18 Jan 2019 11:27:17
Hello lads, new poster but long time Celtic man. First and foremost I can honestly say I am not a biased fan and open to objective comments and discussion.

Just want to say all this talk about the refs cheating us is in my opinion total rubbish. We are and have always been a club who can take defeat on the chin and all this babble about being cheated over decisions is embarrassing. We have had calls against and for us down the years like all clubs.

Second half of the season I think some players need a kick up the backside and BR to stop tinkering with the tactics. Not too impressed with the January signings so far, not because they are loans, but I can’t see them dislodging any of the current players in the team. I think more options in positions we are already strong in will just encourage BR to vary the tactics more often than not.

If I were BR or PL at the moment I would be looking to bring in a fully developed player in their prime similar to the Bellamy or Robbie Keane deals we pulled off several years ago. This would improve the team and give the lads a lift. I remember chatting to a young lad called Josh Thompson (some may not remember him) when we signed Keane and he said that everyday at training he gave 150 per cent more because he wanted to impress him as he was one of his idols growing up.

Cheers.

{Ed007's Note - Welcome aboard mate. Agree with you about the refs - apart from the time Dougie McDonald and assistants got caught cheating and every time Kenny Clark speaks about deliberately denying John Hartson a penalty or what about Jim McCluskey openly telling anyone who would listen in a pub stating he would never give "That bastard Mahe" a penalty.....
It might not go on to the level a lot of people think but to think it doesn't happen at all is very naive, and not just in Scotland.}


1.) 18 Jan 2019
18 Jan 2019 11:44:18
If it takes a signing for Celtic players to give there all they shouldn’t be near our jersey jabba welcome aboard mate.


2.) 18 Jan 2019
18 Jan 2019 11:55:31
@jabba9 welcome aboard mate, if you require any guidance on here I am known as the "oracle" on here, just ask ED007 lol
Jabba do not know how old you are pal, but sadly Celtic have been on the receiving end of a lot of dodgy decisions since way back, and as ED007 says when you get a CURRENT SFA employee doing after dinner speeches and revelling in denying decisions to Celtic, then that tells you the state of play within the SFA. (Mr Clarke holds a position within the SFA as we write grading and advising today's referees, enough said)


3.) 18 Jan 2019
18 Jan 2019 12:02:34
Cheers ed007. I think other teams fans will be able to give plenty of examples about times they have been shafted aswell. In our last game for example we were outplayed and deserved to lose, let the ref decisions be the last thing on our mind.

{Ed007's Note - We certainly deserved to lose at Ibrox but there also certainly should have been action taken on Morelos.}


4.) 18 Jan 2019
18 Jan 2019 12:05:57
Cheers Timalloy. I have been around a long time mate and yes I agree there have some strange refereeing decisions gone against us but no more than any other clubs in this country or others.

It seems to me plenty of people are happy to blame the ref and come up with conspiracy theories as opposed to taking a poor result of unfortunate decision on the chin these days.


5.) 18 Jan 2019
18 Jan 2019 12:23:07
Ed007 retrospectively I don’t disagree with you but the ref didn’t card him in the game so we move on.

In terms of him getting a ban now I don’t see how that benefits us at all. If he gets banned then Rangers get to play the next game with 11 disciplined players on the park against Killie. If he plays (assuming he does) there is a chance he gets a red card due to his ill disciplined behaviour and they drop to 10 men and maybe lose points.

{Ed007's Note - I don't want Morelos punished retrospectively, I want referees that are capable of impartially applying and enforcing the rules of the game.}


6.) 18 Jan 2019
18 Jan 2019 13:00:42
Totally agree with you jabba, but I'll reserve judgement on our new signings until I see them play👍.


7.) 18 Jan 2019
18 Jan 2019 13:04:23
I accept fair and square defeat in any game and Celtic have no divine right to win every week; We never turned up at Ibrox and were beaten by a poor side - who should have been reduced to ten men three times! However, I can't accept there are no biased officials in this country and there are far too many incidents to mention backing this up.
As far as other teams go, I agree they also have cause for concern, but our controversial decisions and game-changing events happen more in the important games (like the Inverness semi-final hand-ball) .


8.) 18 Jan 2019
18 Jan 2019 13:06:46
Ed007 the ref made a call albeit maybe not the right one and unless proven otherwise it is in my opinion impartial.

{Ed007's Note - He made the wrong call(s), either through incompetence or bias they were still wrong. Try not to focus on one particular game and look at the overall incompetence of referees across the board and again not just in Scotland.}


9.) 18 Jan 2019
18 Jan 2019 13:47:13
Agree Ed the wrong call through incompetentance and poor training and understanding of the game I can get on board with. Also agree that refereeing standards can be questioned but that is a whole other debate and to be fair it is a tough job in real time.


10.) 18 Jan 2019
18 Jan 2019 15:11:17
anyone remember kevin o'donnell (rip) getting the bullet after wallace mercer complained he was biased towards celtic after playing his hearts team.


11.) 18 Jan 2019
18 Jan 2019 15:12:48
The thing for me is when a referee gets SO MANY decisions wrong with particularly one player Questions should be asked OPENLY. Yes there are honest mistakes of course there is people are going to make them. And we didn't deserve anything from that game we were rotten. But what is it going to take for to get action against that sort of thing? Has a player to get his short career ended by actions missed by officials deliberately or by incompetence?

Referees have to take some responsibility for the action that certain players take if the Ref is just going to turn the other way as should the SFA take the responsibility for the Referee. God knows they get paid enough for 90 minutes and probably the same time again for writing a report on the match.


12.) 18 Jan 2019
18 Jan 2019 15:13:50
The biggest thing for me is biased refs, how can a ref be impartial if he used to have a season ticket at ibrox and drinks in rangers boozers.


13.) 18 Jan 2019
18 Jan 2019 15:24:45
I still believe the sfa down to the referees are on a mission to stop 10 in a row at all costs because they feel it’s embarrassing for Scottish football that one club can be so dominating, without any challenge.
I mentioned before the season started I felt the refs were going to start playing a bigger part to the outcome of more games because after the double decker bus getting flaunted in all their faces, you could feel Scottish football were in a lot of pain. In their eyes they had to help make it more competitive.
More than a few times already this season, teams should have had a man sent off against Celtic but never happened apart from when we were already 5-0 up against St Johnstone. On a few of those occasions the players have received a ban due to the officials missing the incident at the time.
I have counted 9 off the ball incidents against Celtic players in only 20 odd games we have played in Scotland and nothing has happened at the time apart from a telling off, it’s not good enough, it’s cheating and not once did a Celtic player retaliate, which should be commended.
I keep repeating about the stop the 10 union because it’s only the start and we have a farcical 2 and a half years ahead.


14.) 18 Jan 2019
18 Jan 2019 17:26:50
So jabba, if it was incompetence as you are suggesting, that would mean beaton did not know that it was an offence to kick someone in the baws because he had an unimpeded view of the incident.

So let me ask you, do you think he does not know the laws of the Game?


15.) 18 Jan 2019
18 Jan 2019 18:07:00
Welcome James Traynor to the site. You have settled in nicely with quite a few comments about referees in scotland not being biased towards Celtic.
You have made a living out of these comments and now you come on here using your nickname to try and wind up the best fans in the world.
Here we go 10 in a row.


16.) 18 Jan 2019
18 Jan 2019 20:25:53
So Jabba, for the avoidance of doubt, are you saying that all these decisions that go against us are simply honest mistakes?


17.) 19 Jan 2019
19 Jan 2019 00:11:16
Yes, I am saying in my opinion they are subjective mistakes by human beings. I do not buy the conspiracy theory as there is no substantiated proof. Go across to the rangers page and ask them about refereeing decisions - they will tell you the SFA and the refs are against them, you can play tit for tat about decisions. Both fans are as bad as each other.


18.) 19 Jan 2019
19 Jan 2019 12:56:04
Jabba, you appeared to have avoided answering the question I posed to you. Should I expect a reply?

By the way there are numerous examples of there being a pro-Rangers and anti-Celtic influence within the refereeing fraternity and the SFA.

1. Jim Farry deliberately holding up our signing of Jorge Cadete.

2. Hugh Dallas sharing anti-Catholic material with his colleagues within the SFA. The fact he thought it was OK to do it on a works email shows that there were others within the organisation that shared his prejudices.

3. Campbell Ogilvie helping Rangers cover up their use of EBTs and circumvent the player registration rules and thus cheat every team in Scotland for over a decade.

4. The SFA deliberately misleading the Lord Nimmo Smith enquiry into Rangers' use of EBTs and thus ensuring that Rangers were allowed to get away with their cheating with minimal punishment.

5. Bobby Tait the self-confessed Rangers fan, asking to referee his boyhood heroes in his last match in the 10-in a row season and being allowed to do so. The score was 0-0 at fulltime and Tait played way too much injury time which backfired on this occassion as Kilmarnock scored.

These are just a few examples I can think off at the moment and these can be added to the list of examples already provided by Ed. Now Jabba, can you provide examples like this were the SFA or referees have done anything like this to the benefit of Celtic? (I bet you can't)

Moving back to the officiating at the last Celtic v Rangers game, every one of the officials chosen on that day were all of a Rangers persuassion. Which raises the question why was this the case? When you factor in the phenomenon known as ingroup bias and look at the decisions made that day, then I think it is safe to say that the officiating was bias towards Rangers. Now I cannot say it was deliberately bias as ingroup bias can happen on a sub-conscious level but I think the people who choose that team of officials is as much to blame as the officials themselves for the bias, perhaps even more so.