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.
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mullet and co 2
11:50 on 21 April, 2015
McLean a mason of Busby branch?
Surely we should be lobbying the SFA to ensure that membership of discriminatory secretive bodies should preclude employment.
###
That would have stopped Jock Stein being Scotland manager.
AN DUN…..making accusations that are obviously Unprovable leaves us open to being called bad losers and paranoid….it really is that simple…
Ard Macha,
Sorry to bother you, but as one who is trying to learn Irish, I always try to translate your posts. Would you mind telling me what is “suaimnheas”?
Thanks
Yogi
I know we get done from time to time because referees can’t always keep their inherent bias in check.
For the most part I think by far the majority of refs do try to provide a fair platform for all teams (Rangers being the obvious suspect exception).
However it is difficult for anyone to maintain a bias free profile no matter which area of life is being considered. I have a political bias, I have a nationality bias, I have a football bias, I have a food bias, I have a TV bias, i have a sexuality bias etc etc.
In real life I temper bias by allowing for the fact that other people have other honestly held positions and I think I can say in general I’d be considered to be fair minded.
However my ability,for example, to give a Tory a fair hearing is severely difficult even though I would claim to have listened with an open mind.
Scottish football has a genuine difficulty in the likelihood referees are drawn from a population pool dominated by bias for one club and/or perhaps some antipathy towards another.
For many on here what I say now will be met with incredulity… I think, in far and away most instances, referees try to act impartially and fairly. Repeat…try to act without bias
But where this breaks down is ‘trying’ is not the same as ‘succeeding’ I bet there is no refereeing unit at the SFA which specifically explores evidence of bias behaviour or even unconscious bias. I wonder if bias suppression is in any part of referee training and if it is a continuous process? Anybody know?
A system which claims all referees are without bias is a weak system. Much better to front up and acknowledge the challenge of overcoming the tilted Scottish football demographic.
This is where Celtic need to lead. An ideal solution would be to go Inter -National.
A partnership with other National Associations (eg Scandinavia, the Low Countries) to share officials thereby improving the referee pool quality and quantity to the benefit of all countries leagues. Small countries’ problem of the same referees managing teams too often could be overcome. Importantly training and supervision is removed from a local cabal.
A North Sea League may not be very likely but a North Sea Referee Pool could be.
Go on Celtic take the lead!
HH
Starry
I welcome any statement. Even mealy mouthed statements. I am different to Auldheid in tbat I would prefer PL to have came out and questioned why Regan was asking about S.A material when the Scottish stuff as director of the huns already dismisses any possibility of him being fit and proper. I am a great believer in dialogue until someone throws the first punch. Auldheid is a living legend.
HH
Alternatively,not calling out decisions like Sunday’s make us look like a buncha pussies,an easy mark.
Starry
I reckon I am a better lawyer than Clark but the question still stands. Easily dismissed.
HH
Starry
:-)
HH
LIVIBHOY…..my last word on this ….Who was the official that saw it.?…and you know this how.?..did he telll you..?.did one of the other officials tell you..?
jamesgang @ 12 02.
” Kingston Kool Natty Dreads “.
Work necessitated me visiting Kingston throughout the 80s and the 90s .The most uncool place imaginable.Weans with automatics etc.Very Dread .
Blood and Fire CSC – Way down south.
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS
I’ll be in EsCana Ibiza for a week from the 2nd of May. No place to drink for me in The Plean (Little Larkhall). Nearest Tim pub The Railway Denny (Dom Sullivan’s place) Will be using that to watch the games from now on. Canceled the Sky and will be cancelling BT when my internel contract runs out. I will keep Celtic TV going, its only £40 a year. As for the golf. The best I can do now is a par but not often Hail Hail
BMCW….And making Unprovable accusations shows we wont be messed about and we are tough….Right…..
Kevjungle
Anyone who knows me, and I have given you the opportunity, will know I’m my own man planted where I choose.
I come into this with years of management experience with the emphasis on the man part. However I also understand systems and processes and capacity.
The kind of things that folk on boards of all companies bring to that table.
The only clique I’m in is one of my own although I love engaging with my fellow talented Celtic supporters to ends which I believe help Celtic to operate in the environment that they have to.
It is a wonderful world and you should consider joining it.
My take on Celtic making a statement and many celtic fans going tonto is that this is not about the single incident on Sunday.
No.This was a tipping point, a line in the sand, one honest mistake too far.
Our not fit for purpose press are spinning this as Celtic moaning about a single decision..
This is not the case.
This has to stop.
As some luminary pointed out earlier, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Just wait for the playoffs. We all lmow what’s coming and that’s a tragedy for the game.
oot to walk the dug.
BGX
proof proof i’ll tell you about proof.did the huns get liquidated??are they a new club??do you know wan hun that accepts that.proof proof who needs it.
TIMJIM
Jee-zoh,I thought being a Kilwinning lad was tough!
Though I know a few good Tims who speak well of a certain wee boozer in Larkhall. They all speak well of him…
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS
Wee Bertie Auld had a pub in Stonehoue called the The Shawland ( I think that was its name, might be wrong, memory not that good now). My Aunty Kitty Reilly ran it for him.
Well said, Favourite Uncle.
BGX
12:12 on 21 April, 2015
AN DUN…..making accusations that are obviously Unprovable leaves us open to being called bad losers and paranoid….it really is that simple…
—-100% agree. Tis a waste of time for Celtic to push this because ultimately, we can’t prove they cheated. The SFA have aready answered Celtic today, the views of all the officials were obstructed for 0.001 second. Right so.
We move on and win the league. 4IAR with CL to nail down. Forget about the SFA and their diddy cups. Days like Sunday will make our league title wins even sweeter in the years ahead.
Fav Uncle….Wee rant there D….i give less than a fk what any hun thinks about sevco…..but if your gonna call the ref a cheat….back it up….or risk looking like an idiot….
Shawlands
This is what we are up against.
Spiers on Sport: Oh stop bleating, Celtic. Get over it. Move on, please.
Spiers on Sport
Graham Spiers
Tuesday 21 April 2015
I sincerely hope the Scottish FA are not planning to write to Celtic, seeking understanding of the principle of human fallibility.
But I’m hearing this is a distinct possibility. And if so, if I were Peter Lawwell, the Celtic chief-executive, I would be feeling distinctly uneasy.
The SFA, rightly aggrieved at the amount of finance being drained from the Scottish game, are demanding answers from Celtic on their wanton waste of millions of pounds in recent years.
In particular, the SFA are seeking clarity on Lawwell’s decision to squander £7m on Mo Bangura, Teemu Pukki, Amido Balde and Derk Boerrigter – precious money that could have stayed within Scottish football.
No specific explanation for this has been forthcoming from Celtic, and the SFA are wanting to know the circumstances in which such obvious errors were made.
At this point it is worth ruling one thing out: the SFA discounts fallibility and the human uncertainty principle. Obviously, these aren’t factors. The SFA want something beefier than this for an answer.
Okay…enough sarcasm. I think you’ll get my drift. So let’s look more closely at this Celtic complaint to the SFA about Sunday’s Scottish Cup semi-final defeat to Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Because it is baffling.
A refereeing injustice was served on Celtic. Of course it was. The match referee, Steven McLean, will wince when he watches replays of the incident when Josh Meekings made a blatant one-handed save of Leigh Griffiths’ header moments before half-time.
Were it not for that illegal act, Celtic would have gone 2-0 up and have been highly unlikely to lose. It was a terrible refereeing moment.
But what is this weirdness from Celtic now? They want to “seek an understanding of what actually happened” in that moment?
And Celtic add: “We…simply want to understand the circumstances of what went on and why such an obvious error was made.”
Huh? What?
One is tempted to add: why do janitors sometimes ring the school bell one minute late? Or, why do car mechanics sometimes insert the wrong valve?
Do we really need this sort of stuff over a human error? I’m at a loss to know how the SFA are supposed to respond to this.
Steven McLean made a mistake. It was a bad one. It was also compounded by the fact that, unlike the old days of a referee and two linesmen, this cup semi had a total of six officials on duty around the pitch, and they all failed to spot Meekings’ blatant infringement.
But we know all of this. Fans, cabbies, bus-drivers, even those of us in the media are aware of it. Even Cybil Fawlty gets it.
The “circumstances of why such an obvious error was made” are very simple: human beings are prone to error. It is called the principle of fallibility.
Is anyone really suggesting that something more sinister than this went on at Hampden on Sunday afternoon? Well, alas yes, they are.
It has spawned a cottage industry these past 48 hours, straight out of the 1960s, of irate Celtic fans talking conspiracy, ‘Grand Ludgery’ and all the other dross that used to come with these things.
Over the last three years, with their incessant conspiracy and persecution theories about the SFA and the like, I thought groups of Rangers fans had claimed this high ground.
But all that has changed since Sunday at Hampden. Certain Celtic fans are now well on top again. Order has been restored.
Rival fans around Scotland must be looking at this Celtic “seeking an explanation” stuff and heartily laughing.
I mean, just how often are their clubs on the receiving end of an unjust decision when playing Celtic? If you gave them 24 hours they could produce a litany of such complaints.
In recent experience Celtic have actually benefitted quite a bit from human blunder. Indeed, this season they were handed a passport to a potential £20m Champions League bonanza by Legia Warsaw’s error over Bartosz Bereszynski, before blowing it against Maribor.
“Understanding the circumstances of why the error was made” wasn’t really at issue back then for Celtic. It was just bloody brilliant.
The pity is, this faff has overshadowed the fine achievement of Caley Thistle in beating Celtic, knowing how to capitalise on 11 v 10 and boss a game, and reaching a Scottish Cup final. It is a momentous feat.
Do be quiet, Celtic. The referee badly blundered and you lost the game. Get over it. Life goes on.
An Dun…thats what im saying….
new article posted.
TIMJIM
I stopped for a pint in Stonehouse once a god few years back,driving back from London.
Blinkin’ flip. Scary lot,they looked at me as though I only had five fingers on each hand.
Actually,they did. I had four. And a thumb.
First stop any time after that was Darvel. Still full of huns,but Ayrshire ones. I can deal wi them.
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS
No many Tims in Larkhall in my younger days, my relatives the Reilly and the McStay s (Paul’s family) being good friends.
“Spiers on Sport: Oh stop bleating, Celtic. Get over it. Move on, please.”
Been doing that for more than the 57 years I have had on this planet………..Now we run the planet we’ll move on when good and ready.
Herbo
23:56 on
20 April, 2015
There is of course the mindset of some that Fergus tippled easily on what Murray and BOS were upto. He decided not to rock the boat as he knew it would blow Scottish fitbaw apart. A risky thing when there’s £35 million at stake.
There is that mindset. I’ve heard.
A rancid post detailing a rancid mindset.
just wrong
befitting more of FF or any other site than here.
why not compare him with Saddam.oh wait.
outa here
HH
yogihughes
12:13 on 21 April, 2015
Ard Macha,
Sorry to bother you, but as one who is trying to learn Irish, I always try to translate your posts. Would you mind telling me what is “suaimnheas”?
Thanks
Yogi
*******
It means peacefulness or quietness, or in the vernacular, gie’s peace.
Ahhhhhhhhh , it took a while but the word Paranoid came out, and from a Tim to?
south of tunis
Jamaica.
I know mhate. I’m spending a lot of time studying jamaica at the moment. A profoundly damaged nation. Mainly by the Brits. Especially by the scots I’m afraid.
HH jamesgang
John hartson saying there is no conspiracy ?
I bet he wasn’t thinking that when he had a goal disallowed against the dead team just before he missed a penalty at hampden in the league cup final
Paddys day if I’m not mistaken
Weekend before his netbuster at Anfield
Needless to say he wasn’t offside
Steven McLean has refereed 6 games involving Rangers in his career. Rangers won 4 and lost 2 . He sent off 3 Rangers players in those 6 games. That doesn’t have the look of someone who is predisposed to unfairly benefit Rangers.
He has also refereed Celtic 4 times this season, and Celtic have lost 3 of those games. 2 of those games involved critical incorrect decisions against Celtic . However over the 4 years he has refereed Celtic games his overall stats don’t suggest anything untoward.
I always start from a baseline that Officials are not predisposed to make deliberately incorrect decisions to unfairly benefit any team. My feeling is that the decision on the handball needs and deserves an explanation from the SFA and the officials because it was 1) Such a terrible call 2 ) A National Cup semi final and 3) Prevented an historic treble .
I can’t give a logical reason as to why a penalty and red card wasn’t the outcome , however on the balance of probabilities I doubt it was an act of cheating by the officials. The problem is that the SFA are such an appalingly incompetent organisation with a proven history of bias, that Mclean and his assistants are being judged as being from the same mould as Dougie McDonald and Hugh Dallas, without any proof that they are in any way guilty of anything.
I’d like an explanation, an apology and McLean and co given a short demotion to punish the incompetence. What though has kept emotions at fever pitch , is the ridiculous statement from John Fleming that NOBODY in the stadium thought it was a penalty until they saw the replay. Thats insulting, it’s totally incorrect and it smacks of an arrogant disregard for the Scottish football public. He has presided over a shambolic season for officials and that comment should be the final nail in his coffin. It won’t be , but thats down to the self interest of those higher up .
Big Chris’s take on it, sorry if posted before, I have not read back
Ref Steven McLean is “embarrassing” and Alan Muir is an “idiot” … they should NEVER take charge of another game blasts Chris Sutton
THE former Celtic striker seethes with calamitous officials but insists there was no point in club firing off letter.
CHRIS SUTTON last night blasted “embarrassing” referee Steven McLean and “idiot” assistant Alan Muir and insisted they should never take charge of another big game.
The Celtic legend waded into the controversy surrounding his old club and the officials following the Scottish Cup semi-final shocker.
Parkhead chiefs have written to the SFA demanding an explanation for the failure to award Celtic a penalty for a clear Josh Meekings handball on Leigh Griffiths’s netbound header in the Hampden tie against Inverness.
Sutton sees no point in that move.
But he does believe McLean and Muir, who was the fifth official standing just five yards from the incident, should be held accountable for their blunders and punished. Sutton said: “I just can’t understand how they could have missed it from such close range and how they thought the ball hit him on the head. You can’t get that wrong.
“They have a job to do and if they’re not up to that job, they shouldn’t do it again.
“You can understand Celtic’s frustration. You need accountability.
“It’s embarrassing. I can’t understand how that decision was made and what the referee was thinking.
“It was idiotic how the extra official (Muir) didn’t see it. I can’t remember a decision that bad from someone standing so close. He must be an idiot not to see it.”
But Sutton insists it is pointless for Celtic to write to the SFA.
He added: “The SFA will write back and just say he didn’t see it. It’s a waste of a stamp.”
Big Chris’s take on it, sorry if posted before, I have not read back
Ref Steven McLean is “embarrassing” and Alan Muir is an “idiot” … they should NEVER take charge of another game blasts Chris Sutton
THE former Celtic striker seethes with calamitous officials but insists there was no point in club firing off letter.
CHRIS SUTTON last night blasted “embarrassing” referee Steven McLean and “idiot” assistant Alan Muir and insisted they should never take charge of another big game.
The Celtic legend waded into the controversy surrounding his old club and the officials following the Scottish Cup semi-final shocker.
Parkhead chiefs have written to the SFA demanding an explanation for the failure to award Celtic a penalty for a clear Josh Meekings handball on Leigh Griffiths’s netbound header in the Hampden tie against Inverness.
Sutton sees no point in that move.
But he does believe McLean and Muir, who was the fifth official standing just five yards from the incident, should be held accountable for their blunders and punished. Sutton said: “I just can’t understand how they could have missed it from such close range and how they thought the ball hit him on the head. You can’t get that wrong.
“They have a job to do and if they’re not up to that job, they shouldn’t do it again.
“You can understand Celtic’s frustration. You need accountability.
“It’s embarrassing. I can’t understand how that decision was made and what the referee was thinking.
“It was idiotic how the extra official (Muir) didn’t see it. I can’t remember a decision that bad from someone standing so close. He must be an idiot not to see it.”
But Sutton insists it is pointless for Celtic to write to the SFA.
He added: “The SFA will write back and just say he didn’t see it. It’s a waste of a stamp.”