It was way too good an opportunity for Des Roache to resist.
Play to the gallery. Pile in on the ‘referees are pro-Celtic’ bandwagon. Simply because VAR is having to apply The Laws of The Game rather than the traditional penalising of Celtic. David Roome and Douglas Ross still haven’t got the memo.
For three years Des and his mate Steve Conroy have been desperate for attention after getting virtually nowhere in their own refereeing careers.
Roache got to wave a flag at Boghead and Cliftonhill before realising that he wasn’t any good at refereeing.
Conroy got fast tracked through the ranks hanging onto a Diversity card.
In January 2010 he was handed the Glasgow Derby, two years ahead of his Diversity rival Willie Collum.
Conroy took things too far. Apparently he was a well known Celtic fan inside the refereeing brotherhood.
Handed the Glasgow Derby he went overboard against Celtic. The Marco Fortune disallowed goal and Kyle Lafferty assault on Andreas Hinkel were the tip of the iceberg.
Conroy took things too far. He was gently eased out of the spotlight. Once he started being demoted down the divisions the toys came out the pram.
He watched on jealously as Collum took his place, someone equally out of his depth refereeing matches. A school-teacher groomed by Hugh Dallas, through the ranks at the Lanarkshire Refereeing Association.
ROACHE PLAYS TO THE GALLERY
Conroy has long carried a grudge. In Roache he found a kindred spirit.
They assessed the media market.
Pandering to their intended paymasters they feed into the delusion that Celtic get the benefit of decisions from Scottish referees!
VAR has brought some scrutiny. The old ways are dead.
In the final SPFL match of last season Roome tried to deny Celtic the title with a ridiculous offside call. VAR corrected him. Roome is a very close friend of Bobby Madden.
Andrew Dallas and Greg Aitken are the full-time VAR officials. Aitken was on duty at Tannadice last night. He correctly called the Camilo Duran goal.
Steven McLean was the match referee. The brother of a former Rangers player and ‘Northern Ireland’ internationalist.
Among the other elite referees are John Beaton and David Dickinson. Nick Walsh and Grant Irvine work with the Murray Park starlets at Boclair Academy in Bearsden.
Despite all that Conroy and Roache are all over the pro-Celtic bias pushed from the Daily Record to Radio Scotland. Even when the Laws of the Game back up the decision given in the 4-0 win over Dundee United.
If there was any way to disallow Duran’s goal Aitken or McLean would have found it.
Showing his trademark judgement Roach jumped on a Tweet from Stephen Flynn. At least as a politician Flynn is expected to know nothing about anything.
Conroy and Roache portray themselves as experts in their field….
Read the rules ya tit pic.twitter.com/v5KiGY5wiC
— Mon the Hoops??? (@CWN1967) August 15, 2026
MICHAEL STEWART JOINS THE PILE ON
Michael Stewart led the half-time moon howling on Premier Sports.
Last week at Ibrox he was similarly distressed by the decision to award Hibs a penalty. On co-commentary duty Steward highlighted that he has no grasp of the Laws of the Game.
At Tannadice, in the Premier Sports studio he had time to check the Laws of the Game. He decided not to bother.
Stewart had a point about a similar incident in the opening day SPFL match between Falkirk and St Mirren.
Unfortunately it seemed that he’d rather see two wrongs than the officials getting the right decision in a Celtic match.
Stewart is on the right side of a dispute that has resulted in a petty ban from Collum covering Hampden. Including the car park.
The former Hearts and Hibs midfielder should be more careful with the battles he chooses against the hopeless referees in Scottish football.
When the lads on The Refs View are on the same side it is always time to take stock.
“Hyperbole” just to criticise a decision? Really?
— The Ref’s View (@TheRefsView) August 15, 2026
What’s the law on the ‘wrong’ decision?
Back it up with evidence or close this farce of an account.— Jimthetim73 ?? (@jtt73) August 15, 2026
Don’t hear them screaming that we should have had a penalty , when the DU defender accidentally handled it in their penalty box.
Mickey Stewart has went feral on VAR/referees after his beloved HERTZS
got cheated out of last year’s title 🙂
Paul 1888 thank you absolutely spot on thought I was the only one that seen it that was never gonna be mentioned as it didn’t suit the anti Celtic agenda
In most lines of work, people are keen to become at least tolerably good at their job and in some cases like to be considered as something of a subject matter expert. Football punditry seems to be a notable exception, where being a former professional player makes you all the expert you need to be and nobody seems to have any desire to expand their knowledge by, for example, learning The Laws Of The Game and their changes of interpretation and emphasis…. pundits come across as grouchy Luddites whose stock response to any alterations to interpretation (particularly if Celtic are the beneficiaries) is “it wasn’t like that in my day”, “I don’t agree with that” and in extreme cases*, “well the rule is wrong”. They sound like the whingeing old git in every pub.
*Ally McCliche.
Why even give oxygen to those 2 clowns, ( roaches,conroy) stop writing what they say you’re doing their work for them.
The big fella got pulled to the ground. That bit must’ve been missed