You’re victim of a costly refereeing failure, what do you do? Celtic wrote to the SFA for clarification. There was no demand for censure of the officials or a ban for the Inverness player.
In 2011, when the SFA were victim of a costly refereeing error against Czech Republic, Association president, Campbell Ogilvie, took it upon himself to write to Uefa demanding the referee who failed to correctly interpret a penalty incident, be marked down, and that the player who dived is excluded from the remainder of the competition. The Daily Record glowingly reported the actions here.
The SFA set a precedent: after being hard done by, demand action against the referee. Don’t just let supervisory processes take their course. This is the standard set by Campbell Ogilvie.
“An SFA spokesman” also made it his business to brief a grateful media on the actions of Mr Ogilvie. This was a coordinated campaign by the SFA against a match official, as well as an attempt to circumvent process.
Is this fair enough? Well, I don’t remember an outcry at the time. A referee made a bad mistake in an important game. Standards should have been higher. The SFA would have been within their rights to say so, although they had no business trying to influence referee supervisory processes. If only we had a competent administrator who would realise this.
Celtic are within their rights to say standards should be higher now and instead of trying to mislead by suggesting no one in the ground was convinced Celtic should have had a penalty, the SFA should acknowledge that standards can and must improve.
Saying that would shut Celtic up and give them nothing to MORE complain about. Instead of being concerned by the actions of SFA referee chief Fleming.
What you will note is the utter contempt shown for your club by many for writing a letter asking for clarification, even from those who lauded Campbell Ogilvie for demanding a referee is demoted. Celtic are the last superpower standing after the Long Cold War, but we’ll always be the enemy to some. We may well win the next 30 league titles, but as long as Campbell ‘What school did you go to?’ Ogilvie is in charge at Hampden, you’ll know what we’re up against.
Great three points last night. Particularly delighted for Gary Mackay-Steven. He, and Stuart Armstrong, are still finding their feet at Celtic. It will be next season before we see the best of them (think Stefan Johansen circa April 2014), but the early signs are encouraging.
Big Virgil had a better record from free kicks than we had from penalties a couple of seasons ago!
Thanks to everyone who registered for the Foundation’s Ben Nevis climb yesterday, trying to get as many confirmed before tomorrow as possible. It’s on 13 June. Last year participants raised £45k, which fed the hungry, sheltered the homeless and aided others in need. Sign up here.
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murdochbhoy
08:53 on 24 April, 2015
___________________
They do what they do coz…they all fear a big lion called
Celtic FC…but,…crucially…they also know that, the big
lion is atm toothless…so…what to do?
Jingle Jackson doing a clean up job on Michael Gannons article yesterday, the comparisons are there for all to see, bitter evil poison monkey humphy rat bag Hun bassa.
LISTEN, don’t mention the war. I mentioned it once but I think I got away with it all right. Let’s hear no more about it.
If Stewart Regan thought he could slip away quietly from Hampden’s Fawlty Towers last night and wipe his hands of this latest comical episode, as if the whole Meekingsgate affair had never really happened, then the SFA’s chief executive needs his head bandage tightened.
Yes, Josh Meekings has been spared the agony of missing out on the Scottish Cup Final and, yes, it will come as a welcome relief to have him down there on the pitch playing his part in creating a little bit of history rather than forcing him to watch it from a seat in the main stand.
But while the Inverness defender received a quantum of mercy yesterday, that must not be the end of the matter.
Now is not the time to shrug shoulders and say all’s well that ends well. Rather, this seems an ideal moment to pose some serious questions about why Meekings was placed in such a position in the first instance.
And to ask again, what exactly does this man Regan think he’s doing to our game? And how much longer must we put up with the John Cleese of sporting administration?
It’s almost as if we’ve grown so used to having Scottish football glibly dismissed as a laughing stock that it barely even registers these days, far less offends.
But at some point there must surely come a time when enough is enough. When the likes of Regan have exposed us all to ridicule once too often?
I mean, seriously, what on earth has been going through the head of the chief executive over these past few days as the reputation of our game has been booted around from pillar to post? Just once, did he ever stop to think the very organisation over which he presides – the one that is supposed to protect our national sport and nurture it – was responsible for humiliating it on a worldwide stage?
And don’t think no one else stopped to notice because the back page of yesterday’s Record made it perfectly clear what the rest of planet football made of this latest self-inflicted farce.
You know you’re in trouble when a man from FIFA calls your actions ludicrous. But that’s exactly what happened in this instance and for that reason alone Regan ought to feel ashamed of himself.
When the world’s governing body is the voice of decency and integrity – not to mention commonsense – then it means our own game has entered a scandalous state of affairs.
And let’s be clear here, that’s what this Meekings debacle has now become – a scandal.
If it took a threat from FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce to embarrass the SFA and scare them into yesterday’s U-turn, Sepp Blatter can finally claim reflective credit for his own shameless mob getting something right.
Can you imagine Regan attempting to explain his way through this entire shambles if the big bosses from Switzerland did feel forced to clean up the mess?
For starters, how could he justify appointing Stevie McLean to referee a match of such significance when this official’s recent CV reads like a guide in how NOT to do it?
McLean has a history of making extraordinary mistakes at crucial moments. On his previous trip to Hampden, just a few weeks ago, he managed to knock Aberdeen out of a League Cup semi by chalking off a goal for no apparent reason.
PAHampden’s Fawlty TowersHampden’s Fawlty Towers
So what did the SFA feel he had he done to merit getting this gig in the first place? Then, when another calamity inevitably befell this hapless whistler, how exactly did Regan allow this to develop into a full-blown crisis?
The truth is, the moment Peter Lawwell penned a public letter demanding an explanation for McLean’s failure to award Celtic a stonewall penalty, Regan should have been man enough to tell Celtic’s chief executive to wind his neck in. Better still, Regan should have reminded him of his duty to the game in this country as a member of the SFA’s board.
Yes, Celtic had every right to be infuriated by such blatant incompetence. But by questioning the reasoning behind it in the name of their supporters, they were nodding towards all manner of hoary old conspiracy theories. With that letter Lawwell dragged our game back into a very dark place – somewhere dangerously close to disrepute – and Regan should have told him so.
Instead, it felt more like the SFA’s leader came over all peculiar and weak at the knees. It was almost as if the mounted moose on the wall of his sixth floor office had just fallen on his head, sending him into full-on Fawlty mode.
And this is where things become very serious indeed because Regan must now explain what went on behind closed doors which led to compliance officer Tony McGlennan hitting Meekins with the proposal of a Cup Final ban.
McGlennan’s mandate is to deal with incidents that were not seen by match officials. Is he, or Regan for that matter, asking us to believe that none of the six match officials at Hampden on Sunday had their eyes open when Meekings smashed Leigh Griffiths’s header off the line with his forearm?
Because that really would be beyond all belief. And, worse still, they were contradicted by the official internal briefings from yesterday’s climbdown.
McLean was looking at the incident all right – he just didn’t see it clearly enough. And with advice from assistant Alan Muir, the pair of them made a horrendous error.
If that was the truth of the matter then it was all the explanation Celtic were due.
And, crucially, there was no need – in fact no basis at all – for McGlennan to go after Meekings, who insisted after the event that he had not “deliberately” handled the ball. So, again, another
question of huge importance must be asked – did the Hampden lawyer act off his own bat?
Also, was it hoped that Meekings would simply bend over and accept his ban and sacrifice himself as a scapegoat so that this issue would be quickly resolved? If so, then someone has made another massive error of judgment.
And why was Meekings on the stand yesterday when it really ought to have been McLean and his team who were being taken to task?
In fact, retrospectively speaking of course, it’s difficult to think of a single decision which they have called correctly throughout this latest hysterical episode.
Above all else now, one thing is clear. Watching Regan’s SFA is just like watching Basil.
the long wait is over
08:56 on 24 April, 2015
___________________
Thye do…think yer idiots…that are only good
for taking money off…imho.
HH
They
Just read Keeck Jackson’s article , I know I know, I did’nt buy the rag, got on the internet. He labastes the SFA, also lambastes the officials. Then somehow puts the blame Celtic for asking for an explanation. Here is the part about Celtic, I did not want to bore you with all of it. Here Goes:
If you do not want to read it scroll bye.
The truth is, the moment Peter Lawwell penned a public letter demanding an explanation for McLean’s failure to award Celtic a stonewall penalty, Regan should have been man enough to tell Celtic’s chief executive to wind his neck in. Better still, Regan should have reminded him of his duty to the game in this country as a member of the SFA’s board.
Yes, Celtic had every right to be infuriated by such blatant incompetence. But by questioning the reasoning behind it in the name of their supporters, they were nodding towards all manner of hoary old conspiracy theories. With that letter Lawwell dragged our game back into a very dark place – somewhere dangerously close to disrepute – and Regan should have told him so.
Instead, it felt more like the SFA’s leader came over all peculiar and weak at the knees. It was almost as if the mounted moose on the wall of his sixth floor office had just fallen on his head, sending him into full-on Fawlty mode.
Easter Monday 24th April 1916 Irish patriots mount an armed insurrection in Dublin against the British occupation of Ireland. Although the Rebellion ended in failure it succeeded in reigniting the Irish peoples desire for freedom.
The Rose tree.
‘O words are lightly spoken,’
Said Pearse to Connolly,
‘Maybe a breath of politic words
Has withered our Rose Tree;
Or maybe but a wind that blows
Across the bitter sea.’
‘It needs to be but watered,’
James Connolly replied,
‘To make the green come out again
And spread on every side,
And shake the blossom from the bud
To be the garden’s pride.’
‘But where can we draw water,’
Said Pearse to Connolly,
“When all the wells are parched away?
O plain as plain can be
There’s nothing but our own red blood
Can make a right Rose Tree.’
WB Yates
Tom
Sincere condolences on your loss.
May your mother’s soul rest in peace.
Morning all.
Tom Mclaughlin, my condolences on the death of your mother. May she rest in peace.
Drab day here,. Back to normal then.
So, it is apparent that Fleming and/or his minions have been lying or reconstructing a version of events from last Sunday which has nothing to do with what actually happened.
You can fool some of the people…………………..springs to mind. Can we not really go for these cheats now?
Kitalba
I will be in Glasgow before the match next Friday.
I would love to meet you. I last saw you over 40 years ago. :)
timjim
Of course you will notice that brother Fleming doesn’t get a mention in jingles article,.
Lol, do they honestly think we are that daft?
It’s time to stop all the waffle….ffs…
Res-12….bin.
5-way-agreement….bin.
Celtic fans…hold onto yer SB-money and, inform the spineless directors who sit back and watch you all being taken for mugs that….if they dont do the honourable thing and…resign then, your going to demonstrate a vote of ‘no confidence’ in the colluding-board and that, if necessary…you will buy them out with yer SB-money and that…at long last…Fergus McCann’s ‘unkept’ promise of handing the club to the fans…who saved the club, along with him….will be fulfilled….dont see any of the re-writers of history going down ‘that’ road but….the longer they put it off…Celtic will find themselves inside a club that is in free-fall…imho.
Tom
Sorry to hear about the sad loss of your mum may she rest in peace
Tom,
My condolences for the loss of your mum.
cv
tony
He is just a little shite stirrer, who should be banned from Parkhead.
St Pats Bhoy
” It’s collusion and corruption at every level, let’s hope UEFA have a close look at the shenanigans behind that Rangers UEFA licence and name those involved…….I think we already have a fair idea.”
==========
Res12 (to paraphrase) asked Celtic to ask the UEFA Club Financial Control Body (CFCB ) to investigate the processing of the UEFA licence (to RFC) by SFA in 2011.
Canalamar had looked into the rules that govern the CFCB and one of the powers they have is to ask to see all documentation relating to the processing. Hence the form of the resolution.
Given the seriousness of the request the SFA have been given the opportunity to address shareholders concerns first.
If that opportunity is not taken then the CFCB are the next port of call.
The reputation of UEFA FFP (which is Platini ‘s baby) would be at stake if the matter is not investigated using the powers the CFCB have.
We are unsighted on Phil’s report that UEFA were contacted about the shareholders letter which came from Phil ‘ s own sources but that should not deflect from the seriousness of the position the SFA find themselves in.
UEFA acted against Malaga in 2012 when they declared tax overdue to the Spanish tax authority with whom Malaga stated they were in discussion, which is similar to the reasons given by SFA for no questions being raised in 2011. There is no reason to think that the UEFA CFCB will not act in order to protect the reputation of UEFA. They have the power to dothat.
That dark forces may appear stage left is always a possibility, but as matters stand there is no carpet big enough to sweep this issue under.
Tom McLaughlin
My condolences on your loss.
24th April 1965
The start of our domination of Scottish football as the Kelly kids finally achieved their first cup final win v Dunfermline
My dad had to leave the central hotel as my mother went into labour and my brother was born the next day
off to Glasgow shortly, for the Bhoy’s wedding to the lovely Aimee at the University chapel tomorrow.
I’m sure it will be a great day; the forecast is a bit iffy but crossing fingers and toes and praying hard.
Away to get the weekly messagies, part of my duties as a retired gentleman.
timjim
Last time I looked he was mate?
blantyretim is praying for the Knox family
09:23 on 24 April, 2015
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Hail Hail my Ghood Mhan – I hope yer all well.
Roy Croppie put a cracking pic of that team with the SC bedecked in green & white ribbons, in the centre circle at Hampden with the ole ‘underdog’ Celtic end going wild in the back ground…brilliant, just brilliant.
TOHG looked the part…matey:)
Tom, sorry for your loss.
May your mum rest in peace.
Thoughts and prayers with your family .
Happy Birthday to the time machine in the sky which has given us incredible views of the Heavens ” The Hubble ” 25 years old today
Should have been pointed at Hamdump last Sunday
Hubble csc
Axminster have received an order for a 1mile x 2mile carpet with a mountain design.
The order was placed by a Glasgow firm,but the bill was paid in euros.
When things are swept under this carpet it will depict Ben Nevis .
Health and safety executive will place signs at the foot of the mountain
to deter climbers and walkers.
Most of ,if not all of the above is made up :-)
Tom McLaughlin
My condolences on your loss. May your mother rest in peace.
DBBIA
I hope you enjoy your day tomorrow.
If I see you stoating about the Byres Road then I will be sure to accost your personage with banter, repartee, with and intelligence.
Clearly, I will not be on my own and will be with someone else who will provide all of the above!
…….aye, well….guid luck.
Except of course the carpet ,that won’t be made up.
:-)
Tom
May perpetual light shine upon your mother’s soul.
DBBA
Congrats to your bhoy and Aimee
Delaney’s
I wonder if I’ve just found you the perfect fleg for the Bankie Republic!
https://twitter.com/zorasuleman/status/591516186560565248
HH jamesgang
Tom McLaughlin
Sorry to hear the sad news about your mum. Will say a wee prayer for her. Best regards to you and the family.
NatKnow.
Sorry to hear about your mum passing away Tom. Best wishes.
KevJ
Aye he certainly enjoyed it
DD
There is no way you are that old G.
Must be the regenerative qualities of that special tobacco.
HH
BGX.
Your not given penalty in the Fiorentina game.
Would have been soft as soft could be.Ball to hand and not hand to ball.Not one Fiorentina player claimed for it.Not one Fiorentina player made a protest about it.
Ex ref pundit on Italian cooncil tele thought a penalty would have been ” absurd ”
Italian fitba media take the view that it would have been very harsh on the Kiev player.
Vincenzo Montella , Fiorentina Manager , said this –
” the ball hit their player , these things happen..I didn’ t shout for a penalty, I was too busy shouting at Salah for attempting to score from there .Had he been less selfish and passed to Gomez it was a tap in but his ego went for a goal.He is a great player but he has to learn that football is a team game. His technique is so good that he nearly scored but had he given the ball to Gomez we would have scored.”
A totally different ball game from the non penalty last Sunday.!
TOM McLAUGHLIN
Sincere condolences on the loss of your Mum.
R I P
Tom McLaughlin, condolences to you and your family. May your dear mother Rest In Peace, she’s in a better place now.