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You are at:»»Angry, bitter and ugly consequences for us all

Angry, bitter and ugly consequences for us all

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By on CQN BLOG & Comments

No one has directly suggested Newco should have had a penalty when the ball struck Alistair Johnston’s hand moments before halftime on Saturday.  Abdallah Sima was offside, the attacking move effectively ended when he tried to win possession.  This fact is being overlooked by the losing club and instead, it is being implied they were denied a penalty by a malicious actor.  Many news outlets have also reported Newco were (rightly or wrongly) denied a penalty, a tad inflammatory, but worse has happened.

What’s more, during the halftime interval, the BBC had received enough information to report “Regardless [of the offside], the officials apparently deemed the movement of [Johnston’s] hand to be natural.”  So we knew then the VAR did not deem the incident sufficient to merit examination of the earlier offside decision.

You are free to dispute the handball incident, just as the decision by the same VAR when Connor Goldson put two hands to a Carl Starfelt shot when the same teams met a year earlier.  We are football fans, we disagree and dispute decisions.  But, there is a line even fans do not cross.

For full disclosure, here is my take on the Goldson/Starfelt incident a year ago, I thought Celtic should have had a penalty, and called for consistency from SFA officials (SFA Head of Refereeing, Crawford Allan) who chose to comment when he believed Celtic were advantaged by a decision, not the other way around.

Yesterday, Newco directors James Bisgrove and Craig Robertson met Crawford Allan and afterwards issued an incendiary statement claiming, “From the meeting, there was an overriding consensus the VAR decision of no handball was incorrect.”  This implies Allan told them he believed the VAR got the decision wrong.

It’s been reported they have requested that the VAR in question, Willie Collum, does not officiate at any of their games in future.  This comes two years after the same club went after referee Kevin Clancy, for red carding Ryan Kent at Pittodrie.  Two Newco ‘fans’ were subsequently charged in connection with threats made to Clancy.

The SFA have yet to issue a statement but let media outlets know they dispute Newco’s version of events.  Crawford Allan looks increasingly out his depth.  Carelessly shooting the breeze about a decision can be weaponised by nefarious actors.  If there is a good explanation, we must hear it, if not, he should consider his position.

No one lied to their manager.  No one changed a match report after it became clear a conspiracy would not hold.  This was a simple handball dispute for a move that was confirmed as offside.

I wish I could tell you the widespread reaction to an offside incident was a smokescreen to cover up for a defeat, or a lack of funds to spend appropriately this month, or an attempt to build some siege mentality at a club which is living on the edge.  It’s not.  Collum and Clancy have ethnic heritage in common, a triggering matter to some.

What will happen next?  RC referees will experience increased pressure at Newco games.  They know they will make mistakes, they know that if they officiate Newco they will make mistakes against that club.  And they know what will follow.

I don’t think this behaviour works for clubs.  Referees can also adopt a siege mentality, wagons will circle.  The Halo Effect of not conceding a penalty kick for 75 games disappeared with their initial reaction to Saturday’s defeat.  Human nature is almost impossible to calculate.

Once you permit outrage at a perceived injustice, it is very difficult to deescalate.  The perception of being an angry, bitter and ugly outfit is difficult to shift.  Anger released endorphins can be addictive.  Sensible people find it impossible to work in these environments, the organisation decays.  So it’s not all bad.

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  1. Aipple on

    DAVID17 re: the above

     

     

    In a normal world that would be a few layers down. In ours, not so much.

  5. Back to Basics - Glass Half Full on

    Full time 2-1.

     

     

    Well played Bhoys.

     

     

    Three points.

     

     

    Job done.

  7. TexasTim on

    Somebody broke the blog!

     

     

    Or the more rational explanation is they’re in bed.

     

     

    Lightweights (I’ll be sleeping soon, though).

     

     

    I see the SFA grew a pair but it’s still great that absent much new player news at Skintco, they have three weeks to obsess over this, will make the break more interesting.

     

     

    Good night y’all.

  8. Chairbhoy on

    Good Morning Celts – A Grand Day To Be A Tim,

     

     

    BOURNESOUPRECIPE @ 6:52 PM,

     

     

    [BURNLEY78 @ 4:33 PM]

     

     

    I think when there are more than one or two who haven’t contributed since signing in Summer, then it’s not a a surprise to have Celtic supporters say it was a ‘bad window.’ It was the probably the most expensive and even expansive window as per usual, facts bound to be lost in SMSM.

     

     

    Well, the SMSM aren’t going to give us a break, that’s a given, yet few could argue that was a good window.

     

     

    Also it has to be put in context, the previous two windows before this summer had been poor, so with cash in the bank and a revamped; recruitment team, scouting system, analytics and heaps of cash, the expectation that it was going to be a very good window.

     

     

    It was not the most expensive window either, far from it, we had a minus nett spend. In fact we made over 10mn from recruitment/sales.

     

     

    Our priority at the beginning of the summer, or so we thought, was preparation for the UCL Group stage having no qualifiers to negotiate this time around.

     

     

    From the team that had struggled in the previous seasons UCL group stages, we had lost six first team players.

     

     

    Jota, Mooy, Giakoumakis, Juranovic, Starfelt and Jenz.

     

     

    Quite a chunck of the first team contributors.

     

     

    Although one of those players retired and the another was a loanee, we still managed to get well over 40 mn in sales last year.

     

     

    We needed to hit the ground running in August, yet not one of the players we had lost had a replacement to fit the bill.

     

     

    We were unfortunate* that AJ wasn’t available to start the season, he was regarded as the only equivalence, in this case to Juranovic.

     

     

    Still, the point was, we were going into this season’s UCL severely weaker due to lost players, lost form, injuries and poor recruitment.

     

     

    You talk about an expansive window during the summer, while not exactly sure what you mean, that surely was also mixed.

     

     

    Bringing in players for multiple positions (though not necessarily our weaker positions), was to an extent expansive, in the context of back up and future development, it could be regarded as expansive.

     

     

    However, as mentioned it was actually a few first team quality players we required and as the amount of players we have on loan and not contributing from the current first team squad suggests, we didn’t need an expansive window, it simply means we now have an overly bloated squad.

     

     

    Some have pointed out it’s a numbers game, others it’s very difficult to find that diamond in the rough.

     

     

    Now, while not necessarily disagreeing with that, it strongly suggests, the recruitment model is not fit for purpose.

     

     

    We are told that Benfica don’t have “space” to develop Bernardo, so their loss is our gain.

     

     

    Again, when you look at Bernardo and the way he has developed with us, it is hard to disagree with that.

     

     

    Yet consider this, Benfica, with a first class Academy, and their famous Benfica ‘B’ has no space to develop players, how is it possible then, for Celtic to develop so many players?

     

    They’re even suggestions we’ll get even more development players in this January window.

     

     

    If you listen to Brendan Rodgers, John Kennedy and Calmac, they talk about the ‘group’.

     

     

    The bunch of players; whether first team picks, subs or development players, that the coaches, staff and manager concentrate on.

     

     

    It will be entirely necessary from their perspective, to streamline the players in this way, to allow the focus on first team elite players.

     

     

    We have first team squad players outside the ‘group’, we have players out on loan, we have a Celtic ‘B’, U21,U19 set up that needs development and a path to the first team.

     

     

    We did not need expansive, it is not a numbers game, Celtic have no ‘space’ for this.

     

     

    Have a great one…

     

     

    *However, the amount of wear and tear suffered in 2022-23 needs questioned, it looks like we were fighting a war of attrition.

     

     

    Hail Hail

  9. AuroraBorealis79 on

    Conspiracy time. I have just come this disturbing piece of information where Nike have made a pair of “I stand with israel” trainer’s, which will be work by the vikings, in their game against the raiders. I am gonna hedge my bets & suggest that the green brigade were the victims of a threat from Nike to celtic, that if the GB were not removed from the stadium, they would cancel the agreement between celtic & Nike.

     

     

    Nike stands with Gen0cide

  10. Paul The Spark on

    AURORABOREALIS79

     

     

    I don’t think Celtic are sponsored by Nike anymore. Been sponsored by Adidas for a while.

  11. AuroraBorealis79 on

    PAUL THE SPARK on 5TH JANUARY 2024 6:47 AM

     

    AURORABOREALIS79

     

     

     

     

     

     

    I don’t think Celtic are sponsored by Nike anymore. Been sponsored by Adidas for a while.

     

     

     

     

     

    Like I said – conspiracy time

  12. Big Jimmy on

    Celtic v Huns…

     

    I watched the game, but I failed to spot what happened immediately after Alistair Johnstons ” Hand Ball” ?

     

     

    Since the game, I have read ” CONFLICTING” accounts that state that 1) ” Joe Hart took a Goal Kick” and also that ” Callum McGregor took a Free Kick,” which would have implied that the Ref had been advised of the ” Offside” against SIMA ?

     

     

    Can someone clarify exactly what ” award” took place….Was it a Goal Kick for Celtic or a Free Kick to Celtic” ?

     

     

    That HUN CHUMP Barry Ferguson today has claimed that Joe Hart took a Goal Kick, but is he correct, as Ferguson is ASSUMING that Joe Hart took a Goal Kick….when in fact it was a FREE KICK he took ( for Simas offiside)…Albeit that maybe Joe Hart took the Free Kick from the WRONG Place), Which has led to the Huns claiming that the Ref had in fact awarded a Goal Kick to Celtic and VAR and the Ref had NOT awarded a Free Kick for Offside ?

     

     

    Cheers,

     

    HH

  14. lucky cody on

    AURORABOREALIS79 last time i looked at a Tic top it was Adidas…

     

     

    Chairboy good factual overview. The team was significantly weaker post summer transfer window whilst growing the balance sheet. The load on our remaining key players is huge and at times they have all had their periods where they played on when needing a rest. The Manager , team and fans rallied together and pulled us through the last 4 games in spite of the Board and a poor recruitment team (thats before you add nepotism into the mix).

     

     

    Shambolic recruitment before you consider the macro level behaviour of Lawwell/Lawwell ( copyright Reggie) which I have a little view on and in case of the beancounter over several years.

     

     

    We now know that we are up against a desperate enemy who will resort to anything (including putting lives of referees on the line). This isn’t sport anymore—- it’s war. The Chairman and deeply invested John Bennet should have prevented this —- has he made any attempt to do so or has he aided and abetted. We need to hear from him rather than anonymous statements whipping up the lowest common denominator in a manner Ian Paisley would be proud off.

     

     

    Back to football, our remaining key players have carried a huge load load and have played on through loss of form and injury. They need help urgently not more projects.

     

     

    The Ibrox club will go all out in the transfer window as well as using the scorched earth policy.

     

     

    Our one dimensional parochial aged board needs Dermot to make an intervention and tell them we need a winning transfer window that the manger, players and fans say they have done their part. We can and will judge them at the end of January.

     

     

    Over to you Lawwell/Lawwell.

  15. spikeysauldman on

    with regards Nike & Israel (and Adidas) – Any I stand With Israel style trainers will be custom made (just google) and not manufactured by the companies themselves. You could probably design some I Stand With Dessers trainers if you wanted (tho I’m gueesing that there might be law-suits of that happened)

  16. David66 on

    Good morning all from om a balmy 4 degree Garngad, scorching.

     

     

    By he heavens Dublin hostilities are in for a good turn.

     

     

    D. :)

  19. Kelvinbhoy on

    If Crltic asked that an official no longer be involved in their matches, you bet he’d be the first name the SFA/Referees Association put down to officiate at our next match.

  34. An Tearmann on

    AURORABOREALIS79 on 5TH JANUARY 2024 6:14 AM

     

     

    You need to give source and origin of your ‘conspiracytheory’ ie a LINK so we can read and decide for ourselves.

     

    They do not sponsor Celtic and hold no sway on who enters Celtic Park,that pressure came from the same israeli sponsored ‘charity’ who undermined Corbyn and the labour party,thecampaignagainstantisemitism.@antisemitism.

     

    Please link your assertions otherwise they are treated as same BS as your assertion yesterday that Arteta has left Arsenal

     

     

    HH

  35. Hot Smoked on

    SCULLYBHOY

     

     

    Many are guilty of remembering past events being more glorious than they really were. Looking at those clips, Big Tam actually hit the ball even more powerfully than I remembered !!

  36. Back to Basics - Glass Half Full on

    Great pics as always Scully. Respect.

     

     

    The second looks like the cover pic from Tommy Gemmell’s 1968 autobiography “The Big Shot”.

     

     

    The first football biography I ever read, it has a special place in my heart.

  38. bournesouprecipe on

    That was a great goal you scored in the European Cup final Tommy.

     

     

    “ Which one? “

     

     

    Tommy Gemmell

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