Despite a flurry of honest mistakes from Bobby Madden Celtic defeated Motherwell 3-0 to rack up their tenth consecutive win in the SPFL.
A double from Kris Commons and an own goal from Stephen McManus stretched Celtic’s lead at the top of the table to 13 points over Aberdeen.
2013 was a year to forget for the Lanarkshire whistler but despite the benefits of a five-star training break in La Manga with fifty fellow officials he turned in a dismal performance from virtually the first whistle.
A second half red card for Anthony Stokes is likely to be the most talked about incident but there was a series of other decisions that made supporters wonder how Madden has made it through the ranks to the pinnacle of the Scottish game.
The most incredible decision occurred late in the first half when Motherwell ‘keeper Gunnar Nielsen touched a dropping ball over the crossbar. Corner almost everyone in the stadium anticipated but Madden pointed for a goal-kick indicating that the keeper had touched the ball after it had gone over the woodwork!
Minutes later Madden was awarding Motherwell a corner after an Ian Vigurs fizzed a low shot across goal with Fraser Forster adamant that he hadn’t touched the ball.
Rounding off his first half misery Madden opted out of red carding Nielsen after the keeper sent Stokes tumbling to the ground in the penalty box. Stokes was shaping up to go round the keeper and while it would have been a tight angle for the striker to hit the net from it was certainly a goal scoring opportunity denied.
There were numerous other incidents throughout the match that illustrated that Madden doesn’t have the ability to read the game and apply the laws.
Celtic fans are often accused of being bad losers blaming honest mistakes when their side fails to win.
Not for the first time this season the club has been on the wrong end of some horrendous decisions, last month Stevie McLean failed to award two penalties in the corresponding match at Fir Park when Stevie Hammell handled a cross and Teemu Pukki was chopped down. McLean awarded a corner for Hammell’s handball and booked Pukki for simulation despite clearly having his legs taken from him.
Finding referees isn’t an easy task but with Madden clearly way out of his depth questions should be asked about how he has worked his way through the system to be given the task of refereeing matches among the top teams in the country.
Do you need an answer to that question. Bigoted corruption covers it all. Hh
Spot on. The reason he has made it to the level he has, is simply because he ticks all the right boxes in the bias and bigotry categories.
Unbelievably bad performance by the ref.I dont know how he gets away with it.
Disgraceful performance but is this any real surprise !!!!!
Same old story from the men in black
At least he can tell his mates at the lodge “I tried my best”
So when do the Refs get asked to take a 15% wage decrease…???
Maybe we should ‘Lodge’an appeal 😉
The Refs aren’t bigoted, they are just shite!
Nah scratch that, they ARE bigoted AND shite 🙂
neil said after his performance at paislely when he redcarded wanyama and gave st mirren a penalty that he was appaling sorry neil he was not that good
Good article,Joe.
I like your line, ” benefits of a five-star
training break.”
Fleming, had the cheek, to say, the other
day,” our refs are doing well domestically”
It was,as if, Madden was going out his way, to annoy Celtic players and fans.In
the space of 5 mins, he somehow managed to get 3 corner kick decisions
wrong.
The red for Stokes seemed harsh,and he
called play back,when Celtic had an advantage.
As for the game,best home performance
in the league.
But, yet again, relying on Kris Commons
for the goals.
Just think,how many goals could we score
if we had a quality striker ?
Joe do you not stick up for your East Kilbride mates wee bobby ur neighbur no talk to u, also d;nt go into the monty, or salmond fur a juice, Hughie wull be proud of him dougie dougie will cover for him, saw murderwell mainger on park shaking hands I think or whisting he wrist
A 3-0 win, so where is the problem, cant we not get back to talking about our team, why are we are going on about the big goalie being adamant he didn’t touch the ball, who cares, surely commons with a double again is where we should be looking.
I disagree Jimmy, if a referee & linesman can’t spot a goalkeeper slapping a ball over the bar, there should be concern & discussion!
The thing is Madden admitted to seeing the keeper touch the ball, he just indicated that the keeper had used his Inspector Gadget arms and touched it when it was already over the bar and out of play. That would be a first in world football although Madden may well define it as a “World Record”.
If he was a frying pan he would not be non stick.
Haw haw haw.
Or perhaps a kettle with a whistle calling the pot ian black
Another ref straight off the Hugh Dallas conveyor belt of pish hun sympathizers, best way to combat the HONEST MISTAKES is to pump 3 good goals past any team, KTF
Dallas is a bluenose scumbag and the best way to beat these cheats is to hammer them with a few great goals. I remember Jock Stein saying at times you have to beat a team and the so-called “officials” which is 14…hail hail
Has Stuart Dougal came out and said the ref got all decisions correct?
Bobby Madden’s performance was a complete embarrassment to Scottish football. Surely he will never referee again. He is either completely incompetent or a blatant cheat. One or the other.
He has all but guaranteed he will be a regular official of Celtic and Sevco games, his only contender will be Dallas Jr unless someone else can step up their ‘honest mistake’ tally.
I blame the masons personally
Madden is trying to put himself in the frame for a potential Sevco-Celtic cup tie
Lasleys hand ball was incredible,Stevie wonder would have spotted it… Scary.
As has been said before if Celtic play well enough, the referee doesn’t matter. If we get decisions against us, it should inspire the players to better efforts. Stokes’ sending off was a result of his own stupidity, needless tackle, reckless possibly a yellow but he gave the referee the decision to make.
We played well, Motherwell to their credit also tried to play some decent football, expose some weaknesses in out setup by targeting the full backs at cross balls.
Keep our focus on the football we play, not on the officials…let the results do our talking and become distracted by minor events like a corner, throw-ins etc. Managers & players make many mistakes also during a game, have bad days, make bad decisions that’s football.
It goes without saying that the main focus should be on the team and how they play but that doesn’t mean we should turn a blind eye to the abysmal standard of refereeing which seems to get worse by the week. Especially as all too often it involves the same officials that have been or are being fast tracked through the system. Madden is a prime example of that.
There will come a time that no matter how well we play a game will rest on a referees decision, it may not decide the league but in a one off game it could be the difference between winning a cup or a treble and when that happens the referee will matter.
Accepting that mistakes and occasional bad decisions are part of the game is one thing but not holding referees to account for continuous incompetency and ignoring the questionable promotion of referees who’s abilities don’t justify it is not an option if we want the game in this country to improve.
Hail Hail.