For the hard of thinking it was very predictable that Celtic copped the blame for the Notice of Complaint issued to Josh Meekings.
Falkirk are the obvious beneficiary of the move with the defender having only himself to blame.
Boasting about the incident when he handled Leigh Griffiths’ header in interviews wasn’t the wisest of moves, posing for pictures waving his arm with supporters wasn’t particularly clever either.
While he feels sorry for himself he can perhaps enjoy the win bonus he’ll pick up for the victory over Celtic while his employers prepare to cash in commercially with a split from the 30,000 gate expected at Hampden next month.
With attention temporary on Meekings Celtic have still to receive an answer to their letter- 48 hours after the match a member club has still to be told why a penalty incident viewed by 90% of people in the stadium wasn’t picked up by their elite officials.
Last week virtually no-one inside Celtic Park noticed Kris Commons score Celtic’s equaliser against Kilmarnock, 99% thought that the goal was scored by Scott Brown.
In a crowded scene at the edge of the penalty box under the floodlights it was difficult if not almost impossible to detect that Commons had struck the ball into the net.
Sunday at Hampden was a totally different scenario- bluntly there are no excuses for missing the detail of the incident- especially when the SFA employ an additional assistant referee specifically to spot these type of incidents.
As the pundits and apologists attempt to claim that ‘For a millisecond Steven’s view wasn’t 100%’ and other nonsense the truth is somewhat different.
The incident happened in 3D not freeze frame. Anyone within 20 yards of the incident will have seen clearly the direction of the ball changing as it struck Meekings with the movements of his arm and head easy to follow.
There are only two possible reasons to explain why neither Alan Muir and Steven McLean awarded a penalty- they either missed the handball or they saw it and decided not to award Celtic a penalty.
If they couldn’t see the incident they should both be taken off the SPFL list, denied the high profile matches that they revel in with no more European trips to enjoy.
If there is another explanation for missing the incident then another can of worms opens up but we’ll await the response from the SFA to Celtic’s letter.
Referee’s need to know that there are no excuses for missing incidents like Meekings handball- nothing, it’s cut and dried and if they don’t apply the laws of the game someone else will.
As Celtic await a reply from Hampden Meekings is a distraction, a side show. An explanation from McLean is what’s required- whatever his answer is it’s unlikely that he’ll be dispensing his interpretation of the rules anywhere near another Celtic match.
