SENTINELCELTS

Morning,all.

I really do not know where to start with a review of Saturday. Except maybe to remind everyone of the obvious fact that Saturday was far from the start. Some sites were vociferous in their demands for the introduction of VAR to Scottish Football,and quite rightly too. They saw it as a means of cleansing the stables,a Herculean task but one which had years of success in the major tournaments and leagues elsewhere.

What could possibly go wrong in a parochial wee backwater like Scotland,especially when we had all those years of experience to draw on? After all,some of our own referees already had experience of the system when they were called up-or promoted way above their potential,even-to do the business abroad?

Our site was slightly more suspicious,though. And not just in the lead articles,there were many many informed comments on the subject-and every single one of them was based on experience. You learn a lot in life-I will always be grateful to my teachers,for instance-but you learn a lot more from the experience of living it.

Sadly,our experience as Celtic supporters is a culture of Get it right up ye,Timmy. And what ye gonna dae about it? Yes,we have indeed seen this in the past,and we have to prevent it being our future too.

A number of our contributors were at the infamous R H Davidson stitch-up when we lost 2-0 to Aberdeen in the cup final in 1970. I was a smidgeon too young. I remember him sending Jinky off for the offence of being punched by an Aberdeen player-Forrest?-right in front of The Jungle a year or two later. I remember too the match at Ibrox in 1978,when we lost 3-1 and Jock had to forcefully stop the players from leaving the pitch.

(Ironic,since the fans were trying to get onto it!)

I could give you chapter and verse,and we all could. 

When I took my best mate,SOLKITTS,to his first game-and he was about 20yo at the time!-he was flabbergasted at the refereeing. He’s got used to it since,right enough. It probably made his mind up to become a referee himself,and I hope it did.

I’ve never seen though such a display of refereeing as I did on Saturday. It’s ok,guys. The masonic influence will be a thing of the past when we have the modern technology. Less than a month into it,it seems that the cabal have worked out how to use it against us and give us the finger. There’s yer dinner,whatcha gonna do about it?

Now,apart from the obvious on Saturday,can anyone please explain to me how a goalkeeper,intent on wasting time,can drop the ball from his hands to kick it about his area-only to be challenged by an opponent,pick it up again and be awarded a free kick? Or a short session of bagatelle hits a player via his ribs onto his arm OUTSIDE the area and be a penalty? Or-fall down against Celtic and get a free kick?

ETC,ETC,ETC!!!!!!!!!!!

Now,going back to the announcement of the much-delayed introduction,I welcomed it-but not for the reason that most did. And I will stand by what I said. That this will be used against us,and by God it has. That there will be no hiding place,the ones we are inured to from the past. You know them all by heart. The referee only has a split second to make the decision,he only has one view,he has to make a call based on his own very experienced judgement. They are all crap,by the way,he can only make a call based on what he has seen,not on what he thinks might have happened.

So now we have another MIB in a studio shouting into the ear of the ref,along the lines of-I’ve got the angle you want! That’s not how it’s meant to work,but it is how the cabal intended it to work. But as I said the other day,they went too far too fast. Overreach-subtlety not being their strong point.

For me,it speaks volumes that Saturday was probably the worst example yet. And that Ange was surprisingly restrained about it all. Maybe he is dreaming of his warm homecoming in a few days time-we have a correspondent or two over there,and will post their thoughts as and when-and couldnae be arsed. After all,we got the three points,a nine point lead and a nice long break to recharge the batteries and do some real bonding together.

Or alternatively,his previous comments in public,and I suspect a few more in the weekly briefings upstairs,have made an impact. Along the lines of not coming here to be cheated,not bringing players here to be kicked off the park. I don’t know what the Aussie version of back of the bus is,but I have a feeling that Ange doesn’t know either. A wee 6yo Greek growing up in early 70s Melbourne will have memories of how tough things can be. He’s lived through worse than this,and learned from it.

Our club needs to get the VAR and referee issue sorted. They have five weeks to get it done-and we are far from the only club with serious complaints. I see in Ange’s lack of comment an understanding that MN is up to the task,and  more to be trusted than his predecessor. More to the point,I see it that Ange has been promised that MN will be doing something about it.  I hope he pulls out all the stops on this,because it is not only the fans who are somewhat miffed. It is Ange too. And I don’t think he is the type to accept mealy-mouthed excuses.

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Above article by BMCUWP

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