Fighting talk from Fortune as referees close rank on Conroy

Celtic have came out with some impressive fighting talk tonight as the refereeing network threw a comforting blanket around Steve Conroy.

To the surprise of no-one Kenny Clark and Stuart Dougal were quick to defend Conroy's performance despite both admitting that he had made mistakes with his two biggest decisions.

Getting the throw-ins and corners correct doesn't really deserve praise, disallowing a goal for no obvious infringement and yellow-carding Kyle Lafferty for a violent potentially leg breaking 'challenge' deserves more than sympathy and spin.

Using the Celtic website Marco Fortune discussed the incident that saw his goal disallowed and while cleverly avoiding direct criticism of Conroy made his feeling known with the backing of the club.

“I jumped and never touched the keeper, only the ball,” he said. “My first impression was that I had scored because the referee ran to the centre and then I saw him run back towards the goals, so I didn’t understand.

“At first I thought the goal was offside, but then the referee told me it was for a foul. Sometimes the referee makes mistakes but that’s just football.

“For me I had scored and was really upset, but there was a lot of time to play, so you have to change your mind quickly. For about five seconds I was really upset, but then I just kept on playing.

“I think everyone that plays for Celtic and Rangers wants to score a goal in the derby, particularly if you are a striker and this is my first year here so people will think I should score.

“So I wanted to score and I did but then the referee made his decision.”

Just as Conroy has his network of apologists spinning the story from his side Fortune has came out with some direct comments on the disallowed goal.

That incident was typical of Conroy's below par performance with the booking of Kyle Lafferty a close second.

Rangers captain David Weir's arm gestures and blatant dissent at a first half free-kick went unpunished while Lee McCulloch was able to run off and ignore Conroy wanting to speak to him after a second half foul on Aiden McGeady ten yards into the Rangers half.

Celtic have plenty of work to do with improvements required in all areas of the park.

Finding the right attacking combination is crucial to their title prospects, goals don't come easily or flow freely at the moment.

Having legitimate goals disallowed and finding players fouled in the penalty box without any punishment in key matches makes the task even harder.

Hopefully the decision makers at the SFA are looking closely at their referees from top to bottom to ensure that brave decision making is given a priority ahead of jobs for the boys.

Referee Conroy's mistakes deny Celtic derby victory

For the second time this season Celtic have found themselves on the wrong end of major refereeing mistakes against Rangers.

Once again, just like in the October defeat at Ibrox, there were plenty of deficiencies in the Celtic performance.

This time around the forwards were mainly to blame as they managed to score just once from the bulk of possession. Allan McGregor was forced to make only one outstanding save as Celtic's pressure and possession failed to be converted into clear cut chances or goals.

At Ibrox in October Celtic's main problems were in defence where goals were given away cheaply, Rangers equaliser today was another example of poor defending.

Celtic's onfield problems are the responsibility of Tony Mowbray and ultimately the Celtic board.

The problems and shortcomings are obvious, resolving them is Mowbray's job and he'll be held responsible if Celtic fail to win the title this season.

Equally the Celtic board are responsible for selecting managers and providing them with the funds and support to ensure that the club is successful.

Who is referee Steve Conroy responsible to?

Who was responsible for selecting Conroy for the match?

What action will be taken to improve his decision making or are we simply to sit back comforted in the knowledge that these mistakes balance themselves out over the season?


The Celtic-Rangers game is the top fixture in Scottish football and only the best referees are given the task of taking charge of the prestige match.

Today Conroy demonstrated that he doesn't have the decision making skills to handle top matches, hopefully it'll be a long long time before he is again given such a high profile match.

There were two first half incidents that left Conroy open to criticism, the same sort of criticism that was directed at Craig Thomson after the October fixture which resulted in a second hand and second rate apology issued from Hugh Dallas.

Marco Fortune's challenge on Allan McGregor was perfectly legitimate, he had his eye on the ball and headed into the net despite McGregor's challenge.

It was an unusual goal, usually it does require a foul to beat a goalkeeper in that sort of position but there was nothing wrong with Fortune's 'goal'.

For reasons known only to himself Conroy decided to disallow the goal without any appeal coming from the Rangers defenders. They knew their keeper had been beaten fair and square.

Comparing that decision to the non-penalties at Ibrox in October puts Conroy in a very poor light.

Thomson failed to see the clear foul on Shaun Maloney, that can happen although when it happens two or three times in the one match it becomes very concerning.

Missing an incident is more understandable than 'seeing' something that no-one else in the stadium witnessed.

What was it that Fortune did?

Clearly setting the standard with that mistake Conroy's decision making was again badly at fault when Kyle Lafferty went sliding through into the leg on Andreas Hinkel.

There was no prospect of playing the ball with the 'challenge' clearly violent conduct- an ordering off offence.

Rather than be decisive Conroy opted out by booking Lafferty, thankfully Hinkel anticipated the challenge and no serious injury was suffered.

Some folk may recall Lafferty's kung-fu challenge on Zheng Zhi at Ibrox which escaped even a yellow card.

Celtic and Tony Mowbray have got plenty of work to do to build up a team capable of winning the SPL title and recapturing recent Champions League achievements.

Those areas will be discussed and debated by supporters eager to see signs of improvement and activity in the transfer market this month.

Mowbray and the Celtic board are judged week by week on their performances.

Getting things right on the park will be a tough task for the Celtic manager, competing on a level playing field with competent officials capable of making correct decisions isn't asking for too much.

There are plenty of borderline decisions in football that can be looked at from two sides and the decision of the referee is accepted, reluctantly at times.

Clear cut decisions like today don't require exceptional judgement, they were there for all to see and if referee Conroy can't get it right he should be kept well clear of the bigger fixtures that shape championships and can decide a managers future.

Refereeing performances like we've witnessed in the derby matches this season are shown live throughout the UK and beyond, it's little surprise that there will again be no Scottish officials at the World Cup or involved in the important Champions League matches.

Youths back on top, Start of the season for Fortune

Celtic's u-19 side moved back to the top of the league with a convincing 4-1 win over St Mirren today.

Hamilton Accies had overtaken Stevie Frails side when Celtic were on SFA Cup duty last weekend but had their match with St Johnstone abandoned due to fog on Friday.

James Forest marked his return to the Celtic side with a double with Greg Spence and Johny Marsden the other scorers.

The u-19 side face Aberdeen next Saturday in their final league match before the winter break and have been drawn away to Dundee United in the quarter-finals of the SFA Youth Cup.

Meanwhile along at Fir Park the best and worst of Celtic was on display as Tony Mowbray's side clocked up their fourth win on the bounce.

Three goal of the season candidates delivered the points but sloppy defending and a missed penalty ensured that Celtic had to work extra hard to secure the points.

The most welcome aspect of the game was Marco Fortune's glorious 79th minute winner- delivered after being on the park for 50 seconds.

It was a great move from Gary Caldwell's crossfield pass finding Fortune who exchanged passes with Scott McDonald before the former Nancy striker sent an unstoppable drive past Motherwell 'keeper John Ruddy from 25 yards out.

After the recent scary performances at Falkirk and Dundee United there was an anxiety about the closing minutes but seeing the game out should give the team confidence going into a crucial run of matches.

Three wins against Hearts, Hamilton and Rangers should see the team move into the new year in style and on today's performance there was lots to be optimistic about.

Tony Mowbray resisted the temptation to highlight his inspired substitution but was clearly delighted by the impact that his record signing made.

The Celtic boss said: "It has been a tough period for him,I don't want to shout from the rooftops, but that's why he is here.

"In my opinion he is a quality football player who can score goals. I've seen the evidence of it in six months at West Brom and I am delighted for him and I hope it gives him a lift.

"As a human being it is difficult to stay top of the game and injuries affect players in lots of different ways.
"Marco was getting up and running and his injury came at a bad time for him and to spend two and half months out has been a disappointment for him."

Fortune added: "I am happy because I have been waiting for this goal for a long time. When you go to a new club you want to show what you can do but the injury came and it has been difficult.

"But I kept going and today is maybe the start of the season for me."

TOM BOYD AUDIO INTERVIEW: We'll get through against Arsenal

by Joe McHugh Former Celtic skipper Tom Boyd is looking forward to seeing the hoops put Arsenal out of the Champions League.

The build up towards Tuesday's clash was upped a notch or three, or six, by the weekend results with both side's turning on the style to win convincingly away from home.

Tom Boyd audio interview

The talking that matters will be carried out on the pitch with Boyd confident that Celtic can turn on the style to book a place in the group stages of the Champions League.

MOSCOW

He said: "I'm confident about the match, the way that the boys played against Aberdeen and in the second leg against Moscow Dynamo will have given everyone confidence.

"I know that Arsenal went on to beat Everton 6-1 but I think that Celtic at Celtic Park in the Champions League is very different.

"That win could be a good thing for Celtic. Arsenal got it easy with Everton being so poor, hopefully they will underestimate Celtic coming off a very good performance like that. I'm sure that they will come up here confident of doing something in the first match.

"We have a proud record in Europe at Celtic Park. Tony Mowbray has got the team playing in a different style, a far more open, inventive and creative style and the players will be looking forward to the challenge of facing Arsenal."

MCGEADY

Mowbray's side is starting to have a settled look about it with a heavy emphasis on speed from the wide areas through Shaun Maloney and Aiden McGeady.

Scott McDonald and Georgios Samaras got the goals in Moscow to take Celtic into the final Champions League qualifier but new signing Marc-Antoine Fortune has still to find the net... after three competitive games!

Fortune's contribution to the team can't be doubted but equally strikers are there to score goals and it's not unreasonable to expect a Celtic striker to find the net 20 times a season given the domination and possession that they enjoy in most games.

Not every striker has suddenly found the net as soon as they pull on a Celtic jersey with Boyd recalling one famous Celt who took his time before getting amongst the goals.

HARTSON

The former Celtic defender added: "The legend that is John Hartson took a long time to get his first Celtic goal, I think that he finally scored with a hat-trick against Dundee United.

"John went on to score over a hundred goals for Celtic and I'm looking forward to Marco getting his first goal.

"It's not a concern at the moment although I'd love him to get a goal to lift the monkey from his back, the longer it goes on the more that the press will make of it.

"The way that he plays helps the team, he's a key figure within the way that Tony wants the team to play."

Tom Boyd audio interview part 2 to follow Tuesday afternoon