Monday 27 April 2015
This and That: More sour grapes from the Red and White section of London
So, how was everyone’s weekend?
Mine was awesome when it came to football. Saturday I ventured down to Edgeley Park to watch Stockport County’s final game of the Conference North season against Harrogate Town. County played poorly in the first half but ended up coming back to win 2-1 and end the season on a high.
County’s big push for Season Ticket renewals for next year was the promise of promotion to the Conference Premier. While it is positive to show such ambition, I do worry that it will be a big ask with the side currently at County’s disposal. Hopefully some undiscovered diamonds can be unearthed and County can advance up to the next tier.
The fact that 2,601 people decided to show up for a fixture in England’s sixth tier shows that there is a market for local football in Stockport. You would hope that should County get promotion, the crowds would increase further. I’m certain there’ll be a good crowd for the local derby with FC United next season, if nothing else. So long as it doesn’t clash with Everton, I’ll make sure to attend the Edgeley portion of that derby.
On Sunday, I was in attendance at Goodison Park as Everton gained an impressive 3-0 victory over a Manchester United side that had been in good form leading up to the contest. Truth be told, Marouane Fellaini missed an incredible chance to score while the game was still at 1-0, which could have turned the game.
As it was, Fellaini’s miss was followed up with two more goals from Everton and the three points were professionally secured.
I’m delighted with the result, as you can imagine. James McCarthy and John Stones both played very well and the match highlighted how important both are to Everton. Hopefully Everton can hold onto them, as I’m sure there will be no shortage of suitors in the summer transfer window. The same could be said for Seamus Coleman and Kevin Mirallas.
Everton have had a disappointing season, but this remarkably strong finish suggests that should enough of the big stars remain, with some of the dead wood being replaced, Everton may just have a decent season next term. It’s the hope that kills you.
One of the big talking points of the weekend though was surely Chelsea’s hard earned point against Arsenal at The Emirates, something that caused much disconcertion among certain folk in the footballing world.
Indeed, following the contest, Arsenal fans serenaded Chelsea with chants about how boring they were. Biting satire, I’m sure you will agree. I can’t surely be the only one who was a bit perturbed with the churlish attitudes of the assorted Gooners in attendance?
Let us not forget, that when Arsenal won the title in 1989 and 1991 under the stewardship of George Graham, they were known as a deeply negative team. Graham’s famed offside trap tactics won many a close game for Arsenal.
Did the Gooners chant “Boring, boring Arsenal” at the time? Of course not! They were loving it! They would chant, with indefatigable glee, “1-0 to The Arsenal!” as Graham and his sides squeezed blood from a stone to secure silverware.
Long before Arsene Wenger was winning titles playing lovely football with the likes of Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp, Arsenal were loathed for being a dire defensive outfit.
And it’s not even like that’s a bad thing. Graham did what he had to do to win trophies, just as Jose Mourinho is doing now. What I can’t stand is the barefaced hypocrisy from the Arsenal support. Even if they weren’t supporting the club at that time, they should be aware enough of their own history enough to realise the irony of mugging off another team for negative tactics.
The further irony is that Chelsea in the past were renowned for a being an exciting flair team. From the Osgoods to the Zola’s, Chelsea were a good cup team who put on exciting footballing exhibitions. Back in the early 90’s the roles of Arsenal and Chelsea were very much reversed. It’s refreshing to see so many Chelsea fans admit that they don’t mind this reverse as they’re happy to have the silverware. Such honesty is hard to come by in the modern game.
And therein lies the rub. Supporters of Arsenal and the football "purist" supporters of other clubs, including my own, wouldn't be half as bothered with the tactics on show if our clubs were using them and winning trophies.
Considering some of the Arsenal support like to taunt Chelsea for their supposed lack of history (which ignores all the FA Cups the team won prior to Abramovich’s millions) some of them seem to be very unclear about their own clubs history.
What it all boils down to is sour grapes.
John Terry, despicable though he is at times, was celebrating wildly after the 0-0 draw because his side had essentially sown up the title. The fact that they’d been overly defensive to secure the point didn’t matter to him or his manager in the slightest.
Football, is a results business and Jose Mourinho got the result he needed.
Even when Arsenal were winning things playing nice football under Wenger, they still had Adams, Viera and Keown providing defensive grit when necessary.
I hate the antiseptic and covertly cynical approach of "Tikki Takka", but if Everton started doing it and won the Premier League, you wouldn't hear me complaining. It would be the same if they used the defensive approach of Mourinho.
Basically, for any Arsenal supporter to complain about Chelsea’s tactics is just another example of their entrenched entitlement. Mourinho’s tactics worked while Wenger’s didn’t. Take your lack of winning the title with some good grace and have a think about your own clubs history before insulting Chelsea on their supposed lack of one.
Peace Out
Saturday 25 April 2015
The Everton Shopping List
Transfer speculation is a part of football that is ingrained in your average football supporter.
No matter who your team has on their current team sheet, most of us are always looking at other players that we think could improve the squad. Ultimately, it makes sense. Players age, suffer injuries and sometimes get their heads turned by other clubs, so there’s always a reasonable argument to be made to be looking at other players.
As an Evertonian, I was generally happy with the clubs starting XI as the season began. However, outside of John Stones and maybe Muhammed Besic, it’s hard to make an argument that any of Everton’s squad has actually had a good season.
Besic has looked promising, even though he isn’t the finished article yet. He’s had a decent first season though and I feel optimistic about his future. He always looks one challenge away from a Red card, but he fights for the cause and never gives anything but 100%
He’s the sort of aggressive CDM that I always dreamed of being when I used to play in my youth. The best thing about him to me is the accuracy of his tackles. Besic isn’t a Souness type who doesn’t really care about catching or even hurting the man. Besic wants the ball and nothing but the ball, and he times his tackles accordingly. I think no one is more perturbed when he commits a foul than he himself. He’s dedicated himself to the art of tackling, and I can respect that.
Stones has been solid every time he’s played this season. He’s an excellent defensive prospect, and is a shoe in for Club player of the season in my honest opinion. Hopefully that’s mirrored by the rest of the fan base and also those within the club.
However, outside of those two, I honestly think every senior player in the squad needs to be held under scrutiny after this season, some more than others.
Romelu Lukaku broke Everton’s European goal record this season but hasn’t had as good a season as last term. That being said, he’s still young and has time to come good, so he’d be near the bottom of the list for me in regards to people getting criticism
I can’t say the same for Arouna Kone however. My level of dislike for Kone isn’t as high as some other supporters that you’ll come across. In fact, I don’t actively dislike him at all. I actually kind of like him. The memes of him riding varying different animals only endeared the man to me. However, I do think it’s probably time to move him on next term.
As far as replacing him goes, I was leaning towards promoting from the youth set up, but I’m thinking maybe a loan spell for some of the younger strikers could be more beneficial at this stage.
It’s always hard to gage with a younger player what will benefit them more. With someone like Chris Long, he’s still quite young so the best thing for him could be to get some regular playing minutes. He would most certainly be behind Lukaku in the pecking order, as would be Connor McAlney.
There’s also the risk that thrusting either player into the position as back up could be a case of too much too soon.
As a fan base, we generally do quite poorly with giving the younger players in the team a chance. Long or McAlney could enter competent performances but not amazing ones, thus leading to the usual section of naysayers declaring that they aren’t good enough. We do this with pretty much every young player. Even Ross Barkley gets overly criticised if he doesn’t have a 9 out 10 rating in every match.
But what if indeed they aren’t ready?
We’ve had some good defenders come through the youth ranks in Tyias Browning, Seamus Coleman and Shane Duffy. We’ve also had some good midfielders in Barkley and Kieran Dowell. Mason Springthorpe was a relatively decent goalkeeper too.
However, have we had a top level striker come through the youth ranks since Wayne Rooney? Kissock didn’t work out, we all know what happened with Jose Baxter and Hallam Hope never really got any traction at the club.
Is it right to have a youth player as first choice back up if Lukaku goes down? I’d feel perfectly fine with plugging in Browning or Garbutt to the squad if a defender went down injured. If Lukaku went down with injury or suspension and we only had Long to replace him, I’m not sure how I’d feel.
If you’re a young defender, you’ve got other defenders to fall back on. Same if you’re a midfielder. If you’re a young striker, it really is you up there on your own under full glare of the spotlight. I think it’s a great credit to a lad like Harry Kane that he’s been able to perform so well in such situations.
I’d certainly like to see Long and McAlney set some minutes in pre-season and maybe some minutes in the early months of the season. The good thing about the loan market is that you have some more flexibility in when you can arrange them as opposed to transfers. Long could have a few games for the first team and then be sent to a team in The Championship for more minutes if need be.
Should Kone leave, I feel another striker who has played regular first team football would be required to come in, if only to bring some experience to the table.
I’ve decided to look at one goalkeeper, defender, midfielder and striker that Everton could use to shore up the ranks. In some cases, multiple players could be required in certain areas, but for lengths sake, I’ll limit it to one player. The players named were selected using a mixture of what I’d like to see, what I think the manager wants and also the calibre of player that Everton could attract.
Goalkeeper
Who: Costel Pantilimon
Why: League Cup winner and did well whenever called upon as backup for City. I work with City fans who really have no negative opinions on him whatsoever and quite a few were sad to see him go. Only 28 years old, so has a good 5 years in him yet.
Possibility of him coming to Everton: It depends on whether Sunderland stay up I imagine. If they go down, there could potentially be a fire sale and he might be sold to raise funds. Everton could probably get a good deal for him. If Sunderland stay up, they would be less willing to sell, which might put him out of our price range.
Defender
Who: Virgil Van Dijk
Why: I’ve been a big fan of this lad for a while. Good defensively, can play it out of the back like Martinez wants and also takes a mean free kick. He’s got future star written all over him. He could be plugged straight into the squad. I’m fully confident that Van Dijk will be first choice for Holland in the next 2-3 years
Possibility of him coming to Everton: I’m pretty sure Van Dijk wants to move from Scotland to a bigger league. At the end of the day, he wants to play for Holland and he increases his chances exponentially if he moves to the Premier League. He’d probably get a lot of minutes for Everton, which would surely appeal to him, but there are other clubs who are looking at him. Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs and Man United have been linked with him. All of those clubs would probably look more attractive to him from a prestige standpoint. There’s also the fact that Celtic will be very unwilling to sell him unless it’s for a decent price. We might find that we get priced out of the market if this goes to a bidding war.
Midfielder
Who: Tom Cleverley
Why: Let’s face it, he’s signing so we might as well plan for life with him in the team. For what it’s worth, I don’t think he’s terrible, but I’m also completely unenthused that he currently seems to be our marque signing. He could conceivably do a job for us and combined with some other signings, his incoming wouldn’t be too grim.
Possibility of him coming to Everton: I think he’s nailed on. Martinez has been expressing an interest all season and will probably move planets to get him.
Striker
Who: Danny Ings
Why: Imagine the reaction across the park if we poached him from them? On a serious note, despite his recent goal drought, Ings has had a good season and I think he’d make a good addition to the striking options upfront. It could be that signing Ings might light a fire under Lukaku. They might even make a good partnership if played together.
Possibility of him coming to Everton: Not very likely I say. No transfer fee, as he’d be out of contract, but I’m pretty certain he’s Liverpool bound. I’d like to have him at Everton though.
So, if Everton managed to acquire the players listed, how do I think they’d line up?
I’d personally go for a 3-5-2 formation of
Pantilimon
Stones, Jagielka, Van Dijk
Coleman, Barkley, Cleverley, McCarthy, Baines
Ings, Lukaku
With a bench of Robles, Browning, Galloway, Besic, McGeady (Sadly, I think Mirallas will be off in the summer), Naismith and Long
The formation could potentially swap between a 3 or 5 at the back, should the need arise. I think that’s a decent enough Starting XI that isn’t based completely in the realms of fantasy. Whether we get any of the aforementioned players remains to be seen, but with that team I think we’d give anyone a game.
I’m probably way off, I usually am, but hey-ho
Peace Out
No matter who your team has on their current team sheet, most of us are always looking at other players that we think could improve the squad. Ultimately, it makes sense. Players age, suffer injuries and sometimes get their heads turned by other clubs, so there’s always a reasonable argument to be made to be looking at other players.
As an Evertonian, I was generally happy with the clubs starting XI as the season began. However, outside of John Stones and maybe Muhammed Besic, it’s hard to make an argument that any of Everton’s squad has actually had a good season.
Besic has looked promising, even though he isn’t the finished article yet. He’s had a decent first season though and I feel optimistic about his future. He always looks one challenge away from a Red card, but he fights for the cause and never gives anything but 100%
He’s the sort of aggressive CDM that I always dreamed of being when I used to play in my youth. The best thing about him to me is the accuracy of his tackles. Besic isn’t a Souness type who doesn’t really care about catching or even hurting the man. Besic wants the ball and nothing but the ball, and he times his tackles accordingly. I think no one is more perturbed when he commits a foul than he himself. He’s dedicated himself to the art of tackling, and I can respect that.
Stones has been solid every time he’s played this season. He’s an excellent defensive prospect, and is a shoe in for Club player of the season in my honest opinion. Hopefully that’s mirrored by the rest of the fan base and also those within the club.
However, outside of those two, I honestly think every senior player in the squad needs to be held under scrutiny after this season, some more than others.
Romelu Lukaku broke Everton’s European goal record this season but hasn’t had as good a season as last term. That being said, he’s still young and has time to come good, so he’d be near the bottom of the list for me in regards to people getting criticism
I can’t say the same for Arouna Kone however. My level of dislike for Kone isn’t as high as some other supporters that you’ll come across. In fact, I don’t actively dislike him at all. I actually kind of like him. The memes of him riding varying different animals only endeared the man to me. However, I do think it’s probably time to move him on next term.
As far as replacing him goes, I was leaning towards promoting from the youth set up, but I’m thinking maybe a loan spell for some of the younger strikers could be more beneficial at this stage.
It’s always hard to gage with a younger player what will benefit them more. With someone like Chris Long, he’s still quite young so the best thing for him could be to get some regular playing minutes. He would most certainly be behind Lukaku in the pecking order, as would be Connor McAlney.
There’s also the risk that thrusting either player into the position as back up could be a case of too much too soon.
As a fan base, we generally do quite poorly with giving the younger players in the team a chance. Long or McAlney could enter competent performances but not amazing ones, thus leading to the usual section of naysayers declaring that they aren’t good enough. We do this with pretty much every young player. Even Ross Barkley gets overly criticised if he doesn’t have a 9 out 10 rating in every match.
But what if indeed they aren’t ready?
We’ve had some good defenders come through the youth ranks in Tyias Browning, Seamus Coleman and Shane Duffy. We’ve also had some good midfielders in Barkley and Kieran Dowell. Mason Springthorpe was a relatively decent goalkeeper too.
However, have we had a top level striker come through the youth ranks since Wayne Rooney? Kissock didn’t work out, we all know what happened with Jose Baxter and Hallam Hope never really got any traction at the club.
Is it right to have a youth player as first choice back up if Lukaku goes down? I’d feel perfectly fine with plugging in Browning or Garbutt to the squad if a defender went down injured. If Lukaku went down with injury or suspension and we only had Long to replace him, I’m not sure how I’d feel.
If you’re a young defender, you’ve got other defenders to fall back on. Same if you’re a midfielder. If you’re a young striker, it really is you up there on your own under full glare of the spotlight. I think it’s a great credit to a lad like Harry Kane that he’s been able to perform so well in such situations.
I’d certainly like to see Long and McAlney set some minutes in pre-season and maybe some minutes in the early months of the season. The good thing about the loan market is that you have some more flexibility in when you can arrange them as opposed to transfers. Long could have a few games for the first team and then be sent to a team in The Championship for more minutes if need be.
Should Kone leave, I feel another striker who has played regular first team football would be required to come in, if only to bring some experience to the table.
I’ve decided to look at one goalkeeper, defender, midfielder and striker that Everton could use to shore up the ranks. In some cases, multiple players could be required in certain areas, but for lengths sake, I’ll limit it to one player. The players named were selected using a mixture of what I’d like to see, what I think the manager wants and also the calibre of player that Everton could attract.
Goalkeeper
Who: Costel Pantilimon
Why: League Cup winner and did well whenever called upon as backup for City. I work with City fans who really have no negative opinions on him whatsoever and quite a few were sad to see him go. Only 28 years old, so has a good 5 years in him yet.
Possibility of him coming to Everton: It depends on whether Sunderland stay up I imagine. If they go down, there could potentially be a fire sale and he might be sold to raise funds. Everton could probably get a good deal for him. If Sunderland stay up, they would be less willing to sell, which might put him out of our price range.
Defender
Who: Virgil Van Dijk
Why: I’ve been a big fan of this lad for a while. Good defensively, can play it out of the back like Martinez wants and also takes a mean free kick. He’s got future star written all over him. He could be plugged straight into the squad. I’m fully confident that Van Dijk will be first choice for Holland in the next 2-3 years
Possibility of him coming to Everton: I’m pretty sure Van Dijk wants to move from Scotland to a bigger league. At the end of the day, he wants to play for Holland and he increases his chances exponentially if he moves to the Premier League. He’d probably get a lot of minutes for Everton, which would surely appeal to him, but there are other clubs who are looking at him. Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs and Man United have been linked with him. All of those clubs would probably look more attractive to him from a prestige standpoint. There’s also the fact that Celtic will be very unwilling to sell him unless it’s for a decent price. We might find that we get priced out of the market if this goes to a bidding war.
Midfielder
Who: Tom Cleverley
Why: Let’s face it, he’s signing so we might as well plan for life with him in the team. For what it’s worth, I don’t think he’s terrible, but I’m also completely unenthused that he currently seems to be our marque signing. He could conceivably do a job for us and combined with some other signings, his incoming wouldn’t be too grim.
Possibility of him coming to Everton: I think he’s nailed on. Martinez has been expressing an interest all season and will probably move planets to get him.
Striker
Who: Danny Ings
Why: Imagine the reaction across the park if we poached him from them? On a serious note, despite his recent goal drought, Ings has had a good season and I think he’d make a good addition to the striking options upfront. It could be that signing Ings might light a fire under Lukaku. They might even make a good partnership if played together.
Possibility of him coming to Everton: Not very likely I say. No transfer fee, as he’d be out of contract, but I’m pretty certain he’s Liverpool bound. I’d like to have him at Everton though.
So, if Everton managed to acquire the players listed, how do I think they’d line up?
I’d personally go for a 3-5-2 formation of
Pantilimon
Stones, Jagielka, Van Dijk
Coleman, Barkley, Cleverley, McCarthy, Baines
Ings, Lukaku
With a bench of Robles, Browning, Galloway, Besic, McGeady (Sadly, I think Mirallas will be off in the summer), Naismith and Long
The formation could potentially swap between a 3 or 5 at the back, should the need arise. I think that’s a decent enough Starting XI that isn’t based completely in the realms of fantasy. Whether we get any of the aforementioned players remains to be seen, but with that team I think we’d give anyone a game.
I’m probably way off, I usually am, but hey-ho
Peace Out
Monday 20 April 2015
This and That: Celtic's paranoia once again to the fore
This weekend, Inverness Caledonian Thistle won a thrilling Scottish Cup Semi Final against Celtic 3-2 after extra time.
The win will set up a final with Falkirk, who sneaked past my Hibees 1-0 in the other Semi Final the previous day.
However, controversy reigns in regard to Celtic’s defeat, thanks mostly to an incident involving Caley Thistle player Josh Meekings in the first half.
Meekings clearly obstructed a Leigh Griffiths header that was goal bound with his hand. This should have led to a Celtic penalty and a red card for Meekings. Instead, the decision wasn’t given and this has led to much unrest amongst the Celtic support.
At the time of the handball, Celtic were 1-0 up and in control. Should the penalty have been given, Celtic would have had an excellent chance to enter the second half 2-0 up with an extra man advantage.
Now, there’s no doubt the decision was a bad one. Referee Steve McLean had a decent enough view of the incident to give the penalty, but chose not to. It was a bad decision, but in my opinion that’s all it was. However, amongst certain areas of the Celtic support, the desire to be the victim has once again reared its ugly head.
The following is a direct copy and paste from comments on The Guardian match report (Link at the bottom of the article). It was written by poster aaronbeck
· Celtic have only lost 5 games in Scotland this season. Steven McLean has been the referee for 3 of them.
Celtic's record without Steven McLean as referee: 30 wins, 5 draws, 2 defeats
Celtic's record with Steven McLean as referee: 1 win, 0 draws, 3 defeats
https://twitter.com/footballisfixed
Steven McLean's brother played for Rangers. He chose to represent Northern Ireland instead of his native Scotland.
The assistant referee did not 'fail to spot' the incident, as is evident from the video below. He can be seen excitedly repeating the same phrase into his microphone three times. He appears to be saying 'Its a Pen!''Its a Pen!' 'Its a Pen!'
http://videocelts.com/2015/04/blogs/latest-news/did-alan-muir-shout-penalty-penalty-to-stevie-mclean
Mr McLean needs to explain why he chose to ignore what his assistant was telling him.
The SFA needs to explain why, given his background and track record, they selected Mr McLean to referee an important match involving Celtic. (End of quote)
So yeah, the reason for the bad descision wasn’t just human error but a concerted plot to deny Celtic advancement to the final. It’s a giant conspiracy to keep them out of Scottish Footballs showpiece event
I would ask Mr Beck, if that is his real name, one question however. Why would the SFA not want Celtic in the final?
Seriously, why wouldn’t they?
Out of all the possible finals, the SFA has ended up with the least marketable one possible. Falkirk and Inverness are both good sides with dedicated support, but honestly, if Hampden is anything more than half full for that final I’ll be amazed. You’ll be able to hunt wild deer in the atrium FFS.
The best final on offer by far would have been Hibs Vs Celtic. It would have presented the best chance to fill the stadium and would have also provided the best TV ratings. It also would have likely produced the best actual football match to boot.
Rather than prove that nefarious powers were at work to fix the final, I would argue both results are the best argument you could give for proving otherwise. This is quite possibly the worst final you could have out of all the possible options. Again, no offence intended to Falkirk and Thistle, but their support is smaller in number than the two Irish giants.
I have no doubt that the match between Falkirk and Thistle has all the possibility of being an exciting match, but I’m a football fan and can view it as such. To your average man/woman/educated asparagus plant on the street, this final is not a box office final. It will most surely do poorly in the ratings comparatively to what it would have done with Celtic in the match instead.
Celtic supporters need to realise that rather than being the plucky club fighting underneath against the establishment, they now ARE the establishment. They are the biggest and best team in the country. When decisions go against them now, you can rest assured it’s because the referee has had a mare and not because of some kind of grand conspiracy to keep them out of showpiece events.
The SFA wants, nay NEEDS, Celtic to be the featured attraction right now because they are a proven draw. I bet many an SFA official was pulling his or her hair out when that third Caley goal went in. They might as well have burned a bag full of money in an oil drum.
I, for one, am glad we have two slightly less fashionable teams fighting it out to decide who wins the cup, but a lot of people really won’t.
Celtic fans need to take defeat in their stride and move on. Every time they lose can’t always be the result of dirty pool. It’s getting to the point of ridiculousness now. The ref made a bad decision, you lost, that’s all there is to it. Nine times out of ten, you’ll get decisions going for you as you’re a big club. On this occasion, there was the perfect storm of ineptitude from the officials that led to your downfall. Get over it
Peace Out
http://www.theguardian.com/discussion/p/47kvd
The win will set up a final with Falkirk, who sneaked past my Hibees 1-0 in the other Semi Final the previous day.
However, controversy reigns in regard to Celtic’s defeat, thanks mostly to an incident involving Caley Thistle player Josh Meekings in the first half.
Meekings clearly obstructed a Leigh Griffiths header that was goal bound with his hand. This should have led to a Celtic penalty and a red card for Meekings. Instead, the decision wasn’t given and this has led to much unrest amongst the Celtic support.
At the time of the handball, Celtic were 1-0 up and in control. Should the penalty have been given, Celtic would have had an excellent chance to enter the second half 2-0 up with an extra man advantage.
Now, there’s no doubt the decision was a bad one. Referee Steve McLean had a decent enough view of the incident to give the penalty, but chose not to. It was a bad decision, but in my opinion that’s all it was. However, amongst certain areas of the Celtic support, the desire to be the victim has once again reared its ugly head.
The following is a direct copy and paste from comments on The Guardian match report (Link at the bottom of the article). It was written by poster aaronbeck
· Celtic have only lost 5 games in Scotland this season. Steven McLean has been the referee for 3 of them.
Celtic's record without Steven McLean as referee: 30 wins, 5 draws, 2 defeats
Celtic's record with Steven McLean as referee: 1 win, 0 draws, 3 defeats
https://twitter.com/footballisfixed
Steven McLean's brother played for Rangers. He chose to represent Northern Ireland instead of his native Scotland.
The assistant referee did not 'fail to spot' the incident, as is evident from the video below. He can be seen excitedly repeating the same phrase into his microphone three times. He appears to be saying 'Its a Pen!''Its a Pen!' 'Its a Pen!'
http://videocelts.com/2015/04/blogs/latest-news/did-alan-muir-shout-penalty-penalty-to-stevie-mclean
Mr McLean needs to explain why he chose to ignore what his assistant was telling him.
The SFA needs to explain why, given his background and track record, they selected Mr McLean to referee an important match involving Celtic. (End of quote)
So yeah, the reason for the bad descision wasn’t just human error but a concerted plot to deny Celtic advancement to the final. It’s a giant conspiracy to keep them out of Scottish Footballs showpiece event
I would ask Mr Beck, if that is his real name, one question however. Why would the SFA not want Celtic in the final?
Seriously, why wouldn’t they?
Out of all the possible finals, the SFA has ended up with the least marketable one possible. Falkirk and Inverness are both good sides with dedicated support, but honestly, if Hampden is anything more than half full for that final I’ll be amazed. You’ll be able to hunt wild deer in the atrium FFS.
The best final on offer by far would have been Hibs Vs Celtic. It would have presented the best chance to fill the stadium and would have also provided the best TV ratings. It also would have likely produced the best actual football match to boot.
Rather than prove that nefarious powers were at work to fix the final, I would argue both results are the best argument you could give for proving otherwise. This is quite possibly the worst final you could have out of all the possible options. Again, no offence intended to Falkirk and Thistle, but their support is smaller in number than the two Irish giants.
I have no doubt that the match between Falkirk and Thistle has all the possibility of being an exciting match, but I’m a football fan and can view it as such. To your average man/woman/educated asparagus plant on the street, this final is not a box office final. It will most surely do poorly in the ratings comparatively to what it would have done with Celtic in the match instead.
Celtic supporters need to realise that rather than being the plucky club fighting underneath against the establishment, they now ARE the establishment. They are the biggest and best team in the country. When decisions go against them now, you can rest assured it’s because the referee has had a mare and not because of some kind of grand conspiracy to keep them out of showpiece events.
The SFA wants, nay NEEDS, Celtic to be the featured attraction right now because they are a proven draw. I bet many an SFA official was pulling his or her hair out when that third Caley goal went in. They might as well have burned a bag full of money in an oil drum.
I, for one, am glad we have two slightly less fashionable teams fighting it out to decide who wins the cup, but a lot of people really won’t.
Celtic fans need to take defeat in their stride and move on. Every time they lose can’t always be the result of dirty pool. It’s getting to the point of ridiculousness now. The ref made a bad decision, you lost, that’s all there is to it. Nine times out of ten, you’ll get decisions going for you as you’re a big club. On this occasion, there was the perfect storm of ineptitude from the officials that led to your downfall. Get over it
Peace Out
http://www.theguardian.com/discussion/p/47kvd
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