SENTINELCELTS

Morning,all.

The weekend’s articles are once again turned over to the stars of the show,JIMBO67 and JOBO,as they continue on the themes begun last weekend. I’ll continue then on mine,which is an update on current affairs regarding our club,with an aside or two on other aspects of the domestic scene.

Although I’m not much given to discussing rumours originating in the SMSM-or rumours from elsewhere,if I’m honest-I will break with that worthy habit to discuss the one about G-Mak and the club. It is said that when he joined from his previous club VVV Venlo just over a year ago,that the big fella agreed to the transfer despite some serious misgivings about the terms of the deal on offer. And that if he had a successful first season at the club,new terms would be up for discussion.

Now,I’m somewhat wary of taking much of that at face value. G-Mak had hardly set the world on fire before he joined the Dutch yoyo club-they were relegated in his season there,despite his goals tally being the best of any striker in the Eredivisie-and prior to that,he had been an unsuccessful journeyman at various clubs in his career.

26yo is an awkward age for a striker or any player to suddenly hit a rich vein of form,bringing himself to the attention of suitors elsewhere. It is the age at which a player realises that his next deal is likely to be his last chance at hitting paydirt. This usually hits around 26-28yo-before that you tend to be looked upon as “potential”, while after that,clubs tend to realise that they have little chance of a future return in the transfer market.

It really is an unforgiving sport,unless you are regarded as being in the superstar bracket!  

Now,Gio turns 28yo next week,and he is quite correct to be looking to maximise his income at this stage in his career. I don’t think any of us begrudge him any of that. And I am delighted that Celtic are actively looking at extending and improving contracts for our main men. I certainly hope that they are pursuing the same with Matt O’Riley,for example! But I’m not having the “have a good season,we’ll improve the deal” tosh. That’s what agents are for-and that whole industry must have taken note of a former Dutch import reporting a similar problem 25 years ago. Here’s some advice for the big fella if it IS true,though.

Fire yer agent. Tell Celtic to improve the offer by 15% or whatever,and fire yer agent. Oh,and while you’re at it,fire yer agent. If you are still not happy with the terms,hire a new agent and set him the task of finding a new club and better terms in the summer. And go out between now and then and show potential suitors what you can offer. Give us a player of the season performance,big fella.

I believe that a player like this has a good six or seven seasons in him at our club,and I hope that agreement can be reached. But we should not be thinking of keeping an unhappy player,as we know that rarely works out well-especially if it is our club which has caused that disillusionment. Are we maybe talking about being £5k a week apart from agreement? Is £250k pa really worth losing-or upsetting-a star player over?

Get it sorted,Celtic. And btw,G-Mak-fire yer agent!

Meanwhile,back at the ranch-or Masonic Lodge No 1690 (SFA and referees branch)  as it is otherwise known-the powers that be have diligently been honing their VAR skills during this WC break. Not,as we might have thought or wished,in looking into how they have got so many decisions wrong during its initial implementation,but rather in investigating WHETHER they have actually got so many decisions wrong. Now,we all know that Celtic have been on the receiving end of a number of questionable-at best-reviews,particularly with regard to penalty decisions. In fact,EVERY penalty review has gone against us,a somewhat dubious statistic. But other clubs have had cause for concern too,not just us.

As we know,there are only four criteria when VAR can be involved. Every goal,red cards,penalties and offside. Decisions can be changed during a game-that,after all,is what VAR is for. But only red card decisions can be challenged AFTER a game.

Now,you might think that with all those chances to review tight decisions from various angles,with slo-mo and CGI etc,that it would be impossible to get ANYTHING wrong. But we know this not to be the case. However,when clubs have already had two red cards given as a result of VAR review,yet overturned by the SFA itself after appeal,it is clear to one and all that those responsible still have work to do up here to ensure that the technology is being used and interpreted in the manner for which it was designed.

Not so. SFA bigwig Ian Maxwell has proudly proclaimed that VAR has been proven to work exactly as it should be working! Now,that statement itself is open to interpretation. Mine is a very simple one. That he is correct. That VAR has been proven to work exactly as it should be working,exactly as he says. But that he and the other bigwigs are happy with its implementation to date up here.

I’ll bet they are! But that is NOT how it is supposed to work. It is NOT supposed to give referees another opportunity to make a decision which supports their prejudices,it is there to ensure they have another chance to get it right,to implement the laws of the game. There have already been too many glaring examples for his statement to be proven totally false by all but the most bigoted arbiter,and for everyone else to have major cause for concern.

The club may well tell us that they have been making their disquiet known through the usual channels,but these are routes which we know from bitter experience to be closed doors to us. This bigoted buffoon is laughing at us and can’t even be bothered to pretend otherwise. Yet the cesspit that is Scottish football leaves us few other options than the ones we have doubtless already taken.

Let me remind you of the wise words of a wise man only two decades ago. That for us to win,we have to be miles better than the rest-but for them to win,they only have to be nearly as good. What he said was true then,and had been true for decades before his arrival,and the two decades since. The implementation of VAR,its interpretation since by the adjudicators involved,and-worse!-the endorsement of that by the only people with the authority to do anything about it,is a worrying addition to the armoury of those who already do anything in their power to deny us any success. That it is one that many of us predicted doesn’t make it any easier,especially as my initial thoughts were that it would eventually leave the bent refereeing community with nowhere to hide,and no option but to do their jobs the way that they would be expected to in any other bloody country in the world.

Yesterday’s statement from Maxwell has me really concerned. And it should be worrying the best brains at the club too. Because it has put a marker down,and given the refs carte blanche to ramp it up.

Still,on the bright side,I’m going to leave the rest of the article till next week-and I’ll leave you with this optimistic thought. The weekend’s articles from JIMBO67 and JOBO are just round the corner!

<><><><><><> 

Above article by BMCUWP