Spotlight turned on the two horror Callachan tackles that Sportscene didn’t want to show
The weird and far from wonderful ways of Scottish football were in evidence during the first four minutes of Celtic’s 2-0 win away to Ross County.
Bobby Madden’s leniency towards John Lundstram during the Scottish Cup semi-final looked like being repeated by Kevin Clancy as Ross Callachan ploughed into a second minute challenge that took the ball, Callum McGregor and everything else.
It looked like Hampden revisited but the former Hearts midfielder pushed his luck a little too far with another bone-jarring attack on Tony Ralston two minutes later.
This time Clancy reached for his yellow card which effectively put Callachan on mute for the rest of the match.
The nature of the professional game means that players will always see what they can get away with.
Had Callachan been booked for the ‘tackle’ on McGregor it is unlikely that he’d have followed up with the attack on Ralston.
On this occasion no damage was done, Celtic won the match without any fresh injuries being reported but any foreign player looking in is bound to have second thoughts about risking his future in Scottish football.
Very seldom we speak about refs, but the way Scottish refereeing shows such a leniency towards reckless tacking is a real detriment to the league.
Callachan’s second high-speed and out-of-control tackle after 4 mins doesn’t happen if he’s punished for the one 2 mins earlier. pic.twitter.com/bAufbO7YSr
— The Celtic Analysis (@CynicAnalysis) April 25, 2022
These tackles are ‘not part of the game’ anymore, in pretty much any European league you want measured towards.
Even if Callachan made contact with ball first (he didn’t), his speed and aggressiveness means he’s never in control and always at risk of seriously hurting opponent
— The Celtic Analysis (@CynicAnalysis) April 25, 2022
Don’t want to speculate on why Clancy only books second tackle and not first.
But hard to shake feeling that there’s almost a proudness in level of aggressiveness refs allow in Scottish, unwilling to align with the standards they’d be expected to follow in European competitions
— The Celtic Analysis (@CynicAnalysis) April 25, 2022
We do have footage but putting clips out on twitter is minefield, as they close accounts very quickly for copyright breaches etc
— The Celtic Analysis (@CynicAnalysis) April 25, 2022