Footage has emerged of the brutal attack on Stephen Welsh by Shaun Rooney, late on in Celtic’s League Cup semi-final win over St Johnstone at Hampden.
The Celtic defender lay flat out on the pitch for a couple of minutes as he received treatment and looked groggy as he was led around the pitch after being substituted.
Referee Nick Walsh had a clear view of the incident, as did his assistant on the North Stand, the PE teacher from Bearsden decided that yellow card Rooney who completed the 90 minutes with Celtic having to seriously reshuffle their team with Nir Bitton dropping out of midfield to partner Cameron Carter-Vickers for the best part of 20 minutes.
Hopefully Stephen Welsh is ok especially as he was having an excellent game. Yet another player injured and no red card given, it’s embarrassing now ????? pic.twitter.com/CUoyRRBsNi
— AM ??????? (@annemarie6377) November 20, 2021
Should Celtic call out Walsh over his failure to protect players?
Yes, Celtic has a duty to their emplyees/players
No, these things even out over the season
To anyone that watched last month’s SPFL match between the two clubs the incident won’t be any surprise. In that fixture Chris Kane kicked a grounded Carter-Vickers twice then pushed his hand into the defender’s face. Walsh saw it clearly and booked both players.
Walsh isn’t afraid to show a straight red card, at the start of October he sent off Ryan Porteous at Ibrox for a challenge that didn’t even make contact with his opponent. Earlier in the match John Lundstram escaped punishment for a brutal lunge at Josh Doig.
Celtic chairman Ian Bankier was warned about Walsh’s failure to protect players at the club’s AGM in midweek. Apparently that incident is a source of deep concern to Bankier.
Last night it was a source of deep concern to Welsh as he dealt with a serious elbow attack on his lower jaw, we’ll see if his pain results in action from Bankier and the Celtic board.
I take it Welsh got a yellow card as well for not getting out of the way.
The referee “Mr Walsh” was so concerned about a ST Johnstone player he “Mr Walsh” stopped play.
A CELTIC player gets attacked and is so badly injured he has to be substituted, where was the referee ‘Mr Walsh’s’ CONCERN
If I remember correctly the StJ player didn’t sustain a head knock only a face knock and Celtic were in possession heading fast towards the opposition goalmouth. I didn’t feel the “injury” merited the game being stopped.
It’s about time Bankier came out in public and slated Walsh and then get the argument rolling with the powers that be to end all this one sided unfair play.