Too dangerous- Giakoumakis calls it out as Bankier works ‘behind the scenes’

Giorgos Giakoumakis has spoken out about the dangerous play that Celtic encountered at Alloa on Saturday. 

Callum McGregor, Liel Abada and Yosuke Guchi all suffered injuries during the match that was leniently refereed by Don Robertson. 

That approach won’t be a surprise to David Turnbull who was on the receiving end of a brutal attack from Calum Butcher last month. Robertson decided that it was a yellow card, the SFA upgraded it to red and banned the Dundee United defender for three matches. 

In successive matches against St Johnstone in the autumn Cameron Carter-Vickers and Stephen Welsh were on the receiving end of challenges that you don’t normally see but referee Nick Walsh refused to red card either opponent. 

It is becoming a regular theme at Celtic matches but chairman Ian Bankier prefers to take a low profile approach to refereeing issues despite admitting to deep concern at the club’s November AGM. 

Speaking to The Sun after the Scottish Cup win over Alloa, Giakoumakis said: 

The game was out of the limit. It was too dangerous — the duels, the marking. We had to get through it and take the win and, if it was possible, to stay away from harm. We didn’t achieve that part.

The opponent didn’t have the quality that we do. It’s normal, with all the respect.They had to try to run more than us and be more aggressive in the duels. Sometimes they crossed the line and the markings were a bit tougher. We should take care of ourselves too. I don’t want to speak about the referees.