‘Where is that big mouth Crawford Allan now’ ‘Robertson totally failed’ ‘He cannot referee Celtic again’ Fans back up Ange’s referee call
Soccer Football - Europa League - Group G - Celtic v Ferencvaros - Celtic Park, Glasgow, Scotland, Britain - October 19, 2021 Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou reacts Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff
Celtic fans flocked to back Ange Postecoglou after he revealed that he told his players to hold back from tackling in the closing stages of the Scottish Cup win over Alloa Athletic.
Saturday night’s match was a bruising affair for the Celtic boss as he finally spoke out about the lenient approach of Scottish referees to foul and dangerous play.
Last month David Turnbull escaped largely unhurt from a brutal attack by Calum Butcher that Don Robertson thought was worth a yellow card, the SFA later imposed a three match suspension.
After the game on Saturday Postecoglou looked across a dressing room with Callum McGregor, Yosuke Guchi and Liel Abada all injured. Stephen Welsh and Jota could both have been added to that list.
When Kris Boyd got upset by a goal scored by Kyogo Furuhashi against Hearts, Crawford Allan was on Radio Scotland within 48 hours explaining the SFA’s view of things.
There has been no comment from the Head of Refereeing since Saturday’ match.
Three days after the bruising and costly visit to Alloa the Celtic boss spoke out about the treatment his players took and the failure of Robertson to apply the Laws of the Game.
?? ‘I told some of the lads towards the end to just not bother going into tackles and to just look after themselves…’
Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou says his side were not getting proper protection from the referee and feared further injuries against Alloa Athletic ?? pic.twitter.com/bddEfFEbBN
— BBC Sport Scotland (@BBCSportScot) January 25, 2022
@ScottishFA Don Robertson put the safety of Celtic players at risk with his blatant failure make the correct decisions (as he has done several times this season). He cannot referee @CelticFC again and should be removed from all @spfl games.
— IntheHeatofLisbon (@malahidebhoy) January 25, 2022
Articulate and intelligent – it will be over the head of the bampots but the overriding point about referees ensuring a safe environment for all players is spot on. It’s a contact sport but reckless contact endangering players needs to be stamped out.
— Baggins (@BagginsGSX1250) January 25, 2022
Spot on analysis from Ange. Refs have to be better at protecting players and get the big decisions right. Robertson totally failed to do that on Saturday night.
— DK MacPhee (@DKMacPhee) January 26, 2022
????????pity the Celtic board doesn’t feel the same.
— Dec Smith (@Decsmith1967) January 25, 2022
Where is that big mouth Crawford Allan now? Why is he not apologising for his incompetent biased refs? Sack them all and start again.
— SevcoFansLovedThatHoldingComp (@1888_Originals) January 26, 2022
Great to see a manager handle this is a measured and non-emotive way. Along with yet another retro red card being dished out, perhaps the SFA should be sitting Robertson down to spell out what a reckless tackle is.
— David McLaren (@DavidJMcLaren) January 25, 2022
Long overdue.
— Fr Buzz Cagney (@From1888) January 25, 2022
So, there we have it! The guy has been in the country 5 minutes and feels the need to speak out AGAIN about referees..
— Jonny Tightlips ????????? Vaffanculo (@mckenna67) January 25, 2022
Sadly our club has been subject to this for decades. It’s so ingrained now that the refs probably dont even notice they are doing it. Unconscious bias is one of the things VAR will help stamp out.
— Declan Tim (@tim_declan) January 25, 2022