Rogne and Loovens return today

Thomas Rogne and Glenn Loovens will make their comebacks today in a specially arranged closed doors match.

Neither defender has played in the last six weeks due to injury and will give Neil Lennon some options at the back if they come through today's game unscathed although it's unlikely that they will be contenders for a starting place against Dundee United on Sunday.

The injury that Darren O'Dea picked up against Hibs however could change that with a win at Tannadice guarenteeing second spot and keeping Rangers celebrations on hold for at least two hours.

Loovens last played against Hearts on February 10 while Rogne limped out of the defeat from Rangers on February 28.

I'll have details and reaction from today's match later this afternoon.

Six Months of SFA Silence

Back in May of this year, with the SPL title in the balance, Glenn Loovens and Scott McDonald were asked to appear in front of the SFA's Review Panel to explain incidents in games against Rangers and Dundee United.

Not unreasonably Celtic asked for clarification as to how these charges were brought about, in almost every game there are questionable incidents that could be reviewed and looked at differently.

With no answer forthcoming from the SFA Celtic finally went public on October 16 to explain to their supporters that their request for clarification hadn't been answered.

An incident between Loovens and Maurice Edu resulted in a one match ban for the Dutch defender.

Mistakes are part and parcel of football, two weeks before the Celtic statement Craig Thomson appeared to admit that he should have awarded Celtic, or the away team as they were referred to in the statement issued through Hugh Dallas, a penalty in a game against Rangers on October 4.

Dallas's statement however fell short of explaining why the penalty wasn't given, was the referee unsighted or did he have a clear view and failed to notice David Weir's foul on Shaun Maloney?

These incidents apparently even themselves out over the course of a season.

The SFA rule book is comprehensive and thorough, there is a sub-paragraph and explanation for every possible action on the football pitch.

Strangely a month after going public Celtic are still awaiting a reply from the SFA for the criteria that brought Loovens and McDonald before the Review Panel.

It really should just be a quick reference to the rule book, there are general catch all clauses to cover anything not detailed in the rule book.

The longer that an answer is delayed the more suspicious it all becomes.

Celtic statement 16 October 2009: "We still do not understand the procedure by which Glenn Loovens and Scott McDonald were referred for review and other similar incidents in recent months have not been. The process seems to be disparate and arbitrary.
“Our objective is to ensure that these processes are applied fairly, consistently and in a transparent manner, for the benefit of all clubs and players.
“We will continue to pursue this objective and look forward to hearing from the SFA shortly."

Celtic challenge the SFA for answers

It may not have the passion of the Fergus McCann v Jim Farry case but it looks like Celtic are on the case of the SFA with regard to their Review Panel.

Rejecting Glenn Loovens appeal against a one match suspension handed out by the SFA seems to have opened a can of worms that requires answering.

Celtic's question to the SFA seems quite clear cut: 'to ascertain the criteria for referring incidents to the SFA Review Panel'.

A look through the section on the SFA website seems to suggest that clubs can appeal against sendings-off to the Review Panel.

OVERTURNING

Video evidence is taken into account and a retrospective judgement made; some decisions are confirmed and some decisions are overturned allowing players to avoid suspensions with red card's rescinded or downgraded to yellow card offenses.

Fair enough, no argument there. You can't turn the clock back but at least players aren't being punished twice over for mistakes made by referees.

The more contentious issues are those that found Glenn Loovens and Scott McDonald called before the SFA for incidents in the matches against Rangers on May 9 and Dundee United on May 12.

Who made those decisions?

Why were those decisions made?

MISTAKES

There are lots of other questions that arise but in every single football match there are questionable decisions made, referees make mistakes just like players and managers.

Even in the two matches in question there were other decisions made that could be challenged.

The SFA are clearly taking their time in coming up with an answer that should be straightforward, surely the criteria for the Review Panel must be included in the SFA rulebook.

RE-RUNS

If a straightforward answer can't be found we are entering murky water. Do referees watch re-runs of their matches to see if they missed an incident that should have been punished?

Are televised games given extra scrutiny with the extra cameras?

Celtic have been waiting over a month for answers, interestingly the club clearly feels that other recent incidents are escaping the Review Panel.

Celtic's statement said: "We still do not understand the procedure by which Glenn Loovens and Scott McDonald were referred for review and other similar incidents in recent months have not been. The process seems to be disparate and arbitrary.

“Our objective is to ensure that these processes are applied fairly, consistently and in a transparent manner, for the benefit of all clubs and players.

“We will continue to pursue this objective and look forward to hearing from the SFA shortly."

MYSTERY

The SFA have plenty of problems to deal with not of their making, the mystery surrounding the Loovens and McDonald incidents have been created by themselves, only the SFA can answer the questions raised by Celtic.

Tomorrow's Celtic-Motherwell game will be refereed by Chris Boyle, a new name to me who has only refereed two SPL games this season and has never before handled a Celtic match.

After today's Celtic statement and the incidents at the Rangers-Celtic match a fortnight ago Boyle will find himself under intense scrutiny with every decision.

A good referee is one that gets through a match without being noticed, happy to stay in the background and let the players take centre-stage.

Recent events suggest that Boyle will have to have the performance of his life to get through tomorrow's match without being involved in further controversy.

The SFA have replied to Celtic's request by saying that they will reply in due course, whenever that is.

Loovens appeal rejected by SFA- defender misses Motherwell match

Glenn Loovens appeal against a retrospective one match ban has been rejected by the SFA.

The defender will be suspended for Saturday's home match against Motherwell giving the Gary Caldwell-Stephen McManus partnership another chance.

The original offence was reported by Craig Thomson after reviewing the Rangers-Celtic match on May 9, so far Thomson has failed to report any incidents from the October 4 meeting between the clubs that he feels are worth reviewing.

A statement from the SFA said: "A Disciplinary Appeals Tribunal met today at the National Stadium, Hampden Park, to consider an Appeal from Celtic FC.

"This was in respect of a decision made by the Scottish FA's Disciplinary Committee on 7th August regarding the player Glenn Loovens.

"Following a clash between the player concerned and Maurice Edu during the match Celtic v Rangers on 9th May of this year, the incident was referred to the SFA Review Panel. After consideration of the incident, the Review Panel then referred the matter to the Disciplinary Committee.

"The Committee found Glenn Loovens guilty of misconduct of a significantly serious nature and he was given a one match ban and had 12 points added to his 2008/2009 Disciplinary points total.

"Today the Disciplinary Appeals Tribunal refused the appeal. The suspension is effective immediately which will rule the player out of the Celtic v Motherwell match this Saturday."

After Thomson's performance in the recent Rangers-Celtic match this weekends referees will be under even greater scrutiny than ever despite an apology of sorts being issued by Hugh Dallas regarding one of the penalty incidents that Thomson missed on October 4.

Great heart-breakers of our time.

In the world of journalism, or more accurately sub-editing, any late goal against Hearts is inevitably a heart-breaker with Glenn Loovens the latest in a regular stream of Celts to pop up with a late winner against the Jambos.

The inquest into another lost opportunity to go clear of Rangers would have been long and painful if Loovens hadn't scored, the build-up to the October 4 clash at Ibrox would have started already.

Beating Hearts created a little bit of breathing space after a difficult week which re-opened a number of issues with the team wilting away to Hapoel Tel Aviv against a backdrop of poorly timed comments from Gary Caldwell.

A last minute or injury time winner is one of the sweetest feelings in football, the elation of the goal is matched by the knowledge that there's virtually no likelihood of conceding with victory secured.

HINDSIGHT

Under the first three years of Gordon Strachan's management Celtic made a habit of scoring late goals, often supporters or pundits would say that they could feel a goal coming but that's always in hindsight, at the time a goal seems unlikely as the clock races by with points slipping aside.

Most Celtic supporters would associate Mark McGhee as a chief heart-breaker and it's true that he did have the happy knack of finding the net against the boys in maroon.

The semi-final of the Scottish Cup in the Centenary season was McGhee's greatest moment against the Jambos.

CENTENARY

A dodgy goal from a combined Brian Whittaker/Dave McPherson effort looked like killing the centenary double dead in it's tracks with Frank McAvennie missing a hatful of chances as Billy McNeill's side chased an equaliser and a reply.

McGhee came off the bench to equalise in the 86th minute as Henry Smith dropped a corner invitingly at his feet before setting up Andy Walker for a last minute winner and the rest is history.

Looking back at that game McGhee is generally credited with both goals, he certainly changed the match and had the Hearts defence in a state of panic but it was Walker that scored the winner.

Possibly the most significant heart-breaker was an equaliser at Tynecastle on the opening day of the 1985/86 season. Former Celt John Colquhoun had given Hearts the lead, in truth Celtic were barely in the match, but in the final minute the Maestro drilled in an equaliser which gained extra significant when Albert Kidd made a telling substitute appearance at the end of the season...

Five Great Heartbreakers

No 1. Brian McClair. 20 March 1985 Celtic 3-2 Hearts

With the league title almost certainly destined for Aberdeen there wasn't much at stake in this game except for the brewing rivalry between the two clubs with Hearts fielding a number of ex-Rangers players recruited by the management team of Alex MacDonald and Sandy Jardine.

I'll need to dig out the details soon but Hearts did go two goals up and as expected used every time-wasting tactic possible. Brian McClair was thrown on as a substitute as Celtic forced the game and in the days before boards were held up to indicate injury time the former Motherwell striker grabbed the winner in the third minute of injury time after Murdo MacLeod and Mo Johnstone had pulled Celtic back into the match.

No 2. Mark McGhee. 12 August 1987 Celtic 1-0 Hearts

The first big test of the Centenary season saw Hearts visit Celtic Park after the boost of an opening day 4-0 win away to Morton featuring an Andy Walker hat-trick.

It was a tense game with few chances for either side but in the dying minutes McGhee used his bulk to brush off two Hearts defenders to win a high ball before sending the ball past Smith and setting off on his celebrations.

Wallace Mercer was far from happy with the goal, he moaned long and loud about the decision which basically ended the career of Kevin O'Donnell as a referee. His route to the top ended there and then as he was eased out of the picture over a marginal decision.

No. 3 Andy Walker. 9 April 1988 Celtic 2-1 Hearts

With the league title a few points away attention had turned to the Scottish Cup as the double loomed in the centenary season.

The dream looked to be dead as Hearts led going into the last five minutes but the appearance of substitute McGhee had shaken Hearts up with Smith dropping a corner for the striker to equalise with Andy Walker firing home the winner to book Celtic's final date with destiny in the 1988 Scottish Cup Final.

No. 4 Craig Gordon. 4 November 2006 Celtic 2-1 Hearts

The Scotland keeper came up with an incredible own goal, one of the strangest ever seen at Celtic Park.

On the back of a 3-0 defeat from Benfica in the Champions League the last thing that Celtic needed was to go behind against Hearts but that's what happened when Andrius Velicka found the net in the 72nd minute.

Jiri Jarosik equalised with four minutes left to play before Gordon started fumbling around in the final minute before slipping the ball into his own net to give Celtic the win.

Glenn Loovens. 20 September 2009 Celtic 2-1 Hearts

Trailing from the fifth minute when a save-able shot from Suso Santana squirmed past Artur Boruc Celtic equalised early in the second half through a Chris Killen header.

Referee Dougie McDonald body swerved a clear penalty for a foul on Niall McGinn in the 85th minute before finding four minutes of injury time.

Danny Fox's inswinging corner was weakly punched by the Hearts keeper, Aiden McGeady sent a looping header into the six yard box with Loovens rising highest to nod the ball into the net.

Loovens delivers justice VIDEO EVIDENCE

Deep, deep into injury time Glenn Loovens delivered a telling header to send Celtic clear at the top of the SPL.

When I saw a link to THIS CLIP I was expecting a blurred, shaky clip of the goal but by You Tube standards it's almost High Definition plasma style.

BBC highlights (for UK based viewers only, licence payers!)

It was a strange performance from Celtic today, something's not quite right and it's hard to identify the cause, the free flowing football from the opening two SPL games and the win away to Dinamo Moscow is a distant memory as the team struggle to shake off the hangover of last season.

The injury to Marc-Antoine Fortune and the transfer of Massimo Donati seem to have had a major impact on the team with no area of the side functioning properly.

POSSESSION

Hearts opening goal after just five minutes was very preventable and brought back worrying memories of last weeks draw with Dundee United. Scott Brown lost possession of the ball in the middle of the park and in next to no time Suso Santana was finding the net with a shot that Artur Boruc really should have dealt with.

Pleasingly Celtic threw virtually everything into attack even though it was hardly the most co-ordinated of play. Landry N'Guemo was in better form than of late but again there was too much of a reliance on Aiden McGeady with Shaun Maloney worryingly out of touch.

There were plenty of chances being created but no takers with some comic cut defending almost allowing Hearts to go two up in the 41st minute when Gary Caldwell cleared an Andrew Driver shot off the line with sparks flying between Caldwell and Boruc.

Celtic kept up the pressure after the break with Chris Killen scoring his first goal at Celtic Park with an impressive header in the 55th minute after Maloney had sent in the sort of cross that physical centre forwards live for.

The tension and unrest around the stadium eased after that as the team chased the goal that would take them to the top of the table.

SWAPPED

Niall McGinn replaced Maloney in the 68th minute and after starting on the left wing swapped flanks with McGeady over to the right wing.

Five minutes from the end McGinn was sent sprawling in the penalty box from a Lee Wallace challenge but after looking to his assistant for help referee Dougie McDonald waved aside the penalty claims to award Celtic a free kick.

Three weeks ago at Hibs the same referee gave McGeady his second yellow card of the day for alleged simulation, surely if it wasn't a penalty then he should have yellow carded McGinn?

INSPIRATION

Four minutes added time signalled a roar from the crowd but there was no real inspiration on the park until Wallace inexplicatly allowed the ball to go out of play for a corner believing that a goal kick would be awarded.

Danny Fox's inswinging corner from the right was punched weakly by keeper Janos Balogh, Aiden McGeady sent a header back into the six yard box with Loovens first to react to bundle the ball into the net.

The garden is far from rosy at Celtic but today's win should give the team a much needed confidence boost and shows that the fighting spirit is alive and well in the face of adversity.

Major surgery requires to be carried out in the team, that task will be a little easier from the top of the table as Mowbray gets to understand the mechanics of the squad and puts his stamp on things.

Round up and quotes from the loan Celts

Ujpest win again

Captaincy decision looms closer for Mowbray

The return from injury of Stephen McManus will pose some interesting questions for Tony Mowbray in terms of his defensive formation and also the captaincy issue.

Captaincy is generally a less important issue in the modern game but at Celtic it carries more status although recent captains have had their work cut out living up to the job description defined by Billy McNeill and refined by Danny McGrain and Roy Aitken.

McManus's return presents Mowbray with three central defensive options and also three captaincy options.

The Celtic manager hasn't commented much on the captaincy position, it is trendy to suggest that a team should be full of captains but inspirational types are generally thin on the ground.

McManus has been the club captain for the last two years but faces a battle to regain his place in the team which would surely put his position as captain in jeopardy.

CONTRACT
Caldwell has been the captain this season, when available, but has been below his best form and is now well into the final year of his contract.

Outsider Looverns had a troubled start to his Celtic career but since starring in the Co-Operative Cup Final win over Rangers in March has probably been the club's best defender.

Three into two won't go with Mowbray a fan of the 4-4-2 system which looks like leaving one internationalist sitting on the sidelines as the season develops.

Picking up on the impressive domestic form against Dundee United and Hearts over the next two weekends is all important, last season Celtic managed to draw six games out of eight against the teams battling for third place.

The defensive selection and captains role tomorrow will give interesting pointers towards the future shape of Mowbray's side.