Kmcalpin

I've come to the conclusion that we have bias, corruption and incompetence affecting referees in Scotland (and elsewhere). I doubt if anyone could stand up and say hand on heart that there is absolutely no corruption in Scottish refereeing. Statistically any organisation including the Police, Health Service, education authority, local council, national government, private company or whatever is liable to have at least one bad apple in its midst. I doubt if Scottish refereeing is any different to other organisations in society. Bias is totally a different matter. Referees are supposed to be 100% unbiased but they fall well short of that standard. I think it was Liverpool University which conducted some research into this topic some years ago and it concluded that referees were influenced unduly by big teams and we all know who they are in the goldfish bowl of Scottish football. Some bias is conscious some unconscious. There is huge pressure from fans and media for referees to be favourable to the gruesome twosome and of course there is also the perfectly human fear of victimisation should a referee make an unpopular decision. Then we have incompetence. Refereeing is hard; its very difficult. They have to make split second decisions often whilst poorly sighted or being conned by players. I get that. However they are not openly accountable and the whole process is shrouded in secrecy. Fans are the lifeblood of the game, the paying public, and they deserve a reasonable explanation of decisions. The entire SFA refereeing function is simply not effective nor efficient and needs total scrutiny and improvement. Referees themselves are human and like ourselves make mistakes and I understand that. They need to be fitter, and better trained to ensure consistency. They also need to have the benefit of action replays to allow them to quickly review game changing decisions. They need to be accountable and explain themselves publicly. They also need more support and protection. Willie Collum last night made numerous mistakes from start to finish and eventually a game changing one. One "middle ranking" incident convinced me of the validity of the biased argument. Armstong committed a professional foul on one of our lads in midfield by taking him out and a foul was awarded (so, Collum saw it). Later in the game Alan Campbell committed an almost identical foul in the same area of the pitch but was given a yellow card. That was down to inconsistency and you can't come to any other reasonable conclusion except bias. Collum's late game changing penalty blunder speaks for itself - he was right on the spot.

Could we add "Bias" to the poll?

Could Carl McHugh be one to move on in January? Normally I'd say that the club captain would be untouchable but Robbo has never been afraid to shy away from difficult decisions. McHugh hasn't been performing this season and last night wasn't the first time he's been taken off. Thats not normal for a captain.

Agreed. Add to their names those of Plummer and Newell, and you have the basis for some readjustment of the squad.

I read this morning that Dedryk Boyata has described us as a physical team. What does that make Celtic then as they won the physical battle on Sunday?

I agree about the red card appeal, especially in view of Jim McMahon's comment about Kipper. That seems contradictory. Obviously something has gone on behind the scenes - it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work that out. Its possible, but unlikely in the extreme, given what we've all seen or heard, that the club has decided Thomson was correct. Its also possible that Kipper himself has asked the club not to appeal. However the most likely explanation to me is that the SFA have told the club that if we appeal they would review Kipper's tackle on Dembele. All speculation on my part of course. As to your other point has anyone actually complained to the club or the SPFL about the seating? It would be hard for the club to take it up with SPFL if it hadn't received any complaint from fans.

100% agree. All speculation of course but it would also flush out the SFA's position and expose the truth, whatever that is.

Or that the SFA has suggested that they'll cite Kipre retrospectively for his earlier tackle on Dembele if we appeal.

I think the club is totally wrong about this and it sends out completely the wrong message. If something is going on behind the scenes then be open about it. As it is there will now be a nasty smell left to hang over this whole episode for evermore.

I agree and fortunately Bowman, Frear, Grimshaw, Rose, Tanner and Campbell all played considerably less than 90 minutes. We do have options.

IF this is true then the financial hit would be £2,000 I think. A drop in the ocean compared to what we've earned from our cup run. I agree though that if the club doesn't appeal there must be a reason - a question for a shareholder to raise at the next club AGM maybe?

I don't know about the rest of the team but yes Cadden must play wide right.

We should appeal it end of. If there are any other "strings attached" then make them public. The club has to support an innocent employee and if we don't it sends out the wrong message.

I suspect we will, if Jim McMahon has anything to do with it. No doubt we're waiting on the referee's report first, which might not arrive until tomorrow. As for tomorrow's game we have a number of options if Robbo wants to change things for various reasons. Stevie Hammell, Alan Campbell, Elliot Frear, Craig Tanner, Bigi, Ellis Plummer, Ross MacLean, Deimantas Petr....,and Alex Fisher could all step in.

Referees are human and make mistakes I get that. However in major game changing decisions there ought to be some form of compensation for the injured parties. For example when a team loses a player through a referee's blunder and the red card is rescinded, the damage has still been done through having to play a man short. Other situations might include goals wrongly given or chalked off. In such instances some form of compensation should be paid by the SFA - I'm not talking of millions of pounds incidentally. There has to be more open accountability. Whilst Sunday's incident is hard to take, I hate to think what would have happened if Kipre's red card had occurred during a play off final and we'd been relegated. All hell would have broken loose.

Ex referee in the Scotsman says it definitely wasn't a penalty. I suspect Sportsound would only quote an ex referee if he said it was a penalty.

Diving is an unacceptable part of today's game. However before we start punishing players for simulation we have to target their managers; in other words start at the top. Some managers encourage it and others turn a blind eye to it.

Well I'll certainly be there. Maybe yesterday's injustices will fire us up. Its a new game and there are 3 points up for grabs. Yesterday's result apart the whole club is on a roll just now and income from the League Cup will bring some cheer.

After my rant about Craig Thomson I'll post my thoughts on less important aspects of the game. I thought we stuck to our gameplan well in the first half and stifled Celtic. That however, came at the cost of creativity. Talk of our physicality clearly worked so credit to Brendan Rodgers for that by taking advantage of a compliant media. In actual fact Celtic were the more physical team, as I thought they would be, and won more than their fair share of 50/50 balls. Some of our lads looked a little overawed by the occasion and we gave Celtic a tad too much respect at times. Our play, when in possession, was wasteful and we made too many unforced errors. Kipre should have been booked for his tackle on Dembele, but then again someone clattered Moult on the the right touchline and he escaped any card. My only concern was that we gave Celtic a bit too much freedom on the flanks. At half time we were very much in the game. Forrests' goal was down to slack defending but at that point I think Robbo felt lets go for it and began to make changes. Two game changing decisions then killed the contest and that was that. After the penalty the teams' heads went down possibly for the first time this season but they rallied well as professional pride kicked in. Still that wasn't enough to stop Celtic finding numerous gaps in our defence, but fortunately they couldn't add to their tally. My 2 MOTM were Carson and Hartley. Although we didn't win it was our best Final result and performance since 1991 i.e. it wasn't a drubbing. Our fans didn't have much to cheer about but maybe just maybe if 2 crucial decisions had gone our way then the result might have been better. Anyone who thinks that Craig Thomson will be reprimanded by the SFA is having a laugh - he'll probably turn up at one of our game sin the enxt week or two....just to make a point. Anyway lets look forward to Wednesday night's game. COYW.

I hope so. As we saw with Richard Tait, at Easter Road, it does not matter whether a player is fouled or not. If he dives or exaggerates the foul then thats a yellow card. However it was never a penalty in my book and that was a game changing decision. To be fair, acording to Trevor Carson, said that Thomson asked Sinclair if he dived or not and surprisingly, the player replied no. On that basis no card was dished out. Just before that incident, Moult is clearly impeded by Tierney and that should have been a penalty and red card. Two huge decisions which could have influenced the outcome. Another little incident which highlighted Craig Thomson's perfromance. In the second half the linesman on the north side indicated a throw in to us (he was standing about 6 feet away from the tackle). Thomson, who was standing maybe 20/25 yards away overuled him and awarded the throw in to Celtic. A referee can have one bad game, it happens; but Craig Thomson seems to have them more than most when we're involved. Anyhow, hew wrote himself into our history books yesterday and not for the right reason.

We had a good breakfast for you.

Thats it for me too Andy. I've never bought into the Scots media clap trap about big teams being wounded and dangerous after a defeat.

No doubt he was asked to comment on our physicality by a journalist. He should have responded that we hoped to match Celtic's physicality and wouldn't be intimidated by them.

I really hope it doesn't degenerate into the Craig Thompson show.

Brora away would some trip.