The most cynical among the Celtic support have been proven correct- Alfredo Morelos will receive no retrospective punishment for the various assaults carried out on Celtic players during the Glasgow derby.
No comment or statement has been issued by the SFA but the word put out to their trusted media outlets are that all incidents were viewed by John Beaton and no action is required.
If Morelos is in the clear it is surely time to re-educate Beaton and his refereeing colleagues. Twice the Ibrox striker kicked out at opponents, Scott Brown and Anthony Ralston plus an attack on the genitals of Ryan Christie.
Bizarre interpretations of their own rules has become the norm at the SFA since Dave Murray started dabbling in tax scams. Already this season three players have been given retrospective suspensions for offences committed in matches against Celtic.
Going on today’s ruling we have to believe the following
a) Bobby Madden didn’t see Scott McKenna’s waist high attack on Odsonne Edouard
b) Willie Collum didn’t notice Steven MacLean grab Eboue Kouassi by the genitals
c) Kevin Clancy didn’t see Dolly Menga attempt to head butt Ryan Christie
In incidents b and c the referee called the offenders over and opted not to make the appropriate punishment. Clearly all three incidents were viewed by match officials but the wrong punishment was applied.
All that is required is for Celtic to highlight the discrepancies. If retrospective punishments apply to incidents missed by the match official then that clearly wasn’t the case with Clancy and Collum.
If Beaton viewed all four Morelos incidents and decided that none were worth a word of warning or even a yellow card the SFA has a massive problem on their hands.
Only Celtic’s silence from asking the obvious questions ensures that these honest mistakes continue, if Celtic’s chief executive isn’t prepared to go public and question his colleagues at the SFA then honest mistakes will only escalate as other referees ‘do a Beaton’.
