Once again an honest mistake from Willie Collum has proved costly for Celtic.
Despite a sub-standard display from every area of Neil Lennon’s side the champions elect were denied an injury time penalty when Anthony Stokes was felled in the box by Kilmarnock defender Michael Nelson.
Typical of Collum, modelling the style perfected by his mentor Hugh Dallas, no penalty was given. Stokes was booked and Nelson stayed on the park.
There would have been no guarantee that Celtic would have won the match in extra-time if the penalty had been converted and Nelson red carded. With James Forrest hobbling through the closing stages Celtic were effectively reduced to ten men.
“It is a criminal decision and it has cost us the treble,” Lennon said straight after the match. “It’s a stonewall penalty. It’s a shocking decision, absolutely shocking.
“He’s clean through, he’s holding the boy off, the player lunges at him and takes his leg away and doesn’t get anywhere near the ball.
“So it’s a penalty and a red card, in the final minute of the game where we have banged away at the door.
“And to rub salt in the wounds he books Anthony for diving which is awful refereeing. There’s no way Anthony Stokes would go down clean through on goal.
“Nelson’s reaction; he knows he has given a penalty away and he is hugely relieved. I couldn’t believe the decision myself.
“I shook Willie’s hand at the end of the game because I wanted to act in a dignified manner and I thought overall he had a decent game but that is a big call in a cup final and for me he’s got it horribly wrong.
“I might speak to John Fleming (the SFA’s head of referee development) and get his opinion. They might see it differently.”
Using his twitter account Stokes said: “Any1 that thinks I wud dive wen I’m 1 on 1 wit d keeper needs their head checked. So disappointed but we still have so much to play for
Collum’s actions won’t come as a surprise to any Celtic supporter. His rapid rise through the ranks certainly hasn’t been based on ability.
In his first derby appointment in October 2010 he awarded Rangers a penalty for an incident that he had his back to, with Kirk Broadfoot lying on the ground he elected to give Rangers a penalty.
Last January at Hamilton saw a similar level of performance from the rising star of the refereeing circuit.
With the six yard line to help guide him Collum allowed a Simon Mensing headed ‘goal’ from a free-kick to stand. Later in the same match he booked Niall McGinn for diving in another clear error.
Celtic picked up one point out of six from those matches and lost the title by a point.
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He could have been justified not giving a penalty as contact was on the other side of the player tackling from his viepoint.
Booking Stokes gives us a clear idea of his mindset for the same reasons.
That said, we were poor and congrats to Killie.
We need to buck our idea’s up for next week.
We need out of that poxy league. We’ll always be up against 12 men while the SFA control the standards of refereeing.
If that had happened to the orc’s gollum yeah the wee troll would be demoted in the morning.
what a cheek these celtic people have,they want to join an english league though they sing songs of hate against our queen, our scottish and british soldiers, our british establishment, they hold banners at games and wont stand for a minutes silence on poppy day, and they want us english to welcome them with open arms…i say let these hypocrytes stay where they are
Why would a class club like Celtic want to go to the English League where the ref’s are just as biggoted and corrupt as Collum? Celtic shouldn’t stay in the Scottish League(s) either as Collum’s “antics” on Sunday proved what many have known for years – that Scotland now has one of the most Corrupt and Sectarian “establishments” (SFA and Media)on the planet. We need to be part of a Scandenavian/Northern European League. END OF
I think jimmy the bigot has a point ,we do have a number of people who do our club no favours at all.The negative influences they bring to us is a major problem and most definitely hinder any progress we may seek as regards getting out of this present set-up.How are the many thousands of celtic supporters and relatives feel when they hear this poison and hatred ,who have family serving in a war which is causing so much much heartbreak.By the way ,jimmy, dont get too comfortable because the group that you represent are the most god awful people any human being will encounter.
Can’t blame the ref for the defeat, if we rely on a 93rd min pen to beat Killie in a cup final , we don’t deserve to win !! Missed chances cost us not Collum!! He’ll always give other teams the benefit , incase he’s percieved to be bias towards us, the press will tell you he’s an RE teacher at an RC High School, that’s their euphemism for bias!!
what about the over the line goal for rangers at celtic park,what about the over the line goal hearts got , as in lennons own words, SOME GO FOR AND SOME GO AGAINST, games over and he should let killie have there day
Just who are you, exactly? Collum’s brother?, agent?. Lennon DID give Killie – both players and manager credit as did most (99%) Celtic fan’s but he was SPOT ON to criticise Collum. How many more times must Celtic be cheated by Collum? Before Sunday it was League games NOW IT IS A CUP FINAL – at least it can’t be a Champion’s or Europa League game.
Wb, I understand where you’re coming from. We were poor and should’ve taken our chances, but just because we were poor and didn’t take our chances doesn’t mean we didn’t deserve the penalty. At the end of the day Killie played well and congratulations to them, but the fact remains…. we were denied a penalty which would’ve made it 1-1 at that stage. HAIL HAIL!
The man is an out and out cheat.
Well done Killie.
IT WAS A PENALTY!. The defender had his back to collum,so how could he make a decision off his own back?.It was a guess.He should be down- graded to taking charge of lower league games.But… that wont happen!.
Yes, Gollum was his usual honestly mistaken self. Inconsistent in his decisions depending on the colour of jerseys. But the fact remains, we turned in a desperately poor performance and didn’t deserve to win. Cammy Bell’s performance probably warranted man of the match, but at the same time, we were wasteful and ineffectual in front of his goal. Killie wanted it more and got what they worked for. We didn’t play to the required standard and got what was deserved.
Kudos to Killie who came to have a go and did, Hooper who has been off the boil for a few weeks now should have written his name on the cup in the firsy 5 minutes.
Yes it was a stonewaller but when you leave the decision until the last minutes of the game that’s the chances you take.
Sadely the treble is gone so lets get it right for next week
Apart from the opening 5 mins we were disjointed and lacking in ideas. Killie had a game plan and kept plugging away. We caused our own downfall and should not waste time pointing at others as we only have ourselves to blame.
Get it right OFF the park or make the changes required to right the wrongs before it’s too late…today we failed to adapt.
It was a penalty, but that can’t disguise the fact we were rotten yesterday, have been for a few weeks now. Anyone who thinks Stokes and Hooper are top class strikers “are deluded!”. The SPL is weaker now than its ever been since its formation, but thankfully the hun’s have been destabilized enough to give us the championship after four years.
IMO – Lawwell, makes Cambell Ogilvie look like a reputable character.
Yeah right Mac. And Adolf Hitler was really quite a nice guy when you got to know him.
What a crass,stupid,ignorant,statement re lawwell!
you are NEVER a Celtic supporter.
Mac, apologies but you’re talking crap to an extent. Yes we were poor and haven’t been great for a wee while. Yes the SPL is poor. Yes it should’ve been a penalty. Yes the huns are awful now.
But Hooper and Stokes ARE class strikers. They are going through a bad patch and they were dire yesterday but it won’t be long until they’re back to scoring for fun.
Your comment about Lawell baffles me…. explain what he’s done that’s so wrong.
All I’ve said is with respect btw.
But Hooper and Stokes ARE class strikers – In a pish poor SPL ..
Both of them would struggle to get into double figures between them in the EPL…
Lawwell, has earned his salary of four years of abject failure and pandering to plastic paddy element of the fan base in hiring rookies like Lenny and painter and decorators as coaches.
Forgive me for being so brazen, but I’d love us to start acting and playing lie a big club again.
Maybe I should just lower my expectations?
“hail hail”
oh the epl, the epl get a grip mac!! maybe you should try being a fan instead of lowering your expectations!
it was a penalty stonewaller .doesn’t take away from the fact that we were very very poor today all over the park.lets get our act together and go to the debt dome and do our job
Willie’s a goof! Not surprised! We didn’t deserve that game though! Thoughts and prayers with Kelly family! Congrats Killie!!!
I feel the criticism of especially Hooper is a bit OTT….reading he has been off the boil for a few weeks. But my reading of the games is that he is being starved of any real quality service. He missed a great chance yesterday, which he was alert to intercept a crossfield pass and should have scored with ease/ But in previous games he has hardly had a decent opportunity, striker thrive on service / chances….we are simply not getting the best from the quality players we have at our disposal.
Our central midfield is just not operating as effectively as it could. Switching Forrest to the left wing just takes him out of the game and closes down that avenue. Commons on as a sub ? He still looks 2-3 weeks short of real match fitness / sharpness. Mulgrew has been superb in central defence so why shunt him to left back to accomodate a weaker player in Wilson ? Ledley is far better in centre midfield, breaking into the box and doesn’t have the pace to operate wide left or left back.
agree with basically all you have said willie apart from hooper has been rotten for weeks and has no one to blame but himself!! no movement, rotten first touch and a general lack of effort. he needs dropped to realise no performance, no game!!
Wilson is should never be at celtic.
Sure it was a penalty, but the game should have been won by a margin of three or four goals based on opportunity alone.
Collum wasn’t the reason we lost. Sure, he was pretty blatant in his denial of a penalty that could have brought us back into the game, but we may also have msised it. Contentious decisons are in every game and we have benefited from a couple this year, but Collum frankly is a cheat and needs to be carpetted for this non-call, but the ganme should have been well over before they scored. Hooper should have scored with the gift he received inside the first five minutes, but set the tone for the rest of the team afterwards.
Yes, Collum is a cheat who set out to defy us and he succeeded, but we assisted him all game long.
I agree.collum is a cheat,and people should keep alog of all his honest mistakes against Celtic.
As someone who was fortunate to live through the stein years,we had a referee called j.p.gordon from newport-on-tay who when off the park was saying to people in the game that as far as he was concerned ,celtic werent going to win a corner if he can help it.A family relative who was an ex- player informed us that one of big jocks shortest team talks were always on the day that he was officiating at a celtic game.he would draw the players attention to who was the referee and say, Lets make this yins life hell today so get out there and pile them in,which the records the did.
Collum’s not a cheat but he is a total twat. It’s obvious to all that he’s obsessed with not wanting to be accused of bias towards us. He’d rather do what he did on Sunday than be seen to make an ‘honest mistake’ in our favour. Anyway, congrats to Killie, they deserved it.
Condolenses to Liam Kelly and family: it brings it all into perspective.