Since 2012 Celtic have been on mute about all matters related to the SFA, more so since 2015 and the Scottish Cup semi-final against Inverness Caley Thistle.
Inbetween times Bobby Madden and John Beaton were being fast-tracked through the ranks, hand picked from the all-powerful Glasgow and Lanarkshire Referee Associations.
At Hampden in 2015 Steven McLean went way over the mark, assisted by Alan Muir, Frank Connor and the whole network inside the SFA.
Celtic issued a typically weak statement requesting clarity for the Josh Meekings hand-ball, a year later McLean was rewarded with the Scottish Cup Final, the most coveted domestic match for any official.
That Celtic statement was ignored inside Hampden with a template in place. The SFA throw any dubious official Celtic’s way, if the level of online protest from fans about an honest mistake reaches a certain level the club issues a statement, everyone at the SFA laughs out loud and the incident is brushed aside.
At Ibrox in December 2018 John Beaton went over the top as Alfredo Morelos escaped unpunished for attacks on Scott Brown, Ryan Christie and Tony Ralston. Celtic issued a statement.
A year later Christie was given a two match retrospective suspension for an identical incident to one that was ignored by Morelos. Celtic mumped to their media chums and did nothing.
A fortnight after that match The Sun reported that the match referee visited the away dressing room to give Alfredo Morelos a third yellow card, that avoided the Compliance Officer getting involved.
And so on and on. Last season two Celtic matches were postponed in August because one player broke Lockdown regulations, in February six Ibrox stars were given Fixed Penalties for attending a house party, two months later they were suspended from a couple of matches.
Steven Gerrard’s side haven’t had a player sent off by a Scottish referee in 23 months, this year alone four have been red carded by UEFA officials. In their last 50 domestic games they have conceded just one penalty. The new Aston Villa boss is in for a shock.
This season we have seen a pattern where Celtic dominate matches with over 60% of possession but remarkably commit far more fouls than their opponents. This peaked away to Aberdeen when Bobby Madden awarded 27 free kicks against Celtic despite Ange Postecoglou’s side having 62% possession.
A month ago Nick Walsh watched Chris Kane twice kick out at a grounded Cameron Carter-Vickers. As the defender got to his feet a hand was pushed in his face. Walsh decided to book both players.
There are many more examples, with Celtic on mute opponents and referees know that anything goes.
Yesterday I had a dozen questions to ask at the Celtic AGM, some great pointed statements and comments were made by other shareholders.
When my first question about Financial Fair Play mentioned losing the title to a nine-year-old club Bankier wanted to move on, not the sort of ticketing or stadium capacity question that he likes.
I wasn’t being put back to my seat after one question. I asked the esteemed Chairman about Nick Walsh’s appointment for Saturday’s semi final against St Johnstone, about Madden’s display at Aberdeen.
The accident prone Celtic chairman provided The Sun with their back page story.
Under the headline of REF RAGE The Sun reports:
CELTIC chairman Ian Bankier has revealed that a recent performance from Premier Sports Cup semi-final referee Nick Walsh is a source of “deep concern”.
The Hoops chief was quizzed in the fans’ Q and A part of the AGM about an incident in a recent 2-0 Premiership victory over St Johnstone which saw Walsh hand out booking apiece for Chris Kane and Cameron Carter-Vickers.
Video footage later showed that the Saints striker was lucky to stay on the pitch – and Bankier admitted he was concerned about the incident.
Indeed, he said, the Hoops raise official concerns with SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell about the standard of refereeing on many occasions.
He also fielded questions from the floor about another referee – Bobby Madden.
On Walsh, Bankier said: “That is a source of deep concern. But we don’t run the SFA. “We are a member club of which there are others and we get our shout, we get our say. You can’t expect us with a flick of the wrist tell the SFA what to do and what not to do.”
He was then asked specifically on Madden, with Bankier replying: “Yes, you are always concerned about the referees’ performance. We make representations on a regular basis to the chief executive of the SFA.”
This season 16 referees have been appointed to Premiership matches, Madden was put in charge of three of Celtic’s first 12 matches.
As I’ve said previously Walsh is an ODIOUS LITTLE PRICK!! Do not give this Hun Bastard any cause to influence the game, 3-0 at HT.. Job Dun!!
Well done for standing your ground and asking more questions directly to the chairman as he was not very happy in answering them himself
Is it not about time var was brought in which would give us at least half a chance, then these so called honest clowns would have to think twice about the situation instead of continuing to call these cheating blatant acts for everyone’s eyes to see.
You’d think with all the claimed notes of concern the club would have collated them and presented them to the SFA with a call to reform.
More than 60 years of this pish in my lifetime ! Nothing will ever change until the backwater shithole is rid of the orange press, masonic establishment and Brit masters….and that wont be in any current Celtic supporters lifetime. Has to be beaten by a better team on the park. Only way.
I’ll get right to the point. CELTIC’S
“the board” response to (honest mistakes) by referees has given us the referees such as madden,beaton,dallas,mclean,collum,etc,etc. Had the board had a response such as referees have been “cheating us for years” the lot above MAY not have been fast tracked.
Oh that response about cheating came from Mr Gerrard on his very first interview after a game. No action taken by the SFA/SPFL after calling referees”cheats” rules are rules except when it comes to “the rangers”
It can be done , a guy at the AGM informed the chairman that Lazarus fc got willie gollum removed from their matches