Apoplectic, incandescent and pure raging are three phrases that could have been used to describe the majority of Celtic fans mood when leaving Hampden on Sunday.
Of course, I can only speak for myself but I’m beginning to wonder if what Neil Lennon said on Twitter is correct. He stated that these “honest mistakes” could be personal.
It may or may not be but true but given the things that have happened up here in Scotland to him, I can’t blame him for thinking it’s a possibility.
Usually, after a game, I can go home and watch a re-run or watch highlights or whatever but not this time round. This morning, I still feel as annoyed as I did when I left the stadium.
From reading various tweets, I know that there’s a bit of a split in the Celtic ranks. Some are saying that the semi-final match result it’s Neil Lennon and the teams fault for not playing at the top of their game.
I don’t think it’s realistic or fair to expect them to be at the top of their game every single time they play but of course we all want to see the team perform well.
Regardless of team performance, we expect the officials to do their job well or at the very least to do their job in a consistent manner.
I feel that if the decisions were given correctly/ consistently yesterday, we would have had enough to get by Hearts and on to the final.
Please keep in mind that I haven’t watched any highlights prior to writing this, that’s intentional. How Euan Norris can possibly give a penalty v Celtic and not v Hearts is beyond me.
The incident at both ends of the pitch are very similar and it’s not as if Norris is the type of ref who doesn’t give out penalties very often. He’s given five to Rangers in three matches.
Some of the more ‘paranoid’ supporters amongst us may wonder why he’s given so many for Rangers and not in favour of Celtic? In the Celtic matches he’s handled the only penalty was given against Falkirk in the League Cup semi-final when Thomas Rogne was wrestled to the ground at a corner.
On the way back from Hampden, I heard Alan Thompson talking about Joe Ledley being lucky not to have had a nasty injury. After seeing the pictures, I share his opinion.
Victor Wanyama was sent off for less at Ibrox so how can a Hearts player not be sent off? The usual argument for that is that it’s two different referees and they may have different opinions. To me, that’s a rubbish excuse to brush things under the carpet. It’s two men employed by the same organisation to apply the same rules to a sport.
I tweeted @StewartRegan to ask what is going to be done about corrupt officials and if he was part of it. Not surprisingly, I’ve received no reply.
The next talking point amongst some fans was Neil Lennon running on to the pitch to confront the referee. If the ref done his job honestly and properly, that wouldn’t have happened.
Although I am of the opinion that Neil should put an official statement out through the club every time we have such ridiculous decisions going against us.
Yesterday, I said that as a matter of principal, I’d like to see Celtic resign from Scottish football. At the very least, if we need a league to play in then resign from the League Cup and Scottish Cup. Does anyone know if we have a contractual obligation to play in them?
That’s not a knee jerk reaction, that’s something that I have wanted to happen for a long period of time.
Apparently, Scottish football needs both us and Rangers. Well, until such times that it can treat Celtic in a fair manner, I’d prefer not to allow us to be used as advertising tool.
If the game can’t survive without us then it’s perhaps time for us to show that we will compete in the country but only on a level playing field.
The obvious questions will arise, move to where etc? I don’t know where and in my head, I know it’s unlikely that we will ever get out but I guess I can only dream.
Taking of dreams, one thing that isn’t a dream, it’s reality and that is the that for the season 2011 – 2012 Celtic FC are league champions and there is absolutely nothing that the SFA/SPL can do about it. Unless they decide to deduct points from Celtic as a punishment for us being cheated. Probably should keep that quiet though as I don’t want to give them any more ideas.
CLICK HEREÂ for spot-kick Norris strikes again
CLICK HEREÂ for Lennon, Ledley and Thompson hit out at decisions
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i think its time to employ blind folk as referee’s in the scottish game. atleast then we kno it genuinely was an honest mistake.
how does hugh dallas’s opinion even count in society anymore after disgraceful resignation?
i thought that here in northern ireland it was corrupt but we got nothin on scottish politics.
disgrace!
neil does need to take a step back tho. all the rats in society are rubbin their hands with glee at the way in which he been expressing himself lately, even some of our own fans – yes, you kno who im talkin about & u really need to take a long hard look at urselves aswell.
I feel that Lenny had no option but to say his piece in the full glare of millions.
Look what happened last time at Mordor.
He did it the right way, and was sent off for something he didnt do.
The forces of darkness backed the ref (with thier lies)
And Lenny will face further sanctions.
Doing it with the crowd and cameras around is the only way to ensure he is not punnished for crimes he did not commit.
Pad
UFB
Stephen agree wholehearted with you we must look at our position within scottish football and society,
There has know been a concerted attack on our manager since Dougie Dougie the media has to lookat its self honestly, sorry theyd;nt know the meaning of honesty,the days of doffing your cap and looking at the ground is over, we have fans if|I can call them fans who give ourmanager a hard time, I would not blame him if he walked he has had to fight our corner himself, I want our directors to stand up for our club.
Has our owner said anything lets stand together show sfa/spl we mean to fight only had we Bob Kelly he must be hurting, rankers are in trouble the headlines is LENNON no more doffing caps
I think a good place to start going forward from this would be to teach our referees the rules of the game. A decent, knowledgable referee who knew the rules would never have given a penalty for either of those handballs, Ledley or victor. Neither of them were intentional, which is crucial when awarding a penalty. By the rules, these handballs were not penalyies.
I realise that there are a lot of other issues involved, but until we have a solid foundation of referees that actually know what they’re doing, nothing is going to get better.
I also think NL would get on a lot better if he calmed down a bit after the game then put his complaints in writing, in a letter to the ref and the SFA explaining exactly what he thinks the ref did wrong, for example, “the ref, who was unsighted, gave a penalty against a player with his back to the ball, who couldn’t see the ball and made no attempt to deliberately touch the it. This action broke everyone of your laws about awarding a penalty. Can you please explain how this can happen ?
Just because your paranoid doesn’t mean it isn’t happening! Having viewed the penalty decision many times I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever the referee deliberately cheated.
I think there is a bias deep rooted in the sub conscious of most referees in Scotland that tells them to make crucial decisions against Celtic whilst convincing themselves they are being fair. Watch out for all the refereeing decisions going our way in the final league matches of this season that mean very little.
In EVERY important match involving Celtic you can be guaranteed a Celtic player will be sent off, a dubious penalty will be given against us and any obvious claims for a penalty will be denied. We have to aim for 3 or 4 nil to achieve 1-0 or 2-1 victories.
well said mate we only get decisions in games that dont matter! time to resign from this masonic league!
You two guys must have read my mind. My mates are getting sick of me saying we need to win 3-0 to get a fekn draw.
After the last o..f…game the meeja eejits.rat hack pack,running dog,latop loyal,lickspittle,scots fawning creepoids(to coin a phrase.so to speak,as it were)kept saying,they MUST obey the letter of the law.after the hearts game they,r saying….its all about how the ref see,s it this time its about interpretation…whats going on here.it means they can do what they want when they want to.
It’s a given that NOBODY will oppose them ,cept lenny and he,s such an easy target….whats up with our high hied yins ……thier silence is noted by its absence…….of course they may be holding there fire to see what occurs with that little problem over in govan way…….if they even think of voting to keep that shower in the sfa …..there may be trouble ahead……methinks….i agree that we seem to get nothing decisions awarded….but in meaningful games nowt, nada,zilch…….(sorry thats that paranoia again folks)……as for leaving “WTF”nae fekn chance byriway….we are here and my fellow tims and here we stay……for 800 hundred years…and……800 hundred more…..i sure enjoyed that hope you did to…i had to inject a dod of humour ….just to keep me sane…..yours in celtic…..gbnl+stan…hh…mon the hoops…tal….t.c.
For the last time ,members of the celtic board.GET SOME NUTS AND CONFRONT THESE BASTARDS WHO HAVE A SECRET WAR AGAINST OUR CLUB>IF YOU DONT THEN YOU LOT ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM AND NOT THE SOLUTION>
Neil lennon makes a complaint in the same way that many other SPL managers have and once again we have former referees ,the media ,pundits all giving their opinion or being given room to voice their opinion in a manner that realy does prove that it is personal , is there ever the same reaction when someone else questions referees ,do we have the same demonisation of one man..NO but it was Neil Lennon so that makes it ok ,its headline news IT IS PERSONAL
Nice for ex refs to find so much time to speak to the media when it’s Celtic. Strange how they are NEVER as forthcoming when it’s Rangers.
The masonic media love to demonize Lenny just as they did Artur Boruc. You are right John, IT IS PERSONAL. There is a brutal campaign against Lenny who’s “crime” is telling the truth. Having red hair and going to church on Sunday’s don’t help much either. If it ain’t blatant cheating then are we to believe it’s just sheer incompetence, and coincidentally these “honest mistakes” always just happen to occur in important matches against Celtic? This is not a new phenomena, I thought the cheating peaked while Tommy Burns was in charge, but Lenny’s team is getting treated the same way if not worse.
Swings and roundabouts? Not that I can see. Swings and swings and swings and swings in one direction but NEVER goes roundabout.
Let’s be fair for a second and look at this swings and roundabouts. So, when was the last time an “honest mistake” cost Rangers a game? Not just a “big game”, but ANY game? Personally I can’t remember.
Now let’s look at the number of times these “honest mistakes” that have cost Celtic dearly. We could reel these off in dozens from the last 3-4 seasons.
Check the pic above….did the ref even see the incident???
The most diabolical decision in the game, was the deliberate hand ball by that thug Black a second booking and automatic sending off,although every body at the game and watching on tv knows he should have walked for the fist tackle! When we thought the ref was the only ONE at Hampden who chose not to see the hand ball, his assistant 2yards away DECIDED not to see it either! HOW BLATANT CAN THEY GET? But the DALLAS led Media chose to focus on Neil Lennon,Not the deliberate decisions of a BENT REF and his linesman.
Hurricane,Stevie wonder would be a better and fairer ref.Agree with everyone of your points.
The problem I have with this game is that Lennon gave everyone an excuse not to talk about the referee. If he had managed to keep calm send out Johan or Thompson to do the media work then he could have collected his thoughts and had a constructive discussion the following day but no he went off on one and that gave our media, as if they needed one, to talk about anything other than the decisions that were made during the game.
The exact same thing happened in the so called ‘shame game’ of last season.
If he had laughed in McCoists face after the game the only shame the media could have talked about was the behaviour of city cousins.
The big irony is that, after the cup final, we had Stuart Dougal in the paper telling us exactly why it was not a penalty in the final minute. Fast forward to today and he is in the media, not talking about the decisions of the referee, but air brushing over the decisions and discussing Lennon’s behaviour.
Hugh Dallas suddenly is back on the scene accusing Lennon of ‘bullying’. Forgive me but is this not the very thing he was accused of prior to his departure from the SFA.
If Lennon learns anything from this it is that he has got to start playing these shits at there own game. For foxes glacier mints Neil wise up.