For the third time this season honest mistakes have had a major bearing on the Celtic-Rangers fixture.
Unlike the two previous occasions however Celtic have been quick to voice their concerns about the mistakes of referee Dougie McDonald.
Without hesitation McDonald, who sent off Aiden McGeady earlier this season against Hibs, went racing to the scene with his red card primed for the Celtic midfielder.
Celtic kept quiet after the previous controversies against Rangers but have come out with all guns blazing this time with McDonald in the firing line.
The comments from the official club website will surely earn a request from the SFA for an explanation unless the governing body decide to sweep refereeing matters under the carpet, again.
Celtic said: "It was a decision which had a major impact on the game and Celtic will now appeal against the red card, which saw Tony Mowbray’s side down to 10 men for the last half-hour of the game.
"Certainly, the Celtic support in the Broomloan Road Stand and beyond were left mystified and angry at yet another refereeing decision in a derby game this season which has gone against the club.
"In the first derby match of this season at Ibrox back in October, Celtic were denied a blatant penalty by referee Craig Thomson, who admitted after the game that he had made a mistake.
"And in the game against Rangers at Celtic Park, referee Steve Conroy disallowed a Marc-Antoine Fortune goal, though replays showed that there was nothing wrong with the goal.
"Now, Dougie McDonald’s decision is added to that list and will be the major talking point from the game. "
That statement is going to create as much attention as Chris Sutton's outburst against Dunfermline on the final day of the 2002/03 season.
The SFA will have little option but to challenge the statement from Celtic which will open up a can of worms about other refereeing decisions through the season.
Celtic's statement makes no mention of Madjid Bougherra's performance where an early booking seemed to give the Algerian defender license to do anything that he liked without further punishment.
Bougherra had two further fouls given against him for challenges on Robbie Keane but on neither occasion did McDonald feel the need to even speak to the offender.
A further foul by Bougherra in the 71st minute was ignored by McDonald who seven minutes earlier hadn't been slow to flash the red card at Brown.McDonald will now have to review the incident again as part of Celtic's appeal which should make for an interesting couple of days.
If McDonald admits to making a mistake he'll be congratulated all round for being honest enough to admit to an honest mistake.
If he stands his ground it'll be interesting to see which avenue Celtic decide to take the matter on.
The focus was always going to be on McDonald after George Peat criticised Celtic for discussing refereeing matters with the SFA, as most clubs do.
A simple no comment from Peat would have killed the 'story' stone dead with Rangers manager Walter Smith adding his comments afterwards.
He said: "If somebody was going to criticise a referee they should come out the closet and do it rather than do it in an anonymous manner.
"There is enough pressure on a referee without anyone else bringing things up."
Having bodyswerved the issues all season long the SFA will be in the spotlight having failed to deal with Celtic's earlier concerns about a number of issues.
Celtic haven't made such an official challenge to Scottish football officials since Fergus McCann went to war over the registration of Jorge Cadete.
On that issue the former Celtic chief was derided for chasing after a lost cause, eventually McCann was vindicated and the then SFA Chief Executive Jim Farry was hurriedly removed from office with a line drawn under the affair.
Today's challenge to the SFA's authority is going to be much more public than who did what with faxes sent between Glasgow and Lisbon over a registration.
A feeding frenzy beckons, there is no conspiracy or paranoid involved, Celtic seem to be questioning the repeated honest mistakes of officials which even Hugh Dallas admitted to earlier this month.
Celtic website statement
Dallas criticises his own
4 comments:
rangers got a descision in there favour against motherwell , a penalty against hearts the descisions spoke about in that story . The referees are all rangers fans thats the bottom line
the banks will be happy with the sfa. league championship money and CL money. the interesting reality is this, rangers in the spl have stabilisers in the form of the referees, watch them in europe without the aid of referees and you will see just how bad they ride a bike.
Celtic presently are keeping Rangers in business why?
Celtic have had more than there fair share of referees "honest" mistakes go against them this season whilst playing against Rangers.
I really think the time has come for Celtic to withdraw from the SPL and buy over a club like Carlisle or an other and then work there way up into the EPL
Davie Hay was right all those years ago and now is the time to let Rangers and the SPL gat on with it.
I think it becoming more and more evident that there is severe corruption going on Scotland. These honest mistakes just beggar belief.
It does not matter if Celtic play brilliant or rubbish, the ref's this season have come out with unbelievable decisions. Come on, people are not stupid; the whole thing is full of machinations and stinks of foul play.
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