Being put on VAR duty for two Sky Sports fixtures over the course of three days put the spotlight on Greg Aitken.
The Ayrshire official is one of two full-time VAR officials appointed by the SFA, with Andrew Dallas the other the recruitment criteria is fairly clear.
On Sunday at Fir Park Cyriel Dessers pulled the arm and shirt of Mike Biereth, it was clear to Sky Sports viewers but Aitken didn’t even pause the match to carry out a review. The point that there was no review was highlighted to Stuart Kettlewell in his post match interviews.
Greg Aitken on VAR. Same guy who saw nothing wrong with Dessers pulling Motherwell player in the area https://t.co/5XYg5pT6Qf
— Harry Brady (@HarryBradyCU) December 26, 2023
Roll on two days and Aitken is back on duty, this time at Dens Park, watching more blatant attacks on Cameron Carter-Vickers, this time from a set piece as corners were delivered into the goalmouth without any intervention.
Firstly it was Trevor Carson, two minutes later realising that there would be no punishment Joe Shaughnessy joined in as Celtic’s main attacking threat from a corner was wiped out.
No sort of review was carried out, as some fans have pointed out perhaps it is time for Celtic players to go down Goldson-like at every contact in the penalty box to ensure a break in play and time for a VAR review.
Later on in the match Aitken halted play to go through a frame by frame review of dubious claims of handball against Greg Taylor and Stephen Welsh.
On Saturday Nick Walsh will referee the Glasgow Derby with Willie Collum overseeing things on VAR, going into tonight’s match at home to Ross County it is 73 SPFL matches since a penalty was awarded against the Ibrox side, Steven McLean is tonight’s referee.
Should Lawwell and Nicholson demand publication of all VAR conversations?
Yes, things are getting ridiculous
No, we have great, impartial officials
It’s cheating by official.. enough evidence exists @CelticFC are too scared to say anything
They ll watch UCL money disappear rather than call it out
— Rory MacLeod (@OnThe4and) December 27, 2023
We know what Aitken is.
Club no doubt know what Aitken is.
For some reason we halve to just go along with stuff.
There are two ways the game is effed up here. Is it strong enough for a penalty for Rangers? & Is it strong enough for a penalty against Rangers.
— NEILJUNG67 (@NEILJUNGERS67) December 26, 2023
Bang on,but why are our board so reluctant to call it out,are they despite a possible 60 million next year complicit in it all,strange very strange
— owen mcnee (@Owenmcnee) December 26, 2023
The issue here is not whether every pull is a penalty or not.
This is deflection.
The issue here is 1 club is receiving different treatment from the other 11. That’s what scottish football fans see as the problem. https://t.co/Vq1d7cOFKQ
— Celticunderground (@celticrumours) December 26, 2023
Same guy, who’s pals in the Ayrshire Referees Association said” Greg- get us a result at Ibrox”
— Stephenallsn (@stephenalsn) December 26, 2023
Shocking ? imagine thinking refs would cheat for the new rangers like they cheated for the dead rangers ? Greg Aitken was the guy who gave a penalty for morelos diving into a defender but missed a 2 handed push on the same defender in the rangers box ????? honest mistakes eh ? pic.twitter.com/1LJ1FbKUTT
— Yogi il Tempo (@Yogi_theTim) October 5, 2020
Most players would throw themselves to the ground clutching their face after that. We need to get wiser.
— Nick (@nicksaxtweets) December 26, 2023
Get him gone..a disgrace on both decisions and I am a Ross county fan..both stonewall penalties
— Robert Gardiner (@RobertG03447431) December 27, 2023
Only fouled twice…
— Mark Murphy (@MarkMurphy66) December 26, 2023
They are a fuckin disease. HH
The board are only concerned with staying on their own personal gravy trains… Claim to be fans but any real fan on that board would be calling this charade out for what it is.
It’s even worse than that, John. Some members of the PLC board are Masons. In a normal country, this would not be an issue. In Scotland however, The Masonic Order and the Orange Order are brother organisations, with a significant membership overlap. This is a problem. Until Big Peter and his fellow Huns are run out of Celtic, nothing will change.
Hail Hail.
They are going to get a penalty for a shirt pull tonight aren’t they ?
Where was our management team and subs bench appealing for it? Until Kennedy or Strachan get sent to the stand by the Ref for screaming at 4th official or linesman then nothing will change. Our cowards are on the touchline not just boardroom
Move along, long past the point where the only possible explanation is complicity.
There is no doubt what Greg Aitken is.
As for Carson, this was assault and you could see the hatred on his face as he carried it out. There is no doubt what he is as well. He doesn’t have the intelligence or awareness to be ashamed of his actions. Blinded by hatred.
They are not even hiding it now and the Celtic Board stand by and do nothing.
Why aren’t Celtic , Aberdeen , Motherwell and other clubs who are being consistently wronged use these obvious glaring bent decisions as a source of protein ? Like an apex predator looking for it’s breakfast in the wild ! Starving to put things right and feasting on the carcass of the corrupt and grossly incompetent authorities .Yes it’ll be raw meat …but they can then go for the jugular .
Var video advantage rangers
When Scottish football, and our Club in particular, accepted the phrase ” Imperfectly Registered” in total silence…then it was complicit in one of Sport’s biggest scandals. It was also the start of blatant cheating by the officials…because they knew that when they got away with that…it was open season.
Scottish football gets what it deserves.
Scottish Football does indeed get what it deserves Terence…
And that’s the reason that I for one is OUT !
Even given their usual new hun bias, that assault on CCV was just so far removed from football I cannot believe the bastards ignored it. Lawwell has so much previous he’s most certainly complicit. It may well be that Lawwell IS being asked by other clubs but merely “washes his hands” of it.
BUT, remember divide and rule? We’ve got the CSA, the CST all kinds of bloggers and all the rest of it but including too many cowards in their ranks to make a proper, SINGLE, concentrated voice regarding ALL of it.
It needs to be collated in print and video and put forward by a Legal Eagle who will not fall for their bullshit. And the 5-Way should be part of it as that includes FRAUD for which there is no time bar. I’d chip in, would you lot that moan and do nothing chip in too?
PS Unfortunately the way this site operates, and many thanks to Joe for providing it, but we lack a single, coherent voice and major points on here are gone, sometimes in an hour or two. We need a joined-up policy that remains fresh until we take those lying, cheating scum (including Lawwell, Nicholson and Desmond) to Court and have them removed for being improper people to run a PLC.
The FRAUD is in the 5-Way, don’t let it become “the truth”.