Your fathers, their fathers, and their fathers before them, have walked away from football grounds thinking the game in Scotland was skewed in favour of another team. As a club founded by immigrants, with our historical support drawn largely from some of the poorest sections of society, for decades Celtic-friendly people were underrepresented in the professional classes, the very classes those who administered and refereed our game were, and still are, drawn from.
No one believes more than me that times have changed. That immigrant community gained equal access to all professions years ago – yes, including referees. The prejudices which, perhaps not surprisingly, developed in Scotland when an incessant flood of around 800,000 immigrants poured into the country over a few short decades, have moved on. Our society is not without prejudice, but it’s others who are now targeted most.
Football decisions made by referees are difficult to prove to be deliberately unfair. I have no doubt that Celtic suffered unfairly in this regard for decades, but I see little evidence of it now, and even if there was, it is impossible to tell the difference between incompetence and bias.
Conclusive evidence of what we were up against was established in 1999 when an independent SFA Commission heard a complaint from Celtic that Jim Farry, the Association’s chief executive, deliberately delayed the registration of Jorge Cadete, meaning the player was unable to play for Celtic in a cup game against Rangers. The Commission upheld Celtic’s complaint and Farry was sacked for gross misconduct – even back then holding a torch for due process.
That incident came at the end of a difficult period to be a Celtic fan. Rangers had violated one of our cherished records, Nine-in-a-row, was matched, not by wonderful athletic achievement, as Celtic did, but by the might of the cheque book. Fergus built a stadium, left us a little over £2m in debt and taught the SFA a valuable lesson. In short, he put Celtic on a level playing field with everyone else in the country.
In August 2000 an almighty game of football reset all the dials. Celtic scored six against then champions Rangers. We won the league by 21 points, won the Scottish and League cups, our first treble in 32 years. On and off the park, we were better than a team who only a few years earlier seemed light-years ahead of a sorry looking Celtic.
Rangers responded by flooding more cash into their football squad, this time using Employee Benefit Trusts. In February last year Celtic Quick News was first to raise the question that these EBT payment might not have been registered with the SFA and SPL. Within three weeks the SPL commenced an investigation into the question, which found Rangers had a case to answer. The league set up the Commission which will report at noon today.
This is the most important decision in Scottish football history with implications for past and current directors of the organisations which run our game; people who were legally obliged to ensure rules were applied fairly, thoroughly and evenly.
It has implications for the Rangers group of clubs and for the international reputation of Scottish football, but none of this matters to you and me. We want to know if we were watching a level playing field for 11 years, or if the game was rigged. I can’t think of a more important decision in the history of British sport. There has never been and will never again be a decision which casts a shadow on 14 trophies, ‘won’ allegedly by a team playing by different rules to the rest.
The First Tier Tribunal decision last year and forthcoming Upper Tier Tribunal are sideshows. This is the main event, second only to Lisbon in importance to Scottish football. I am confident the decision will go against the group of clubs. If it doesn’t, we should not demean ourselves by slipping into paranoia. This is an independent commission, anyone who tells you otherwise is deluded.
My only concern is that the scale of punishments which would be appropriate for a guilty verdict are, frankly, so enormous, I expect every available opportunity to mitigate the sanctions to be exploited. This is a black cap verdict, but despite their impartiality, I don’t expect the Commission to dress sombrely when signing the decision.
A bottle of expensive fizzy stuff is in the fridge, in case we need to toast all those generations who, unlike us today, never had the opportunity to nail the truth.
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If rumours are true, then definitely time to act. As an absolute minimum, a half-time walk out by fans at every stadium in the country until justice is done.
If no competitive advantage was gained, why did they do it?
They did it specifically to gain a competitive advantage.
Guys,
that’s it for me.
Will spend my money taking my Old Man and son to and El Classico next year. Should be a good weekend in Barcelona.
No point in going to watch the SPL.
I will go to one more game to shake the hands of all the guys I have sat next to for 20 years and wish them all the best.
Adios,
Seville67
Mt father is no very happy at the “truth” and he has been dead for 10 years!
Rangers should just run the league and the rest of us should toe the line. That appears to be the way it is anyway.
LB
Fassreifen:
So fans pay their money to corrupt clubs, in a corrupt setup, and then walk out?
Vote with your feet people. Or continue to take what they throw at you.
The games a bogey, football in Scotland is now dead.
No sporting entity in any corner of the wold is allowed to cheat with such impunity or they would be stripped of their Ill gotten gains. Yet in Scotland if you’re a master of the funny handshake you can get away with anything. Impartial my Bum, this judgement stinks worse than the day after a dodgy vindaloo.
Cheats do prosper in Scotland but you have to be a special kind of cheat!
be interesting what all the other SPL clubs supporters think today about this….will there be a significant uproar or is it just us?
Surely Lord Nimmo should not be dishing out the punishment(thats a laugh)it should be the be SPL/SFA.
Livibhoy,
they do .
Seville67
James Forrest, what I mean is, boycott if you haven’t already bought a ticket or a season ticket; if you have already, then show them why you’re angry. Otherwise they’ll say it’s just ‘declining attendances’.
I think it’s time for the fans of ALL Scottish Clubs
to go – OFF OOT – from the game and rebuild it.
HH
It appears that Doncaster and Regan were correct but premature …….. Scottish football faces Armageddon and a slow lingering death.
Harry Brady @HarryBradyCU
So admin errors for 1 player; @spartansfc – £4k fine & thrown out of competition @brechincfc – £10k fine and thrown out of competition
Paul 67 Between Bigtax case and LNS enquiry your predictions have been spot on. Do you have a time machine.
Kayal33
11:24 on
28 February, 2013
Paul McConville@Paulmcc12
Nimmo Smith Commission Report is embargoed till noon. However it’s clear that findings, esp on p46, “devastating”.
==================
Paul mac followed that up saying he WAS JOKING, he has no inside knowledge of result!!
Neil canamalar Lennon hunskelper extrordinaire
I share your emotion but I’m being pragmatic in terms of Celtic continuing to have a competition to play in.
I hope the gloves come off but I doubt it and our gates will suffer. Put it this way what is the point of watching or complaining or getting upset about something that cannot be changed? Might as well moan about the weather.
livibhoy 11:41
Well said
Who’d a thunkit? Eh?
Lets not forget Sion were removed fron the Uefa Cup for having players improperly registered and 3-0 score on both ties.
If what we are hearing is true, (fine) and the board don’t come out fighting then what is the point of us buying season tickets.
They will be endorsing the cheating since it was our club who suffered the most.
TimJim
11:44 on
28 February, 2013
Surely Lord Nimmo should not be dishing out the punishment(thats a laugh)it should be the be SPL/SFA.
Absolutely but the spineless lot at the SPL and SFA were happy to LNS do it after all they are infallible, beyond question
Is this why the SPL/SFA wanted the Commission to decide on the punishment? The SFA’s own rules would have compelled them to impose proper sanctions.
Lazydynamite
It’s just us. No one else really cares, but then, they weren’t the ones cheated out of titles.
If he rules that they are guilty and the fine is 250k, but adds that newco is not oldco thereby stating they have no titles that’ll do for me.
Rancid dishonest disgusting crooked cheating spineless pinky crunching disease of a country !!!!! Shameful and shameless ! Guilty but no appropriate punishment ! Every clubs fans in Scotland should no must call for a boycott of football this week !!! We always new the game was bent for the ESTABLISHMENT CLUB ! today we have the proof !!
Morning,all.
Just about to head out for a wee drive round Wiltshire-duty calls!
Before I go I’m gonna make ONE comment on the LNS inquiry.
If RFC have been found to have fielded players who were not registered in accordance with the rules,he MUST cite the games in which ANY of them played.
If the rules of the game are to be applied,then each of these games must be registered as a 3-0 defeat.
Anything else is improper application of the rules as they stand.
The consequence of these 3-0 defeats should be a review of the final standings in each of the seasons where infractions occurred,but these consequences are NOT mentioned in the rules!
Therefore,LNS is perfectly entitled to ignore the consequences,and apply punishment as stated in the rules.
So a £250k fine it is.
I don’t know why we bother,to be honest.
I am sickened by the outcome of this. Justice does not apply to them.
The whole stinking mess has to be flushed out and directed down the foul water drain.
Our Italian posters tell us of the sorry state of football over there and lay some of the blame on a system where justice is diluted in a process of attrition by appeal.
I agree with Paul67 that access to public life and jobs is open to all in Scotland.
Many Italians left their own country seeking a level playing field, found it in Scotland and prospered.
Can I just say that Celtic were fined £100,000 for what contacting Tommy Burns when he was Kilmarnock manager.
This is gonnae get too rebellious – even for me !!!
God bless you all – Ghood luck
Off oot
Is 12 noon the time when the lights finally go out over Scottish Football.
Frankie@fspeirs
Rather than complain about Jim Farry, Celtic should just have fielded Jorge Cadete anyway
well bhoys
if it turn out that its only a £250000 fine
is this fine just from the spl
or will they then hand it to the sfa for the other sanctions
everyone knew last year the way the spl and sfa worked
same poeple in charge same rules
most clubs are on their knees at the moment and its not going to take a lot to send a few more into administration without the green pound
jam67
So think about it – 54 weeks since Admin – one in which the administrators tried to buy a player. Where are we :
Same stadium
Same strip
Same manager – there is always an upside.
Referred to in the Press as same club.
Debt Free
No punishment for cheating.
Fines on a liquidated club.
New club claiming rights to the old co history.
They get more TV time than the Champions, and in 5 years time it will all be forgotten.
Face it guys not only did they win the war they won just about every battle – so it’s over. Scottish football is no more.
Seville67
seville67 – good idea – give some money to one of the most heavily government backed team in the history of football ;-)
So I buy a barrowload of Galacticos to guarantee my team titles and CL football with money I don’t have and somehow I’m not judged to have gained a competitive advantage on the field. Are you having a laugh?
Can Peter Lawwell head up to Hampden today with a cheque for 250k and use the LNS verdict to Celtics advantage and save fortune’s on tax or is that just for the dead club ?
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS @11:48 says “If RFC have been found to have fielded players who were not registered in accordance with the rules,he MUST cite the games in which ANY of them played.”
I agree BMCUW. But in the interest of brevity would you settle for the short version – the games in which they didn’t play?
.
Bhoys there are 10Mins. Left and Sammi is Warming Up..
Summa of ItAintOverTillTheBigGreekSignsCSC