REFEREES, CELTIC AND RANGERS: WHEN DOES CONSPIRACY BECOME CORRUPTION?
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- 22 minutes ago
- 3 min read
I’ve read various articles over the past 48 hours, all making similar claims: that Saturday’s extra time win over Dundee in the Scottish Cup was a warning to Celtic.
I agree. However, as I saw it, it was probably not the kind of warning most of those articles were alluding to.
Yes, we saw a Celtic side laboring under a flat atmosphere at a stadium barely 1/3 full. Yes, we saw conclusive proof that, despite new players coming in, eventually, this team still has a long way to go to be considered potential champions.
I get these sentiments, but that’s not what I’m here to talk about today. I instead want to posit that Saturday was a warning, and one we cannot ignore, of just how far officials in Scotland will go to hinder and hold back Celtic on the park at every possible opportunity.
When it Comes to Referees, Celtic and Rangers are Clearly Treated Differently
I expect the usual barrage of comments from followers of Glasgow’s Dark Side calling me a “crank”, a “conspiracy nutjob” and so on. All this from a supporter base whose main calling in life seems to be going on Celtic supporter pages and making jokes about child abuse.
We’ve reached a point now where allegations of referee corruption are no longer a fringe viewpoint. There is a massive body of documentary evidence going back years, decades even, underscoring the simple fact about our referees: Celtic and Rangers are held to different rules and different standards. The Huddle Breakdown's Alan Morrison calls it a "Pattern of Assistance". Suffice to say, his choice of words is usually far more diplomatic than mine.
Like any kind of corruption, the more the offender gets away with it, the more empowered they are to continue and the more outrageous and blatant the offences become.
Between our recent 2-2 draw at Tynecastle, with a red card that should never have been, and widespread thuggery from our opponents that went unchallenged, and this weekend’s game, where Kieran Tierney was kicked in the face, Celtic were denied a clear penalty, and numerous other, clear and obvious “errors” took place, it seems to me the referees aren’t even trying to hide it anymore. Born Celtic goes into more specific detail in their excellent breakdown of Saturday's refereeing sh*tshow.
This is a clear, deliberate and sustained effort to stop Celtic at all costs. Perhaps they feel empowered to do so knowing that, with the Celtic Board and a huge swathe of fan groups at each other’s throats, refereeing “mistakes” won’t perhaps get the same scrutiny they would if Celtic’s board and fans were united in opposition to this clear and obvious bias.
Say what you will about Fergus McCann, but the SFA wouldn’t have dared tried half of this nonsense when he was in charge. That was the last time we had leadership in the boardroom that was willing to go that extra mile and ensure that the authorities were forced to at least entertain the pretense of treating Celtic fairly.
Get the Green Brigade back in to get the crowd roaring again. Get Fan Media back on board with club press events, and let’s fight this clear and deliberate ploy to stop us winning the league, together.
Enough is enough. The Celtic Fans Collective and The Celtic Board don’t need to be best pals; they don’t even need to like each other. But Saturday showed us, in the harsh cold of a near-empty Celtic Park, that we have a common enemy, and it will take all of our combined strength to defeat them.
With two weekend trips to Ibrox coming up next month, and leaders Hearts facing Hibs and then The Govan Dodgers in their next two games, the opportunity is there for Celtic.
Get the off-the-park stuff sorted, or at least get a temporary truce in place until the end of the season, and, come March, we could be top of the league, into the Scottish Cup Semi-Finals, and our enemies in shirts blue, maroon and black will have been well and truly back in their respective places.
This is what is at stake now. The next 3-4 weeks will make or break our season. More than ever before, the need for an end to internal hostilities is paramount.