There wasn’t much to be impressed by in Euan Anderson’s handling of the Celtic v Motherwell match on Sunday. Even something as simple as a short corner seemed to be beyond the understanding of the referee.
One incident involving Tom Rogic and Bevis Mugabe summed up Anderson’s day. With the Australian finding a pocket of space and about to get into his stride the defender crudely stepped into his path to body-check, instantly bringing the move to an end while sending a shudder through an opponent.
Typical of the referee he spent time giving Mugabe a quiet word, Motherwell players got back into position and Celtic had to rebuild from a free kick inside their own half.
Those sort of incidents infuriate players and fans, play is halted and a precedent is set. The message is out there that players basically get a free hit on an opponent with players like Rogic warned that they won’t be getting the protection they deserve from the Laws of the Game.
Over the course of 90 minutes Celtic enjoyed 71% possession yet managed to commit 14 fouls while just 10 fouls were given against Motherwell. It seems to be an increasingly common situation in Celtic’s domestic fixtures.
On Wednesday night Alan Muir will be in charge of Celtic’s match away to Ross County, Anderson will be at Ibrox for the visit of St Johnstone.
Another odd bit of refereeing yesterday, on 99 out of 100 occasions this would be a yellow card? I’m all for letting the game flow but come on Ref eh? pic.twitter.com/Fv4e28c8Hk
— Lisbon Lion (@tirnaog_09) December 13, 2021
That looked a painful dead leg tackle.
— Martin (@Martin06760198) December 13, 2021
It was a cynical foul, we were breaking on them as they’d committed too many players forward, it’s a stonewall Yellow card, by far the worst refereeing performance i’ve seen in years, for time wasting alone he could have booked 2/3 of them
— williams deadly oar (@OarDeadly) December 13, 2021
if rogic gets his pass away johnston is in on goal……clear yellow
— Jack Sullivan ? (@langerbhoy73) December 13, 2021
Couldn’t believe that wasn’t a yellow at the time. Referee way out of his depth.
— Mark Murphy ?? (@Markyjig) December 13, 2021
It’s the residual effects of these incidents not being carded.Ref sets a standard that allows hard fouls. Players continue kicking players until carded. Less chance of red cards more chance of injuries. Usually disadvantages the teams with more skill.
— magee (@Bhoys4life) December 13, 2021
Same boy does a big overzealous slide tackle 2 minutes later when we’re attacking. A tackle he wouldn’t have done if he had been booked.
— The Riff 3.0 (@TheRiff117) December 13, 2021
What’s odder is the fact @BBCSportScot sportscene highlights missed them all
— thecelts1967 (@GmThecelts1967) December 13, 2021
Same player fouled Turnbull in the 2nd half, had a go at him and Taylor off the ball and still no card. Anderson’s decisions yesterday were baffling and infuriating!
— Dave fae The Renton (@DaveTheWiserTim) December 13, 2021
Blame the board
To be fair, I 100% agree with the Motherwell manager. A 1-0 defeat was absolutely NOT the result Motherwell deserved.
The dominance Celtic showed was worthy of six or seven goals, not one.
Despite the fact that this referee looked completely stupid on Sunday, I believe that their is something much darker at work here. It would seem that the tactics from referees are common in every game.
Referees seem to disrupt the play from Celtic players as much as possible and book them if they get an easy opportunity. This may be because Celtic are considered the main opposition. They will not worry if it is obvious, because this helps to infuriate Celtic players even more.
Refs also seem to give red cards to Sevco’s opponents and penalties and free kicks to Sevco whenever possible, this also infuriates as well as weakens the opposition. However, they seem to let the game flow for Sevco.
Refs have also been seen to only give a yellow card for a red card offence to Celtic’s opponents on numerous occasions. This may be upgraded later, but the damage has already been inflicted on Celtic, so not to worry.
Referees rarely, if ever, give a red card to Sevco these days, yet Sevco pick them up easily in Europe.
The worst referee is hard to pick because most of them are equally bad, but Walsh would be the winning sinner for me. However, Anderson, in the game against Motherwell, was extremely poor and I cannot believe that professional referees can be that poor without something darker being at play.
It is a referee’s duty to be fair and impartial. Can we honestly say that about our referees?
Refs in the Scottish football are nothing but masonic fuckpigs that give celtic nothing its about time they rats on the board opened up on these refs and if not well get tae fuck off the board yous dirty cowards wee need a Fergus McCann back at paradise honest that board are only interested in the blue pounds fucking cowards