GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - APRIL 07: Referee John Beaton and Willie Collum during a cinch Premiership match between Rangers and Celtic at Ibrox Stadium, on April 07, 2024, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Williamson/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Willie Collum has pandered to Phil Clement’s agenda by focussing solely on one mistake from the match officials at Hampden for the League Cup Final.
After the match the Belgian Beale invited the media to dig into a decision early in extra-time when Liam Scales was booked for a foul on Vaclav Cerny.
Whether it is legacy media or the moon-howling social media equivalents they have certainly done that with no other incident during the 120 plus minutes at Hampden discussed.
In today’s 25 minute long VAR Review show Collum spent six minutes providing forensic analysis of what happened in real time, explaining why they two VAR officials got it wrong and how they were being held responsible for it.
Alan Muir on VAR and his assistant Francis Connor were responsible for the greatest ever miscarriage of justice in Scottish football history at the 2015 Scottish Cup semi-final between Celtic and Inverness Caley Thistle.
Alongwith match referee Steven McLean they all ‘missed’ Josh Meekings handling a header from Leigh Griffiths, all three climbed the SFA ladder on that back of that decision, a year later McLean refereed the Scottish Cup Final.
Six minutes was spent on the Scales/Cerny decision, six minutes more than was spent on:
- Jefte’s yellow card assault on the left ankle of Nicolas Kuhn
- Leon Balogun escaping a second yellow card for deliberate kicks at Reo Hatate and Cameron Carter-Vickers that were given as free kicks
- Robin Propper’s pull and obstructing of Cameron Carter-Vickers at the second goal lost by Celtic
- Propper’s half-way line assault on Kyogo Furuhashi
- Beaton’s decision to retake a Celtic free kick when he realised that Callum McGregor’s pass was setting up Daizen Maeda for a free run at goal.
Collum ignored calls for foreign referees or for officials to register the team that they support, emphasising that David Dickinson will referee Sunday’s match between Dundee United and Celtic, his family detests Celtic.
Dickinson is expected to be in charge of the January 2 Derby match at Ibrox.
Collum launched his career on the basis of awarding Rangers a penalty at Celtic Park for an incident where he had his back to play, Hugh Dallas was the Head of Refereeing at that time.
We have dissected this incident because people will hear me say today it’s wrong – but that’s not enough. We need to understand why did we get it wrong and how do we making things better, because people will find it very hard to accept this error. Very difficult to accept it.
Explaining the lessons to be learned, Collum added:
By firstly acknowledging that it’s a really, really poor decision. It’s an unacceptable decision. The VAR team know that, everybody in refereeing knows that. It’s unacceptable.
We will do our very, very best through our coaching and analysis to make sure an incident like this never happens again. But it’s a mistake, it’s a bad mistake. You talk about accountability. I was very open when I took on this role at the start of the season that there would be accountability in refereeing.
I told the media and the managers that we would deal with things internally. There would be accountability but we’ve been consistent with that throughout the season. I can assure people of that. I did say that if match officials find themselves not involved in future matches or we need to change the profile of a match for somebody, we won’t come out and publicly say that, they way a manager doesn’t come out and publicly talk about taking a player out. But we’ve also got a responsibility to protect the wider group of the referees and we’ve also got a real responsibility to protect the match officials involved in this as well.
After more than three years as CEO of Celtic, Michael Nicholson is unlikely to speak up for the first time ever, the ‘leading sports lawyer’ believes that the standard of refereeing in Scotland is improving.
Where are Pistol Pete’s media lackies? Surely tae fcuk we should be getting the msg out about the other decisions that the Lanarkshire refs got wrong.
Editor: He is hiding in a king-sized cupboard with the current Chocolate Teapot of a CEO.
Spot on
EVERY Game the FILTH lose they come oot Whining & Greetin but NUTHINS gonny change the result is it? So whits the Fukin Point other than tae prove they’re STILL RA PEEPO EH! LOL! LONG MAY IT CONTINUE & we keep winning Trophy after Trophy, Treble after Treble! 🙂 🙂 I suppose if our period of DOMINATION continues they cd make up & award them the “Greetin Faced Bastards its an Injustice Cup” BAWAHAHAHAHAHA!!
So refs and VARs are going to be held to account for mistakes, it will be interesting to see if it’s for all mistakes or it will depend on which team were wronged .
Was the VAR who denied kyogo a stonewall penalty when the keeper wiped him out dropped for games .
Think I might have a wee look back on that one
It’s not quantum computing any more …is it ,as far as being difficult is concerned ! The Celtic suits had better get their finger’s out as far as complaining or emailing a complaint to Hampden’ s 6 th floor ranch hands , now or in the future when the slightest wrong decision occurs against us . Pussy footing around such issues is unacceptable now and needs to be addressed at all times . The same sentiments apply to all of Scotland’s professional clubs . The clumpany aren’t slow in demanding answers …are they ? So why should Celtic or anyone else ? Holding feet onto the fire ,comes to mind .
What a weak willed piece of a man. To completely just take their agenda and bend over. Imagine working for WC and he does that. Incredibly zero looks at other cup final instances. The only thing more sickening is our club’s silence coz mark me their penalty kicks are coming back, we will see many a sending off, they know what they are doing. But remember what our greatest manager said and his word been true for 6 decades (sadly, as it should not be this way) if you good enough the referee doesn’t matter
Someone in the media, whether it be Chris Sutton ir whoever, needs to mention thòse 5 decisions you highlighted, to put this circus to bed.
As expected the wimp gormless collum pandering to the scum.
Now I can understand as to why, with the level of imitation that he would face, and only increases the fury of the scum, while we sit back and laugh at them.
I wouldn’t waste my time listening to such a nonsense as collum, but still haven’t read anything to actually confirm that the original decision given by cheating Beaton, was for the foul outside of the area?
If so then the right decision was awarded, and surely audio would confirm so, one way or the other?
Without the audio being produced, then nothing more than a smokescreen is in place to satisfy crying hun scum?
Yet, I would have concerns regarding the implications now, for the remainder of this season, regarding the decision making process that will be put in place between the scum and ourselves now?
Nothing new to what we are well use to, but for collum acting like a wimp in not clarifying the whole incident really imo, then nothing within the cheating officials within the Scottish FA is really going to get resolved, especially with such a wimp in charge still?
“Dickinson is expected to be in charge of the January 2 Derby match at Ibrox.”
And the catch-all excuse provided by the unqualified, SFA CEO, Maxwell:
“And [Maxwell] said:
“Decisions will be wrong, that’s a given.
We’ll eradicate them as much as we possibly can.
We’ve done that in the vast majority of cases, but there are always going to be one or two that will fall outwith that, because there’s people involved…”
The guy is a d!ddy, heading up a joke of a governing body,
– but, which still receives public monies… 🙁
If officials are to be held accountable why is the referee still doing games he made the initial mistake plus a few others so go to the root cause of the problem the poor quality of the refs that do our games
Have sevco 2012 shot themselves in the clown shoe here .
If this demand for answers leads to all VARs
Knowing that they need to adjuge situations HONESTLY .
Might sevco 2012 may have inadvertently cut off an honest mistake supply line
Well the can of wirms has been opened,the SFA have made a rod for their own back.
Any club now feeling a decision has gone against them by a goal being chopped off or not getting the so called penalty decision like sevco,then the club the board the manager all need to kick up a F**K.
Well after all it has worked for sevco,or are all other clubs including our very own shit scared to rock the boat.
Every time sevco lose a game it’s never by the other team playing better or sevco just being shite,it’s always a dodgy decision.
I really do hope we give them a right good SCUDDING in a couple of weeks time,played off the park with us having better players than them,at which point there will be no hiding place for kojak no excuses,then the real shite can hit the fan,no pun intended,and we can watch the Star Trek man press the PANIC BUTTON.
Hunbelievable, Jeff! Did we really expect much else?
I think we can probably anticipate some refereeing retribution at iBrox on the 2nd. Might be worth putting a line on that day… a penalty and a red card in the game, free money.
It’s (Gollum’s crap) an absolute disgrace but also just so fukkin predictable. The suits from all over pulled like fukk together to pretend we still had a scum at Ibrox and they succeeded insofar as they’ve got a decent copy of the original scum. BUT, the biggest disgrace is what we’ve got in the Celtic boardroom with Lawwell right in the fukkin middle. Bhoy do I fukkin hate that twat, probably much more than I hate all the huns and masons who permeate OUR game. Aye, the traitor within is singularly our worst enemy and his appointed successor, the invisible, grey man just Lawwell and Desmond’s lap-dog.
Truly sickening.
Before VAR everyone said it would take the doubt out of decisions, its done the exact opposite.
The only thing it’s proved is, whether there is VAR or No VAR, fans cannot, and will not ever agree on the colour of shite.
VAR, live tv with 25 cameras a game, slow mo replays, biased clueless pundits, radio phone ins combined with social media has absolutely destroyed the game I have loved all my life.
There is no enjoyment to be had anymore as you know before a ball is kicked that that any joy u get from a result is gonna b sucked right out of u by some clown who cannot accept defeat.
Great comment Bhoy4life and the ‘careful’ selection of “biased clueless pundits” by the BBC and the rest of the media gives those ’empty vessels’ a platform to ‘make the most noise’ ever, as long as it’s pro-hun.
I think the fitba we loved so much, even though it’s always had hun bias, has turned into a fukkin soap opera run by TV and media clowns. That evil bastard Murdoch saw the opportunity, created Sky TV and the rest is history. Even when we play our best, the enjoyment is, as you pointed out, short-lived due to cheating, lying huns for the most part, focusing on whingeing crap from Ibrox. I wish I had an alternative but I’m a life-long Tim and will die such. AND, just think of the pain that shower of cheats are suffering, regardless of their joined-up cheating and lying they’re a distant 2nd best.
Couldn’t agree more.