’d place several large bets on Thompson giving a red card out to Celtic this Sunday, Get him the publicity O’Reilly got. Any millionaires out there with some lose change lying around ? Lol

    A lot of celtic Fans very apprehensive going into this game, Well yes we ravaged with injurys, then international duty and one captain suspended.

    But who are they ? They rank rotten, apart from 2 decent performances this season, United Home, Well away,They are running on fumes.

    If we can contain 4 players, miller, davies maybe naismith if he fit and the Hot and cold little horrible imp weiss.

    That’s there threat there in a nutshell, miller got transfer on the back of his mind, he off this month, and he knows any injury will put a stop to any transfer, Go get him big Dan.

    A 41 year old CH,& one ok defender in the Winker. This game for the taking Celtic.

    They need these 3 points desperately as from here on in its all uphill for them.

    Many players they going to lose january, There 2 games in hand are two away hard games to United and St Johnstone. A point for us tomorrow is like a victory for us. The 3 points is an added bonus.

    Then there next month or so is a very congested fixture list, We strengthen in a couple of positions then we capable of taking the treble.

    We Top of the league, then they got there HMRC tax issue due next month, The pressure is mounting for them.

    Plus the fact that we only half way along in the season, with 2 more Derbys after this one, Bring it On !!

    I wish you’s all a Happy and prosperous New year Fellow Celts, keep the faith.

    Seltikbhoy67

    Hail Hail

    Forever Celtic

  • Scooter says:

    Think Rangers will win 15-1 with Kylie scoring ten

    Happy new year from Walter’s Champions League aces

  • Martin says:

    I hope it is a good clean game, with lots of skill and passion.

    It’s a shame Seltikbhoy67 has to come out with comments like;

    “…miller got transfer on the back of his mind, he off this month, and he knows any injury will put a stop to any transfer, Go get him big Dan.”

    What’s that about by the way, is this “the Celtic Way” that I hear some supporters talk about?

    Try supporting a non old firm team to see how it is to be harshly treated by refs. Celtic get just as many decisions for them as Rangers.

    Mac,
    Ross County fan

  • Danny says:

    Mac the ‘Ross county’ fan must not have watched too many Celtic games! I would love to know what these decisions Celtic get in their favour are

  • Joe McHugh says:

    Mac’s views are probably in line with most supporters who get fed the ‘two sides of the one coin’ line from tossers like the BBC

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