Referee Steven McLean saw the incident when Josh Meekings stopped a Leigh Griffiths header crossing the line with his hand. He was 12 yards away with an unobstructed view. The blame for getting the decision wrong is entirely his.
We can only speculate as to why he didn’t award a penalty. At best, McLean didn’t believe the evidence of his own eyes and passed the buck to his assistant Alan Muir, who was around 6 yards from the action but with a less-clear view.
Muir did not see Meekings clear the ball legally. If he was distracted, and failed to see what happened clearly enough, he should have informed the referee. If Muir told the referee anything else, this is also a failing.
The SFA have a case to answer. Not fit and proper, to use their parlance.
Notwithstanding the fact that if the rules of the game were followed Celtic would be in the cup final right now, they are out because they failed to deal appropriately with the known qualities of Inverness.
Three goals were lost, all of which were defensive mistakes. A break downfield which caught the defence cold, a cross from the right which was not properly contested with all defenders in position, and a failure to match a back post run (similar to a recent League Cup final goal conceded to Kilmarnock). Fatigue may have contributed to the final goal but being down to 10 men was not a contributing factor for the first two.
The game should have been won in the first half but we opened the second period off-pace.
Another matter which should be on the agenda at Lennonxtown today is why didn’t we have the right studs on?
It should be someone’s job to make a decision after the team arrives at a ground on which studs to wear. If the decision was made, the decision was wrong. If this process was not followed, it should have been. Either way there is also a case to answer internally.
1,175 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- ...
- 31
- »
Any recriminations should be confined to referee and assistants and our own team / manager and Board. I hold no grudge against ICT or Hughes.
Calling for their players to be retrospectively red carded is bad sportsmanship imo.
By any objective assessment Steven McLean’s performance will be identified as being unacceptable. Let’s see how it is defended or punished.
LiviBhoy
12:21 on
20 April, 2015
NatKnow
It’s incompetence and no accountability. Going with a liar liar pants on fire or yer aw cheating bassas will get you nowhere. It needs to be smarter. We may all believe they are cheating us at the SFA and under the referee branch of that lodge but what needs to happen is that the fans unite under an incompetency and accountability remit.
Any mistakes must be punished by demotion and retraining. Every referee should speak to the media within 10 mins of the game finishing to explain their decisions.
If they got it wrong or claim not to see something then an independent committee has to sit and look at the numerous camera angles and decide whether that is the case.
If the referee and his officials appeared to have a clear view and still didn;t see it then they must explain why and then be demoted.
Being a referee in this country gets you around £1k per game plus expenses. You can also make a decent wedge with 4th official gigs and assistant referee apppintments. Most referee’s in SCotland will make a lot more than the players do.
They should be professional and accountable.
The whole of the SFA & SPFL are a shambles and why the clubs are not calling for removal of the top men at least a year ago is beyond me.
LB
————————————————————-
I completely agree mate – they’re on professional wages and are not being held to professional standards. Your last point is an interesting one – the only conclusion I can come to is that (with the recent exception of Hearts and Hibs) the member clubs are all happy with the performace of the top men in both organisations?
Paul,having already written to the InvernessChairman, re the shambolic handling of our game last week,and not afforded the courtesy of a reply,it is doubtful I will visit them again.
This feeling is exacerbated by yesterdays predictable cheating by a Referee who considered us in the past as rivals to his team of choice ( now deceased ).
This appointment should not have been allowed,however if the rules are administered fairly then fine,however they were not therefore the selection of Officials can now be raised legitimately.
If Celtic do not raise this topic and request to hear what the Assistant said on air,then request why the decision was made, I fear many people will question whether or not investment in a new ST is a worthwhile consideration when we the fans are being used as a cash commodity to fund what appears to be results decided upon prior to Kick Off..
Application of rules fairly is all I for one request,no favours. This was predictable.
That said 2 of our Senior guys need a long look at their contribution,
Firstly.
All Commons had to do, as he was invisible, was to hit a corner,he failed and allowed the breakaway which cost us the penalty and sending off.
Secondly.
Izzy prior to the 3rd goal tried to clear with his right foot,no distance but fell around 18 yd box he stood watching attempts to clear allowing the RB to go behind him and score ( a man who arguably was lucky to be on the park).
For what its worth I think Efe would have outrun the striker prior to the Pen.plus Craig Godon should have spread himself as he seldom goes in feet first.
I can take a defeat,50+ years practice but cheating I cannot abide.
LiviBhoy
Correct
We would have been cheated out winning the final instead
;-)
I am sure we should have had a penalty but when it was disallowed we were still 1-0 up but we appeared to lose our discipline and allowed ICT to boss the game.The sending off of Craig Gordon for me was a greater set back than not getting the penalty it took us down to 10 men and Ronny had to make changes Tonev was a poor choice and why he was brought on is a mystery to me.H.H.
Spoke to a mate today, he asked what i thought. All I could say was cheating Hun.
FAO Auldheid
http://www.hmfckickback.co.uk/index.php?/topic/151347-were-we-all-cheated-by-the-sfa-was-lns-duped/
You are being touted on Jambos Kickback forum.
For anyone who believes all these issues are only being raised by Celtic fans this may be of some interest.
LB
JINKYWASMYHERO
IIRC,brother of the much-loved PABLOPHANQUE,and apologies all round if I’m wrong there. Great to hear from you again,if so.
Please tell Jonathan and Sara I so much appreciate their marvellous donation
BMCUW @ 12:05,
No offense taken – it bloody smarts.
……“I want the rules applied. And I want those who would do us down,regardless of the rules,booted out of the game.”
Shouldn’t be too much to ask.
You’re angry, and why shouldn’t you be.
Now if you are playing in that game how do you feel.
You’re busting a gut to get a result.
You’ve been training hard all week for it.
You’ve been studying the opposition and your opposite number.
Yet you are cheated over and over, and in the case of the handball, cheated out of a game winning goal.
Now I don’t know how I’d react to that but I do know the way Celtic Footballers should react. Not easy but necessary.
Now that doesn’t mean that we should take this lying down, we shouldn’t – we should take a leaf out of Lord Reid’s book and tell it like it is.
As you know it’s not unheard of in England for Referees to apologise for mistakes.
That is the minimum we should be demanding.
Hail Hail
Ziggydoc
shepherd incident was when huns beat us 2-1 in league cup final
ref changed his mind on sending off shepherd but as i also remember almost every celtic outfield player got a booking and the huns got a dodgy penalty with 5 mins to go to win 2-1
Is there a reason why Celtic players slid on the surface significantly more times than Inverness ?
It can not be simply down to a case of wrong boots because that would have been established by pitch inspections by Celtic officials before the warm up, by the players during the warm up or failing either of those in the dressing room at half time.
It has me baffled – and the number of occasions and positions it happened had a significant bearing on the game.
CultsBhoy,
Can’t agree with you. I think both the ICT player who punched the ball and the one who should have been booked for his tackle on Brown should have retrospective action taken by the compliance officer. It’s what would be expected in any game, when the referee makes such serious mistakes.
I have spoken to 2 other older Celtic supporters today (one was my Dad) and both were livid and my Dad was anxious that we don’t lose our manager, because he may have been scunnered at how we are cheated. All that hard work and planning destroyed by pure bigotry. He has seen plenty of it, of course, and reckons it is never going to change here. Sad to say, I agree with him. The sooner we leave this corrupt league, the better.
Delia confuses me…
Denayer is on his way out but we’d love him to stay as he’s very good so no surprise we play him every week.
However Tonev and Guidetti are not very good are on their way out and we don’t want them. What merits their inclusion yesterday over players who are committed to the team/club?
Forget the referee. Forget the linesman behind the goal. The linesman on the right wing had a CLEAR, UNOBSTRUCTED view.
When four Celtic players are screaming for a handball, why don’t you maybe ask him what he saw?
CHEATED
Ayrshire is Green and White
Mathews – empty shirt
Commons – empty shirt
Denia – empty shirt
VVD – empty shirt
We started 4 down yesterday.
Then we had to deal with a team playing with 17 men.
On that basis to lose 3-2 after extra time is not too bad.
Did someone say there is TV evidence of Muir shouting at time peanlty should have been awarded. If so has this been posted?
MWD said AYE (being a tad facecious)
From today’s Herald (apologies if already posted):
“But – and this is a ‘but’ you can see from space – the entire match hinged on one of the worst decisions by an official the old bowl in Mount Florida has ever witnessed.
The official Twitter account of Inverness Caley Thistle was an entertaining read. The tweet of the day read: ‘Apparently Meekings shouted ‘I’m in nets’ when the ball came in so it’s not a penalty’.”
Is there any way a civil action might be raised by a supporter or a group of supporters? I presume if Celtic were to raise such an action, UEFA would come down on us like a ton of bricks. Could blatant cheating in sport be proved in a court of law?
BMCW,
Yes Stephen was my younger brother and closest in age to me 18 months to be exact and the anniversay of his passing is only days away.
Thanks for the good wishes, he is still very muched loved and missed by all the family especially my parents three brothers and sister and all his extended family.
I don’t think you will find anyone in world football who would not concede that Meekings handball to deny a goal should have resulted in a penalty and red card. At the very least a dominating Celtic would have been facing 10 men ICT with a goal advantage going into the 2nd half. As far as I am concerned it would have been game over, the ref either bottled out of making the correct decision or chose not to make any decision to keep the game alive as a contest, any way you look at it, what happened on the day was a complete failure to apply the rules and absolutely changed the game.
Celtic had another half to play, still masters of our own destiny and I have to say we lost composure, concentration, we let the game get away from us as a result of our own individual and collective errors, it’s a sore one but it is what it is. We live we learn we move on, good luck to ICT, I like big Yogi and I have a lot of respect for his team I hope they go on to win the cup final, they are lucky to be in it, but I wont hold that against them. I think to blame our defeat on a shocking decision alone is simplistic.
Hail Hail.
It’s like the Al Capone thing. You know he was a racketeering murdering scumbag low life. But you can’t get the evidence. But money and taxes have a trail. That’s where he was got.
Wanna get the cheats? I think the strategy has been laid out pretty well by some on here today. There’s evidence that they get many many things wrong. Pull it together from a range of games. Go after their ‘incompetence’. If it just so happens that it tends to penalise one team more than others all well and good. But either way you put the spotlight on them and keep it there.
I’d also like to know what REALLY happened in the Draper/Ross booking incident. Did he change his mind so Draper wouldn’t miss the final?
If I was A Falkirk official /supporter I’d want to know.
Jungle Jim Hot Smoked
from previous blog
10:48 on
20 April, 2015
Someone who DEFINITELY cheated yesterday was Meekings. He acted out a little cameo to pretend the ball had hit his head.Has this been highlighted anywhere?
JJ
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Livibhoy
commented later and the following is mine from TSFM in response to both. I commented here in the early hours about Meeking cheating and nothing said about it by copying my post in TSFM.
That got Livibhoy’s defense to which I responded on TSFM s follows. (I hope you follow that)
gamesabogey says:
April 20, 2015 at 2:14 am
Auldheid, there has been no opprobrium directed against Meekings as it was a completely instinctive and understandable action. The lad himself said as much that he expected to walk. Why the ref and two assistants saw it differently is for them to explain, but of course they can’t. Transparency seems like such an unattainable virtue.
===================
Its interesting why no opprobrium is directed (which was not my intent) my intent was to say that he illegally stopped the ball going into the goal.
The defence you offer is it was instinctive and therein lies the problem. That defence makes it acceptable, that it just part of football and if you do it no opprobrium is attracted.
Perhaps in general terms if it were to attract opprobrium then it would become a lot less instinctive and a players first thought would be preservation of reputation rather saving his team.
If players don’t cheat, refs don’t get lambasted. The problem of course is that cheating is unacceptable when other teams do it and our team is on losing end, but if our team does it and we get away with it, then its OK.
So the problem passes up the line to supporters. Are you against cheating but only when your club is on the wrong end?.
On Twitter the Guedetti penalty v Hearts was brought up. Regardless of the ins and outs of that event I would rather at the time when watching that he would have told the ref he slipped.
If it had been for an equaliser however I might have to have dismounted my high horse.
Am I a dreamer? Maybe :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72xn8O1vJb0
The answer lies in the lad who handballed and in all of us who made a judgement about it.
Add to that the substituation of Forrest when Commons should have been hooked. Our biggest threat to create something pulled but keeping the same formation.
Ronny didn’t seem to know what to do once we went a man down IMO.
Losing the keeper should have had no real effect had he subbed Commons instead of Forrest.
MWD said AYE
Parkheadcumsalford – you’d need an admission by one of the parties involved or, pardon the expression, a whistleblower. It’s a non-starter.
HT
Will do
Gimme half an hour to finish cleaning the B’stard fryers :-)
herbo
Just going back into work so I’ll pick it up later mate.
Whats the refs background then ? Glasgow born…read comments about his brother playing for huns and picking norn iron over scotland.
Any links for this info ?
Ziggydoc it was the league cup final 86/87
Choccy scored for us
Somebody else was sent off along with shepherd but I’m not going to put his name on here as it might upset people who might be a bit delicate after yesterday’s stroke
I’m sure you’ll know who it was
Jinky is my hero
He is still much missed by the pages of Cqn and the friends he made on here
We need a backup goalkeeper for Craig Gordon.
How about Josh Meekings?
Tricoloured Ribbon
Not me mate. Wrong bhoy Im afraid. I’m originally from the scheme beyond the flyover ;-)
Still gutted. I will be sending a letter off to Mr Lawwell expressing my concerns and asking what steps Celtic are taking regarding the inconsistency of referees in favour of our opponents. HH
We can question the referee’s honesty all we like but we can’t prove diddly squat, but, the compliance officer surely has it in his power to cite Meekings and restore some semblence of justice by taking rerospective action to ensure he plays no role in the final.
Can I first say that, like everyone else, I thought that yesterday’s handball was exactly that (even thought i think the vast majority of handball awards that are given now are a joke) and it is disgraceful that it wasnt given and Celtic arent still on course for a treble. Can I also, though, add a bit of context that may, or may not, shed some light on yesterday.
I work with someone who is a referee in the Ayrshire Refs Association. Apparently, they regularly meet to be shown edicts from the SFA about how they expect the rules of the game to be interpreted – this is common across all associations and, for example, the English FA have instructed their refs to award a penalty if the ball hits someone’s hand, irrespective of intent, consideration of ‘unnatural position’ etc.
Last week, they were shown a video of a woman ref who, in a recent junior game, awarded a penalty and booked the player for a handball almost exactly like the one from yesterday. The ‘grassroots’ refs all supported this decision but the SFA guidance, apparently, was that this was wrong and they were to consider that no offence had taken place. The officials yesterday would have seen the same video and would have been given the same guidance from the SFA
I know Regan has said on Twitter that he though it was a penalty but that the official missed it, but it might be possible that the crap SFA guidance given last week contributed to a crap decision made yesterday
I thought the compliance officer was only for Celtic retrospection…
What I remember about the 86-87 league cup final is Syme awarding a penalty as Butcher and Aitken tussled in the penalty box as a corner came over from the Celtic left.
It was missing everyone, but Butcher went down and he gleefully awarded the pen.
However, they had been marking each other at set pieces throughout, both pushing and pulling with no action or warning being given.
But Syme timed his cheating well.
Retrospective – sorry.