It seems that Jack Butland is the first ever goalkeeper to pick up a head injury.
A joint action between the Ibrox Tribute Act and their media messengers has turned attention onto one incident from Sunday’s League Cup semi-final.
It wasn’t the brutal attack on Johnny Kenny by Derek Cornelius. Or the dubious VAR lines produced to disallow an own goal from Nicky Raskin. Or Mikey Moore knocking Reo Hatate over 10 yards from goal.
BUTLAND HOLDS THE BALL!
No it is all about Jack Butland diving to the ground close to Auston Trusty. Unusually for the former Crystal Palace flop he held onto the ball, there was no rebound for Trusty to take advantage of.
The Celtic defender pulled his foot back, it was no more than 30cm off the ground as Butland’s momentum sent him crashing to the ground.
Instantly, broadcasters Premier Sports and BBC Scotland were comparing it to Thelo Aasgaard’s red card assault on Tony Ralston a few minutes earlier. Madness, there is no comparison.
And so it began. Just over 24 hours after the final whistle we had the statement from Ibrox to breathe fresh anger into the non-issue.
Referee thought this was a yellow. https://t.co/oxABy8tvdB pic.twitter.com/qu8RTJ8IVb
— Lint (@Zeshankenzo) November 2, 2025
It seems that Butland is the first goalkeeper to take a head knock. It is a hideous crime with an instant red card the only available punishment.
Strangely, in August 2022 there was a far worse incident, blood was drawn, stitches applied and surprisingly only a yellow card.
HART UNDER ATTACK
Early on in Celtic’s visit to Tannadice Joe Hart came out for a low shot at goal. He got a hand to it then followed up going for the rebound, pushing the loose ball away from Stephen Fletcher.
The striker was unable to pull out, his boot struck Hart on the forehead, blood was spilt.
After lengthy treatment Hart was patched up and played on.
Referee Steven McLean issued Fletcher with a yellow card, McLean was on VAR duty at Hampden assisted by Andrew Dallas. Neither will ever be mistaken for Celtic fans.
There was no witch hunt after the match. No Celtic statement was issued. There was no meeting with the SFA.
Life went on. Except at Ibrox where they are trapped in full on conspiracy mode since 2012. And unlikely to ever escape.
VAR official from Sunday was Steven McLean. He was referee when he deemed this a yellow card in 2022 and no-one questioned it. pic.twitter.com/oEmpns3ykv
— Sean Down Under (@Sean_Down_Under) November 4, 2025
Had a Hun debating that with me today…
I mentioned Cornelius on Kenny – Silence
I mentioned Moore on Hetate – Silence
I mentioned Miovski shoving Ralston – More silence…
I mentioned Assguard on Ralston – He said he didn’t mean it…
My goodness – They are impossible to reason with whatsoever !
I don’t agree that Fletcher couldn’t pull out of that tackle. It was a fifty fifty challenge, sure, but it was obvious that the goalie was in a compromised position i.e. on the deck and would have remained in that position if he had gone for the rebound. Fletcher didn’t have to make the tackle!
He should have taken the possibity of injury, perhaps serious injury, to Hart into consideration before he made the challenge.
Sure, you have to take every possible advantage you can. But more so, you still have to take resposibility for your actions on the field.
It was the same player who four months later collided with Craig Gordon resulting in a double leg break. I’m not being disrespectful to him but his style of playing was certainly a bit rough and ready – probably why Strachan was keen to sign him in 2009 – and big Joe could consider himself fortunate to leave the pitch with his head still attached to his body.
I didn’t know that captain Swing. He came back up here at the twilight of his career and maybe was too eager to prove himself!
By the way, loads of Celtic supporters thought if we bought him at one point he would win us the League. I disagreed and we didn’t buy him!
I can’t remember if we won the League or not!
We didn’t win the league, and Our Supreme Leader instead gave Strachan Willo Flood to boost the squad during that particular window. There is no way of knowing if signing that guy would have won us the league that year (there were problems elsewhere as well as up front) but we certainly needed more firepower as the goals were drying up as the season wore on. Willo Flood, bless him, did not contribute any goals in his handful of appearances.
Don’t quite know what Willo Flood has got to do with it, Bless him! Was he not a mid-field player?
See, if only our board would come out in support of our club to clarify controversy that scum from Ibrox would soon shut up and stop playing the victim and bleating.
The hand-ball rule was ALWAYS meant to stop any team gaining an advantage by use ot the hand and/or arm. For example Meeking vs Inverness Caley and Goldson vs the original huns were both stonewall penalties but not given to us.
As for Tony Ralston on Sunday, here’s what IFAB, the authority in this case says:
“IFAB stated in May of 2024 on social media that, “In principle, if a player is falling and the ball accidentally hits their hand/arm when it is between the body and the ground to support them, the referee allows play to continue. It is not a handball offence as it is a natural position of the hand/arm when the player is falling.”
Our board will do NOTHING. And that’s only ONE reason they have to go.
Not Another Penny!
It’s like arguing with a 4yr old, telling them they ate all the chocolate spread, and them saying no I didn’t, even though its all over their face.
That’s just your typical hun.
They just aren’t worth the column inches.
I’ve been saying since Sunday that winning but leaving the gullible and deluded believing they’ve somehow been hard done by is arguably better than beating them 5-0, firstly because it feeds their paranoia but more importantly it makes them think they’re getting closer to us when they’re actually going backwards.
I don’t think it matters in the grand scheme but I can’t help but view them as totally different situations.
Hart didn’t have control of the ball it was a 50/50 where as Butland did have control & the videos to me look like Trusty is taking a cheap shot. It’s likely just slow reactions from him where he is thinking about going in for it & not being quick enough but was just slow. It was careless.
I think it was a feisty game & I don’t think it was an absolute banker of a red card but I really don’t think we would be all that surprised if he’d been sent off.
My immediate reaction to him doing it was what the fuck are you thinking you’ve just leveled the numbers for stupidity.
I’d ask the question to anyone who is adamant that it’s not a red. If Souttar had done that to Schmeichel would you be saying the same honestly because I know I’d be calling for a red all day.
I reckon the majority of celtic fans at the time were probably calling for Fletcher to be sent off after the challenge on Hart. It’s natural to defend our players but sometimes I think it’s indefensible.
Everyone I’ve spoke to outside the Glasgow teams believe it should have been a red but agree a lot of the big decisions were wrong.
Offside that wasn’t
Hatate Pen shout
Cornelius red shout
Balikwisha pen shout
Hun pen etc
It was a shocking display from the officials & I think they could have done us a lot more damage than they managed if they thought they could get away with it.