The worst of a bad bunch

There are very few things that unite all football fans so having something that surely everyone can agree on is a good thing in Scottish football? It is just unfortunate that the only thing that football fans in this nation will agree upon is how bad a referee Iain Brines is. You get plenty of supporters who will talk about a ref being biased against their team and always being set out to do them but that isn’t really the case with Brines.

Most fans are able to accept he is just a rubbish referee who continually gets the big decisions wrong.

The fact that every team has had incorrect decisions by Brines in their favour and against may please some observers in the game but it is this acceptance of mediocrity in the game that is dragging it down. Yes the players don’t have the technical skills or tactical awareness that they could have. Yes the managers are gripped by fear that seriously inhibits their tactical and line-up decisions. Yes the game gets hardly any money (in comparison to other leagues, not in comparison to real social things that could benefit from huge influxes of money) which means the quality is diminishing all the time….but these are all things that we have to work on.

Its Time To Demote Iain Brines

The poor quality of refereeing is another thing that we have to work on – the refs demand respect and want more money for taking charge of a game – people like Iain Brines don’t deserve respect, he hasn’t earned it. This isn’t saying that he deserves to be mocked in the street or followed around by small children laughing at every step he takes (seriously, that is not being said here, that would be a terrible thing to happen) but he clearly has no business refereeing a top flight game…at least until he bucks his ideas up.

His latest gaffe came in the 4-0 win for Rangers over Dunfermline. It was a routine win for the champions who got back to winning ways after their midweek cup exit at the hands of Falkirk..but it may have been slightly less than routine if Iain Brines wasn’t so rubbish at his work. A blatant and deliberate elbow by Steven Naismith was clearly a red card offence and if you click on the link below, you can see that Brines had a perfect view of it. If Brines thought this was anything but a foul and a red card offence the game is in a worse situation that any of us ever thought.

Naismith elbow versus Dunfermline

Naismith elbow

The disciplinary panel should step in to deal with Naismith in the correct fashion but who will deal with Iain Brines? This man deserves demoted so c’mon Stewart Regan or whoever is in charge of dishing out the punishment to the refs…give Ian Brines the elbow for a short while.

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It is a start though

By now, you’ve probably all digested the contents of the Sunday Mail along with your Sunday breakfast and if you are Mr Dallas from Bonkle, it’s not pleasant reading. Being head of any organisation is a trying task for anyone and concepts like truth and integrity are fairly important. However, being in charge of people who have to adjudicate and make decisions, well, being seen to have morals should be mandatory.

Steven Craven has lifted the lid on the ugly reign of Hugh Dallas at the SFA and it is apparent that he has to go. Craven did throw in some positives of the Dallas era, so it’s not a complete hatchet job but the overall view is one that is simply untenable. It may not happen immediately but if Hugh Dallas remains in charge of the referees, we’d be as well packing up the game and calling it a day.

Presiding over referees who think it is okay to lie to a football manager, a manager whose job is on the line is bad enough but THEN to persist with the lie when the truth has been presented to them is just a ridiculous situation to be in. At best, it shows the arrogance of Dallas, a man who would never shy away from the limelight. A man who would ensure the ball was at his feet or in his hand when he blew the final-whistle on televised games…all so he could have the camera on him.

This is the sort of man that that puts himself above right and wrong…and therefore, not the sort of man who should be in charge of anything…let alone a group of referees.

The head of Dallas shouldn’t be seen as the victory though, it must be used to kick open the door to changing the way the refs are run with transparency being the key factor. There will never be a better time for the SFA to revitalise and even save the art of refereeing in this country.

Rip up the points system of bookings and replace it with the simplified English model
Have referees declare what team they support, again, similar to the English model
Make public the procedures for the video review panel
Create a proper communications channel for officials to explain their decisions
The SFA should not get to mark the performance of referees – another body should do that
The review system needs to be overhauled with realistic scores and measures
And let’s ditch these committees – bowling club blazer wearers have no business running a football organisation and they are hugely at fault for their role in the culture of the SFA.

Well, it looks as though a change may be coming but if the SFA don’t complete the job, they should never be forgiven.

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Monday meeting may tell all

You won’t find much sympathy for SFA officials amongst the Celtic support but if the rumours are true about assistant referee Steven Craven, his resignation may be fully backed from those in the hoops. The talk appears to be that Craven will tender his resignation because he feels the SFA have hung him out to dry in this whole affair.

When Dougie McDonald emphatically pointed to the spot at Tannadice, Craven immediately moved behind the touchline in preparation for the penalty kick. Craven made no signal or movement to attract the attention of McDonald, who was surrounded by Dundee United players.

With the referee being so emphatic in his decision making and the assistant referee making no move to attract the refs attention, debate began over who decided that the penalty should be overturned. Sky didn’t help things when they suggested the 4th official may have intervened.

The 4th official has greater powers in refereeing the game but there is no way the 4th official could have had any serious input, unless he saw the incident on TV. Which of course is completely against the rules and would never have been a factor in the changing of the decision……….

Regardless of who made the call, Dougie McDonald trotted over to Craven and after a brief interchange, where no one knows what was discussed, the referee decided that it wasn’t a penalty and a drop ball to Dundee United was awarded.

Well, drop balls in the situation where no team has genuinely surrendered possession are supposed to be contested by both teams but McDonald clearly felt that the most sensible option was to usher Celtic players away and then casually drop the ball in front of a United player.

So……all that and we are no clearer about why the call was made. In the good old days, there would be a veil of secrecy brought over proceedings but the chief of referees decided to speak out in favour of his colleague. A man who so desperately craves the limelight that he dragged his family onto Family Fortunes is not going to shy away from the TV cameras and Hugh Dallas was telling all and sundry about the decision.

“Dougie, after having given the decision, then received information from the assistant referee that the goalkeeper had played the ball from the better position that the assistant referee was in”

What you have here is the chief of referees firmly putting the blame onto the assistant referee…who again for the benefit of clarity, did not seek the attention of the referee to speak out against the decision.

Let’s not concern ourselves about the fact that Dallas didn’t see the match and was unable to comment on any of the other penalty claims that Celtic had in the match, his viewing of the incident and a discussion with Dougie McDonald was enough to satisfy him that justice had been done.

The alleged resignation of Steven Craven may be the factor that Dallas was not predicting which lands him in trouble. If Craven had made the call, surely there would have been no issue about the assistant referee being listed as the decision maker. It would be praise for him for getting a call right in a difficult situation.

The fact that Craven appears ready to resign from the SFA over this incident makes it look as though he has been set up to shoulder the blame for this decision.

The fact that Dallas then lied about or misinterpreted Neil Lennon’s discussion with McDonald after the match can only add to the doubt of the veracity of the former whistler’s comments.

At best, the SFA have completely ballsed this one up and may well have made this situation far worse. Part of this derives from the organisations desire to speak out against Celtic at any opportunity. Peat, Wiggy Smith and Hugh Dallas have all tripped themselves up in their rush to put Celtic down, which they never do so quickly when any other club appears to be involved.

The defence offered by Dallas does not tie up with the visual evidence in the aftermath of the incident and for that reason alone, there has to be a proper inquiry into this. If McDonald and Dallas are telling the truth, they will welcome any investigation as it will prove them to be right.

Of course, if that’s the best case scenario, in the worst case scenario, we could be looking at another Farry situation and few will shed any tears if Hugh Dallas ends up falling on his own sword. Sticking up for one official whilst completely dropping an innocent party into the mix would be a shameful act for any boss and if this is what Dallas has done, he should pay with his job.

A Monday meeting at Hampden Park will see McDonald and Dallas, as well as Craven, meet with new SFA Chief Executive Stewart Regan to resolve this matter. With the new man coming in having no baggage in the Scottish game, it will be of interest to see how the meeting pans out. As we say, if the interpretation of events stated by Dallas in support of McDonald is correct, fair enough, let it be known and let us get on with things. If they’re not, you can only hope Regan has the strength of his convictions to properly resolve the issue.

It’s always interesting in the relationship between Celtic and the SFA but this time, the implications could be a lot higher than 3 points.

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Or so it seems if you read the Scottish media

At times you wonder if a parallel universe has opened up and different versions of the same game run at the same time.

This would be the only explanation for some of the wildly varied viewpoints of the Celtic v Hearts game at the weekend.

During the game, Jim Jefferies, the Hearts boss was sent to the stand for strongly protesting the opening goal. We’re not the type to stick up for big greetin’ Jim but on first glance and bearing in mind that it is Jefferies’ career that is affected by any decisions during the game – we can understand him being vexed.

The fact that TV evidence has shown Celtic’s opening goal to be 100% onside means that Jefferies probably owes someone an apology – not us but mibbes the ref or fourth official that he lambasted pitchside.

The reason for this is because Jefferies had this to say after the game:

“Our television people told me it was definitely offside but I didn’t need a monitor. I was only a yard away when Daryl Murphy took the pass and he was clearly offside.”

Does Jefferies need to learn the rules of football?

The offside law is relevant when the ball is kicked, not when the ball is received by the player. Perhaps Hearts have swapped the Scottish football manager with the comedian who was in Edinburgh for the fringe of late. Given the TV evidence on offer, these comments have certainly raised a chuckle at Jefferies’ awareness of the game.

At the game, it can be really hard to tell but until you see television replays, you have to go with your opinion but you should always state any doubts that you have.

Refs and linos can have a tough call on offside decisions – they’re certainly the most contentious and require vision that can capture when the ball is kicked and the positions of the furthest forward striker and defender. Not easy.

Of course, after viewing television replays, it all becomes clear…..but you wouldn’t believe so from reading the press.

As stated, the first Celtic goal was a perfectly good goal.

The second Celtic goal – there is no television evidence that anyone can point to say it was definitely offside – you could argue all day between onside and debatable but no one can say with any conviction that it was definitely offside.

Hearts penalty claim – on first viewing, it looked as thought it was a foul and TV evidence would suggest a tangle and a foul could have been given. However, all contact was made outside the box meaning that only a foul should have been given…not a penalty under any circumstances.

The papers and TV highlights also failed to show that Celtic could have cause to moan about two contentious offside decisions which robbed them of further strikes. In the end it didn’t matter for Celtic but it’s strange how the reporting that is outraged at some perceived refereeing mistakes are not even interested in reporting others.

If you ask us, the worst refereeing decision over the weekend was to give a penalty against Paul Hartley in the Dundee United versus Aberdeen match. Hartley clearly won the ball with the United player making a meal of the challenge. Still, Mike Tumilty gave the penalty and United were in cruise control before 10 minutes with their 3-0 lead.

We happen to think that Tumilty is one of the better refs in the game…because you don’t often hear of big mistakes from him but he definitely boobed in that match. The media have spared Tumilty too much scorn for his performance but were not quite so understanding for Willie Collum.

Andy Devlin of the Sun had this to say:

TWO dubious Celtic goals, coupled with a nailed-on penalty claim for the Jambos, had the conspirarcy theorists in clover. (Yes, we left in the original spelling of what we assume is the word “conspiracy”)

Shaun Maloney played in Daryl Murphy – who looked at least a yard offside – before a poor touch on the edge of the box forced the Irishman to pass rather than shoot.

Again Francis Andrews could have raised his flag for offside, but Celts were given the benefit of the doubt. Maloney rounded Kello, 2-0. Game over.

Gordon Waddell of the Sunday Mail said:

The Hearts gaffer was sent to the stand by Collum in the first half for his complaints about the lead-up to the opening goal. But the strike was one of a number of dodgy decisions given by Collum in the game and it certainly turned the tide of the match, coming just 30 seconds after Hearts had hit the post at the other end.

The second big one was the ref’s decision to ignore a huge penalty claim when David Templeton was felled in the box by Celtic full-back Emilio Izaguirre.

Again it happened right under Andrews’ nose and in full view of Collum. Jefferies was even angrier when he heard after the game that the fourth official had told his assistant Billy Brown that the linesman thought it WAS a spot-kick.

Barry Anderson, in the Edinburgh Evening News, provided the most laughs with his biting and insightful review of the game

JUST seven months, ago Celtic were making private submissions to the SFA complaining of refereeing bias against their club. In their own paranoid bubble, they cried discrimination and moaned that a conspiracy was at work amongst officials.

Saturday proved conclusively that such a claim was, in fact, pure delusion on the part of the Parkhead hierarchy. By half-time they sat 2-0 ahead against Hearts thanks to one goal which was clearly offside and another which was borderline.

On 28 minutes, seconds after Suso had struck woodwork for Hearts, Maloney slid a through ball to Daryl Murphy, who looked suspiciously offside. He motored forward to deliver a low cross across the face of Kello’s goal. Darren Barr looked well positioned to clear as the ball arrived at the back post, but he succeeded only in diverting it onto Forrest’s foot and into the net.

As the Hearts management protested about the lack of an offside flag and berated the standside assistant, Francis Andrews, manager Jim Jefferies was ordered to the stand by referee William Collum.

You’d think after TV evidence proved that the referee and assistants made some tough calls that were spot on, the media would be full of praise for them. As Jimmy Greaves used to say ….its a funny old game.

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Who is worse? BBC or SFA

Before we start, let’s make it very clear. Celtic were very poor against Falkirk and as usual, have only themselves to blame for dropping vital points in the title race. If Celtic are unable to get back into the title race, missed chances and poor defending will live large in the reasons for a poor overall showing.

This site said in their post match review that the Falkirk goal may have came about through a foul by Showunmi on McManus but after viewing footage, you have to say that McManus was extremely weak. It is certainly not the first time that McManus has been outmuscled and the player surely has to question what value he brings to the team?

So, all in all, Celtic are poor, that’s fair enough.

That said though, when you are continually on the receiving end of terrible refereeing decisions, the games that are tight are not going to go your way. If Celtic were good enough to blow away the opposition, the refs wouldn’t matter but when things are in the balance, it can make the difference between 3 points and 1 or none.

With so much media attention on Celtic games, you would surely expect these decisions to be highlighted?

Well…..here is a link to the BBC highlights of the game.

BBC website: Celtic v Falkirk

When you consider the penalty Rangers were awarded last weekend at Hamilton, you would have to say the handball by Pele of Falkirk late on should have been given. In all honesty, neither of them should have been given as THEY WEREN’T PENALTIES but one was given….strangely enough.

Aside from this, two outrageous pieces of officialdom were deemed not worthy of making the BBC footage.

How often do you see a goalkeeper penalised for carrying the ball outside the box when launching a kick up the field?

Virtually never. So when it does happen, you would expect it to be noteworthy?

Not in the eyes of the BBC.

As the picture shows, it was a terrible decision by the assistant referee and one which managed to eat up two minutes of game time before play resumed. It also gave Falkirk a great chance for a second goal, with Artur Boruc’s positioning once again very suspect.

From the goal kick given after the free-kick went narrowly over the top, Celtic broke up the park.

Marc Antoine Fortune turned his man at the edge of the box to get inside, where he was then hauled down by the defender. With the score at 1-1, a penalty would have given yet another Celtic player the opportunity to miss from 12 yards…but who knows, for once, they may just have scored?!?!

We’ll never know as referee Muir decided it wasn’t a penalty.

And those who weren’t at the game will never know as the BBC deemed it was not worthy of being included in the match highlights.

A blatant penalty claim within the last 5 minutes of a match that finished 1-1 and it is not a major talking point? It is a rather remarkable call by the editing team at Sportscene and one that deserves to be highlighted.

The BBC would be as well saving the money they spend on their woefully inadequate football coverage and putting it into their comedy output. Oh wait, that is fairly horrific as well. Perhaps restoring their news output to focus solely on news as opposed to serving as a trailer for their other shows could be a start?

As we said, Celtic were terrible and they have been rightly criticised from some quarters and laughed at by others. Such is the nature of Scottish football.

However, the officials and the BBC deserve to be slaughtered as well….and you just know that is not going to happen on any real basis.

After all, when Tony Mowbray is quite happy to take it all on the chin, why should paying customers want anything better?

For those who want to see the missing highlights, look below. It also features the clip that shows why Lee Naylor is poorer than a dead fox, let alone Danny Fox.

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Which publicity seeker will stay silent longest?

You knew that Jim Gannon would not be allowed to pass remark again without a response coming quickly. Hugh Dallas is not one known for shyness in gaining publicity so the chance to fan the media flames is something the Bonkle man will jump at.

Dallas has offered his side of the story regarding the fall out between the SFA and the Motherwell boss.

“Having explained my position after initial media enquiries, I then received a letter, dated December 1st, two days later from Mr Gannon stating he had written to me on two separate occasions, enclosing a copy of both letters. On the same day, December 3rd, I also received the original copy of his second correspondence. It was then traced through the Royal Mail system and that tracking evidence was sent to Mr Gannon, along with the unopened letter.”

It was rather convenient of the Royal Mail to finally deliver the second letter from Gannon just when Dallas needed it most but it begs the question about the SFA’s use of technology.

They are happy enough to use modern mail tracking systems but when it comes to video technology on match-days, its a no-no, that is a bit hypocritical isn’t it?

Hugh didn’t stop there though with the Motherwell manager in line for even more personal criticism;

“The type of adverse media coverage generated by Mr Gannon – which is extremely uncommon in Scottish football – has a negative effect on the confidence of referees and is counter-productive. His dissection of refereeing decisions involving Craig Thomson, one of UEFA’s elite referees, is wholly unnecessary.”

Hugh Dallas is correct to say that this sort of media coverage is uncommon but that is only because of the way the Scottish football media sidesteps the majority of controversial issues. This is proven by the dismissing of criticism of Craig Thomson for his handling of the Rangers Celtic match in October.

Rangers won 2-1 and there is no doubt their ability to punish terrible defending by Celtic was a major factor in the Ibrox side taking all three points. However, another major factor was a refereeing performance, which to neutrals like Gannon, appeared to be massively one-sided in favour of the home side.

Given the nature of the SPL season, a victory in a game between the big two may be enough to decide the league and Gannon was correct to voice that opinion. Whether a manager of one club should be commenting on a match that has nothing to do with his side is another matter but his point is valid.

The SFA and Hugh Dallas have protected their man in charge of the game but they carried out a complete whitewash on the handling of the match. If a player performed as badly as Thomson did on the day, the media would have a field day and the players manager would likely drop the player for the next match.

Thomson got to carry on regardless.

With a match against Celtic to prepare for, Jim Gannon is probably a bit busy to respond but who knows what lies in store for the post-match interview.

With Hugh Dallas at the helm, the SFA refereeing viewpoint will never go unheard so Gannon has to decide if he can carry out such a public battle with a person that loves the limelight?

Can Jim Gannon back away from this argument?

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