Clowns falsifying the Rules

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As recently as December, Sky Sports contributor and very, very, lapsed Celtic fan, Neil McCann, accused John Guidetti of cheating while simultaneously acknowledging that the player didn’t claim for the penalty McCann thought he didn’t deserve. The mental contortions required to allow McCann to accuse a Celtic player of cheating, while not cheating, was worthy of awe.

Yesterday the same open sore was evident. Craig Gordon fouled Jackson Irvine 23 yards off his line, to the side of the field. Virgil van Dijk was back inside the six yard line with other Celtic players storming back.

McCann waxed lyrical that the Celtic goalkeeper should have been ordered off, claiming “The new rules are simple. Is the Ross County player being denied a goal scoring opportunity?”

He’s half right, the Rules of the Game are clear, they note three sending off offenses for fouls:

Serious foul play
Violent conduct
Denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity

Referee guidance on the third offense is crystal clear; denying a possible goal scoring opportunity is not a sending off offense. Referees are only allowed to show the red card when an obvious opportunity has been denied.

Jackson Irvine could get an early shot off with his left foot (he’s right footed) but it would need to be a spectacular effort from a tight angle. The potential chance was never an obvious goal scoring opportunity. The yellow card decision was correct. These are the Rules of the Game and the guidance referees are given.

The only thing you need to know about yesterday is that if you have a career in the football media, and before you cite the Rules of the Game, you’d better read them. Otherwise you might appear to be a bitter clown who falsifies the rules to suit an agenda.

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423 Comments

  1. I take exception to comparing Neil McCann to a clown.

     

     

    Many clowns are professional, dedicated and highly entertaining and appeal to all.

     

     

    I would hope the comparison was only in jest.

  2. Gerryfaethebrig on

    Everton… Southampton…. Bournemouth could all afford £10m for VVD, if anybody offers that Peter, Desmond & co have to take it (especially when we have qualified, still quietly confident)) big Virgil is an asset, we sold The Wall for good money then the big man got injured, which was terrible as he is actually England’s No 1, big Fraser would rather be on the training pitch than doing shampoo commercials …..

     

     

    If Virgil gets us to the group stages, all the best and move on, you will make more money but sometimes being loved by the Celtic fans (and making no bad money) could be better just ask Henrik…..

  3. Let’s not kid ourselves…

     

     

     

    Wednesday night in Baku is the biggest match in Rony’s life…

     

     

     

    We’ve all had moments in our life where we’ve had to pony up or walk away

     

     

     

    I so want him to be successful

     

     

     

    If Celtic don’t prevail then I hope he walks away

     

     

     

    Failure on Wednesday is unthinkable……..just do it Rony

     

     

     

    Otherwise the season is fecked before it starts

  4. What is the Stars on

    Hard to know what to think of the Virgil valuation,

     

    £ 8- 10 million is probably the best we can hope for. He may be a better player than some who have been sold for bigger money but EPL managers/ chairmen don’t see it like that. They know Manchester United wouldn’t sell a centre half for that price but they also know that Celtic ( being on the outside of the EPL gravy train) are unlikely to say no to an offer of that size.

     

    Personally I would keep him for as long as feasible but if the player is determined to leave then it’s in the best interests of the club to get the maximum price that someone is willing to pay

  5. Pfayr/lionsroar…

     

     

    If we sell Virgil for less than £12 million we are getting the piss taken out of us…again.

     

     

    Lions good to see you yesterday, you have a smile that could make a zombie come to to life. Hail Hail…then again:)

  6. What is the Stars on

    Rudi can’t fail

     

    Ronny won’t walk away if we don’t qualify on Wednesday. He would be mad to.

     

    He will never be lucky enough to have as big a job in football again. He will never walk away

     

    He may be sacked or mutually consented ( someday, but certainly not Wednesday) but he won’t walk away from celtic.

     

    Besides even if we don’t get through on Wednesday we still have a shot at the europa league which I think might be a more realistic stage for us.

     

    That said we should be positive and look forward to champions league group stage football. We can always dream. At least for the next few days

  7. Interesting lead – Clowns Falsifying the Rules…

     

     

    For me this is the issue, the theatrics of McCann’s outburst, the piece to camera, the pamphlet with the rules, and no doubt a few scribbles on his lines.

     

     

    It was pre-planned, to make a very strong point that “Celtic DO get the decisions”.

     

     

    For me he’d make his point a lot better if rather than “strongly disagreeing” with Charlie, he said – look, if Craig Gordon doesn’t make that illegal challenge, Jackson Irvine is through on goal. Believe that is true, think the boy might have had a chance but it was far from an obvious goal scoring opportunity.

     

     

    Thought the best line was Charlie’s paraphrasing…

     

     

    Tanner “Did you think the referee would send Gordon off?”

     

     

    Mulgrew “Well a thought he might, but it wasn’t a red card.”

     

     

    Seems like the premier league had some pretty good close matches, it really is, despite the level of quality, much better fare than the English League.

     

     

    Seen that Stuart and Nadir were at Tannadice, pictured in this BBC piece, but who is that next to them not JG?

     

     

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/33667198

     

     

    Anyways, Wednesday is must progress day…. But don’t fret toooooooo much.

     

     

    Hail Hail

  8. glendalystonsils on

    I don’t know if Qarabag can play much better than they did on Wednesday, but I know that Celtic can.

     

    It is very much in our hands

  9. Re McCann.

     

    Was at the game yesterday and taped the game

     

    today watched the match.

     

    Paul 67 alluded to McCann being a clown.fair comment.

     

    It is totally beyond me why a guy with his background

     

    Would display a hostile,aggressive anti Celtic agenda.

     

    then again an EBT recipient with a rule book out !!

     

    We should all have a good laugh.

     

    Enjoy the soup Neil.

     

    Let the people sing…….

  10. SIPSINI on 2ND AUGUST 2015 9:43 PM

     

    Pfayr/lionsroar…

     

     

    If we sell Virgil for less than £12 million we are getting the piss taken out of us…again.

     

     

    Lions good to see you yesterday, you have a smile that could make a zombie come to to life. Hail Hail…then again:)

     

     

    Good to see you my friend and looking well,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,PL despite some faults wont be taken for a mug on Virgil, big man has technical ability very few central defenders have, that always costs money

  11. Gerryfaethebrig on

    WITS

     

     

    Ronny is going nowhere ….. He might even make Dublin 2016

     

     

    Not sure if he has emailed Clogher yet but I am sure he is tempted

  12. Andrew Kerins Green and White Army on

    Great game at tynecastle by all accounts must be Armageddon time again

  13. A wee song for thunder road, he said to me yesterday he had a crush on Cilla since a pup…

     

     

    .www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmn2HXuf7xA

  14. Anyone know if the CQN Fantasy Football League is happenin this year?

     

     

    I want to enter my team ‘Hartson Fire’

     

     

    (I know i should win for the name alone)

     

     

    B-)

  15. Careful With That Tax, Moonbeams on

    Seem to remember the KOK was on something like 40,50 grand .. Can remember we were playing some Spanish or Italian team and their manager enquired about him, couldn’t believe how much he was on ..

     

     

    .

     

     

    Or I might just be talking keech :)

  16. 8 million for Virgil is really not enough, especially with the 20% sell on fee his previous club are rumoured to have.

     

     

     

    It’s a no from me.

  17. jeez_I_thought_blinker_was_pants on

    Just watched the 4-3 game against Juventus re-run on BT Sport Europe there, boy we had some team then !!!

  18. Surely most have missed the fact that, had Craig Gordon not ‘fouled’ Jackson Irvine, his choice was not to shoot as he’d hit the ball a good 5-10 yards in front of him trying to run past Gordon? For a goal scoring opportunity he would’ve had to retrieve the ball first, by which time the goal was covered by at least 2 defenders? Clearly not a red card!

  19. Gerryfaethebrig on

    WITS

     

     

    Ronny used to be a Viking but he is now a Cellic man

     

     

    CL group stages is a goer this season, I am hoping Ronny does a Benfica, get to the group stages and target 3rd, leave the superpowers fighting for the money and just take the Benfica route to the Europa final, I never made Seville, biggest regret of my football life, my bird at that time said “we” couldn’t afford it, the Irish National was just after the old firm game at Ibrox, (Alan Thompson) I blew a few bob that weekend just to prove we had enough money, funnily enough had a ton on the favourite in the Irish National at 7/2 (obviously 2003) didn’t even read the form I was on a mission to prove we “didnt” have the money, think it was 2nd last….anyway my wee nephew & niece were youngsters back then and they loved the fact I took them out that night, but every one of my mates and some guys who have never even been in Parkhead were in Seville…..by the way like the Murphys I am not that bitter

  20. I cannot understand the individual posters who are stating that the Qarabag game is a “must-win” or Ronny walks, far less qualification for CL is a must or Ronny walks.

     

     

    When did qualification become a gimme? When were any of our qualification matches a stroll?

     

     

    The answer to both questions is “it never has” and “never”.

     

     

    We are not a CL regular. We have made 2 of our last 3 attempts but we failed on 3 occasions before that making it 2 out of the last 6. Did we sack someone in each of those years? Since our first visit to CL group stage in 01/02 we made it to group stages in 6 of 9 attempts in the noughties but in the 4 years of WGS being in charge, we were calling for his sacking even as we achieved those heights .

     

     

    Qualification will always be a risk and never a given for a club of our size negotiating 3 qualifying hurdles. We could end up sacking managers every year, like a proper diddy club, if we set unrealistic targets and react accordingly.

     

     

    RD will stand or fall on whether the club progresses as a unit rather than on whether our more demanding/ambitious fans fail to get their share of European bling.

     

     

    Off to see if Sportscene are bringing Archie MacPherson back

  21. Dallas Dallas where the heck is Dallas on

    Gerryfaethebrig, sorry for taking so long to reply to your earlier post about McCann and Tanner.

     

     

    I need to stop letting the likes of those two and guys like Matt Lindsay and Chris Jack rile me so much.

     

     

    Tommy Boyd went up even higher in my estimation a while back when he said on sky sports news I don’t remember people saying we need a strong Celtic when the club had its financial troubles in the early nineties.

     

     

    No media work for Tommy since for some ‘unknown reason’.

     

     

    Mark Wilson seems to have become persona non gratis since the assault on Lukaz Zaluska when Mark and Jim Goodwin came to Lukaz’ assistance.

  22. pfayr/ Lionroars

     

     

    Absolutely correct about VVD. I wouldn’t answer the phone to anything less than£12m.

  23. JEEZ_I_THOUGHT_BLINKER_WAS_PANTS @ 10:12 PM,

     

     

    Too true…

     

     

    Then cheated in Turin… Still sticks in the Gullet that one.

     

     

    Hail Hail

  24. JEEZ_I_THOUGHT_BLINKER_WAS_PANTS on 2ND AUGUST 2015 10:12 PM

     

    .

     

     

    That remains one of my most favourite ever Celtic games.

  25. Can anyone clarify these guys who were (not!) renumeratec by EBTS actually had ALL their cash?

     

    Strikes me that if they hadnt it would be a pretty good reason not to bite the hand that feeds them ?

     

     

    Also, VVD , given his track record in Europe, and the track record of ex Celts in EPL, £8m is imho, marginally off what we could expect. Of course, Ai would like it to be double, or treble, but , if we dont sell him this summer, I suspect the fee would probably still be £4/5m

  26. HT…

     

     

    Thanks for that, think I’ll report you to paul for ageism:)

     

     

    Ffs, they can’t help themselves old huns scoring against us. Football time. HH

  27. I was trying to cut and paste SIPSINI post to tell him he is indeed a dinosaur.

     

     

     

    But I couldn’t cut and paste

     

     

    Stivasaurous

  28. Dallas Dallas where the heck is Dallas on

    Lubo showed in the 4 3 win against Rubentus, what a player he was and how he suited he was , even at 36, to playing at the top level.

     

     

    I always remember the teams shaking hands before the game and the look on Pavel Nedved’s coupon when he shook hands with Lubo.

     

     

    Unlike Keevins and his ilk when we signed Lubo, Nedved knew how great Lubo was.