That feeling in your gut that just won’t go away!
Let me make one thing clear here before we start. This isn’t
about losing a game of football. When you support Celtic you take the good with
the bad and defeat is all part of that. No, this is about interference in the
proceedings which changed the very course of the game.
Let’s cut to the chase. In last week’s Scottish Cup semi-final
against Inverness Caley Thistle, Meekings didn’t throw his hands up to balance himself.
No, pictures & video footage clearly show his left hand glued to his side
with his right arm and hand instinctively going up to block the ball. It’s an
open and shut penalty with a red card-no doubt about it. All those with something to hide can
procrastinate all they like with excuse after excuse, they’re only showing
themselves up to be very silly people. The referee, as pictures show had a clear
line of vision. He saw it and chose not to give it. His official chum Alan Muir
behind the goal was actually on the pitch to get a better view.
We hear he said
it hit Meekings on the face, yeah very good, if you didn’t see it how come you
thought it hit his face when it clearly didn’t? If that was the case Meekings
would have been laid out cold on the grass still counting his teeth!
The following and each day since, various flunkies have been
rolled out in the media one after the other in an attempt to make light and
find excuses for something there is no excuse for. All odious predictable lines
in defence of McLean being thrust
upon us, each one more sickeningly ridiculous than the one trotted out before
it. Celtic fans in turn inundated the
club through various mediums urging them to take some kind of action, which
they did. Doubt that would’ve happened had (once again) the support not
pressured the club to do so! In fact the club sheepishly said in their
statement that it was fan pressure that made them write to the SFA and they
felt ‘duty bound’. It would’ve been encouraging had the club taken the
initiative themselves. Then again we would’ve needed a pro-active PR department
for that to happen.
How could six match officials miss such a glaring event? Are
we really to believe that not one of the six saw it when fans 150 yards away
witnessed it? Would a coward flag something up or look the other way? Would
such people deserve our respect? Let’s be blunt, would they fuck!
This isn’t going away because that feeling you have in the
pit of your stomach tells you something isn’t right here. Fergus McCann smelt a rat when he knew Jorge
Cadete was registered in time to play in the Scottish Cup semi final against Rangers in 1996
but the SFA said he wasn’t. Fergus pursued Jim Farry the SFA chief executive
like a starving wolf for 3 years, eventually proving that the SFA deliberately
withheld Cadete’s registration stopping him from playing in that cup semi that Celtic
lost. Farry was bumped out his SFA executive post in shame.
That ousting and the proving of rank dishonesty at the
highest level in Scottish football was massive, but you'll notice it's hardly ever brought up in
media terms as an example of SFA wrong-doing! A bit embarrassing is it? What
trust could we ever have in the SFA again? Then there was ‘Dougie Dougie’ lying
at Tannadice in 2010 when Celtic were awarded a penalty only for referee Dougie
McDonald to reverse the decision, but then found out to be lying in his official
post-match report over the circumstances which led his penalty reversal.
McDonald was removed and Celtic proved right once again. Therefore how can we
trust any involvement in this SFA organisation? There have been many other
unexplained baffling decisions involving Celtic over the years. Of course the ‘compliant’ media tells us to shut up, move on and stop being paranoid. Why would we
show any respect to them?
As I write we are 5 days into our complaint with no
explanation offered. That in itself is astonishing- but words of course can
hang you! Deila and Celtic managers before him are reasonable men who just want
to do their job under the demanding circumstances that go with the territory of
being the Celtic boss because are our needs of success are almost instant. Yet,
all of them are very much disturbed by certain unexplained absurd decisions
against Celtic whilst managing the club.
The fans started the initiative demanding the club represent
their justified grievance and the club must see it through until we are given a
proper & credible explanation to Sunday’s event. That’s if there is one to
give. Meanwhile we’ll be watching events unravel and patiently waiting!
