Craven attention or victim of the SFA v Celtic fight?
Monday meeting may tell all
You won’t find much sympathy for SFA officials amongst the Celtic support but if the rumours are true about assistant referee Steven Craven, his resignation may be fully backed from those in the hoops. The talk appears to be that Craven will tender his resignation because he feels the SFA have hung him out to dry in this whole affair.
When Dougie McDonald emphatically pointed to the spot at Tannadice, Craven immediately moved behind the touchline in preparation for the penalty kick. Craven made no signal or movement to attract the attention of McDonald, who was surrounded by Dundee United players.
With the referee being so emphatic in his decision making and the assistant referee making no move to attract the refs attention, debate began over who decided that the penalty should be overturned. Sky didn’t help things when they suggested the 4th official may have intervened.
The 4th official has greater powers in refereeing the game but there is no way the 4th official could have had any serious input, unless he saw the incident on TV. Which of course is completely against the rules and would never have been a factor in the changing of the decision……….
Regardless of who made the call, Dougie McDonald trotted over to Craven and after a brief interchange, where no one knows what was discussed, the referee decided that it wasn’t a penalty and a drop ball to Dundee United was awarded.
Well, drop balls in the situation where no team has genuinely surrendered possession are supposed to be contested by both teams but McDonald clearly felt that the most sensible option was to usher Celtic players away and then casually drop the ball in front of a United player.
So……all that and we are no clearer about why the call was made. In the good old days, there would be a veil of secrecy brought over proceedings but the chief of referees decided to speak out in favour of his colleague. A man who so desperately craves the limelight that he dragged his family onto Family Fortunes is not going to shy away from the TV cameras and Hugh Dallas was telling all and sundry about the decision.
“Dougie, after having given the decision, then received information from the assistant referee that the goalkeeper had played the ball from the better position that the assistant referee was in”
What you have here is the chief of referees firmly putting the blame onto the assistant referee…who again for the benefit of clarity, did not seek the attention of the referee to speak out against the decision.
Let’s not concern ourselves about the fact that Dallas didn’t see the match and was unable to comment on any of the other penalty claims that Celtic had in the match, his viewing of the incident and a discussion with Dougie McDonald was enough to satisfy him that justice had been done.
The alleged resignation of Steven Craven may be the factor that Dallas was not predicting which lands him in trouble. If Craven had made the call, surely there would have been no issue about the assistant referee being listed as the decision maker. It would be praise for him for getting a call right in a difficult situation.
The fact that Craven appears ready to resign from the SFA over this incident makes it look as though he has been set up to shoulder the blame for this decision.
The fact that Dallas then lied about or misinterpreted Neil Lennon’s discussion with McDonald after the match can only add to the doubt of the veracity of the former whistler’s comments.
At best, the SFA have completely ballsed this one up and may well have made this situation far worse. Part of this derives from the organisations desire to speak out against Celtic at any opportunity. Peat, Wiggy Smith and Hugh Dallas have all tripped themselves up in their rush to put Celtic down, which they never do so quickly when any other club appears to be involved.
The defence offered by Dallas does not tie up with the visual evidence in the aftermath of the incident and for that reason alone, there has to be a proper inquiry into this. If McDonald and Dallas are telling the truth, they will welcome any investigation as it will prove them to be right.
Of course, if that’s the best case scenario, in the worst case scenario, we could be looking at another Farry situation and few will shed any tears if Hugh Dallas ends up falling on his own sword. Sticking up for one official whilst completely dropping an innocent party into the mix would be a shameful act for any boss and if this is what Dallas has done, he should pay with his job.
A Monday meeting at Hampden Park will see McDonald and Dallas, as well as Craven, meet with new SFA Chief Executive Stewart Regan to resolve this matter. With the new man coming in having no baggage in the Scottish game, it will be of interest to see how the meeting pans out. As we say, if the interpretation of events stated by Dallas in support of McDonald is correct, fair enough, let it be known and let us get on with things. If they’re not, you can only hope Regan has the strength of his convictions to properly resolve the issue.
It’s always interesting in the relationship between Celtic and the SFA but this time, the implications could be a lot higher than 3 points.
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Much hysteria, paranoia, hassle (including Mr Craven and his family being subject to abuse) over what was a correct decision.
George, what decision was the correct one.
Craven to resign, McDonald to Change his mind, Dallas to Praise McDonald, McDonald missing various penalty claims.
Corrupt to it’s rotten core.
Let’s hope that finally they will be exposed.
As for the right decision, how?
I assumed the penalty was given for the foul prior to the goalkeepers lunge.
What about all the handballs? There was even 1 seconds before we scored the winning goal.
Since you put it that way, several deciisions were correct: McDonald changing his mind and him turning down several other bogus penalty appeals.
Usual “honest mistake” made again.
Let it go guy’s, three big tests this season and three failures
Usual Celtic fans hounding an honest offical out the game because he dared to rule against them. Typical cheats. 3-1. Round yis.
You may want to check your facts on that G Mac but far be it from us to stop you in your revelry….
So any game that Lennon wins is not a test and any game Lennon loses is a real test – cool, as long as the world knows the parameters that Lennon is working in.
Clearly, Lennon = Massive Failure.
Ed, I know you will be disappointed after that result today, but in all honesty your man has had four big games in his managerial career and failed in all three.
Ross County – Not his team, none the less a shocking result against a 1st division team.
Braga away – Maybe a bit harsh as they looked no a bad outfit, but to lose three gave them no chance at all in the 2nd leg.
Utrecht away – 2-0 up after the first leg, to lose that lead is criminal and it was a horsing and they weren’t in the same league as Braga.
Rangers at Home – Well you know the outcome of that one.
oops a typo on the first paragraph, blame the Miller!!
Quags, Lenny has had four big failures and today was a massive one – lets not argue about that – no matter what view you have on today, Rangers were easily the better team and completely deserved victory today.
However, its a bit unfair to totally discount any of they victories.
If Rangers had won in May at Parkhead, it would have been counted as a failure against Lennon.
If Celtic had dropped points at Tannadice last weekend, it would have been counted as a failure against Lennon.
Away games at Tannadice, Easter Road and Tynecastle…..again, any failure to win would have been criticised.
The home game against Utecht – again, failure to win would have been counted against Lennon.
Yes, four big failures, no doubt about that but to say its 4 out of 4…..cant agree with it. If you say, four biggest games, then yeah, we can see that and wouldnt argue too much about that….but Lennon does deserve some credit. However, he is being forced to grow up in public and whether he is capable of that job is up for debate.
As we say, totally deserved win for Rangers, another black mark on Lennon’s book, however, to say Lenny has failed every time – a wee bit harsh.
Ok I’ll rephrase, the 4 biggest games he’s faced and he’s failed.
I have to say after watching last weeks game, I expected so much more from Celtic but they were poor. Lennon has restored the faith but I listened to a Celtic supporter on Real Radio on Friday, an elderly gentleman who spoke a whole load of sense regarding Celtics recent failures in big games and in particular Europe. He called this result today and he was spot on in the assessment of Lennon and his team.
Celtic were poor Quags, no doubt about that.
Some fans have been having a go at the press about comments regarding Celtic’s poor defence and pointing out stats to show Celtic’s defence wasnt so terrible.
We have said the opposite at times and today proved that Celtic still have a long way to go with regards to defending.
Equally, we have criticised Celtic’s ineffiency in front of goal with their amount of chances whilst praising Rangers for taking more goals from less chances. This has been pretty obvious to even the most casual observer of Celtic and Rangers teams this season.
Celtic will rightly be criticised for not turning up today but to whitewash all the work in the SPL so far would be wrong – there is a need for a middle ground. Lennon deserves praise for so many league wins but questions must be asked about whether he can outwit a manager with substantial tactical experience or with a greater desire.
Would any other manager have achieved better with the same players – its impossible to say isnt it? Long way to go until January 2nd but Lennon needs to keep his team tight at the top until then and then he has another chance to strike a blow for his reputation.
G Mac has the audacity to call us cheat when Kirk Clubfoot dives for a penalty today, Typical Hun Cheats.
It’s what happens after this game that matters ed, after all it’s only three points and there will be many more twists and turns to come. Lennon has restored SPL credibility but today is a major blow, especially at home. It will be a tight race for the title.
Absolutely Quags – “bouncebackability” and all that. Up until today, both Rangers and Celtic have had a phenomenal run. After today, Celtic still very good but Rangers at a completely different level – away wins at Easter Road, Pittodrie, Tynecastle and Celtic Park – personal club preferences aside, that is title winning form for any side.
But yeah, its been building to todays game for a while and has probably kept players focus on winning – now its a bit of bread and butter again, it’ll be interesting to see if both sides can win all their games again or if any of the provincial clubs will take point.
I believe Madjid Bougherra was quoted as saying the team that takes most points from the Glasgow games will win the league – hes not far off in that and an away win really puts Rangers in the driving seat.
Of course, with Inverness Caley at Ibrox on Saturday and the Highlanders being the last SPL team to win there (which says a lot for Rangers at home) who knows what fun and games next weekend will bring.
League cup games this midweek – more fun and shenanigans no doubt!
The issue is not the fact that Rangers beat Celtic, the issue is that massive “honest mistake” which was made. Again.
Look at the facts:
Last week we had a penalty given and then taken away by the linesman.
Why did that not happen yesterday?
Last season Celtic outplayed Rangers twice and lost due to more “honest mistakes”.
Does it really matter if Celtic deserve to win or not, as the outcome of the game is more than often decided to the benefit of Rangers by an “honest mistake”.
What is the point in even turning up, we all know what will happen:
AN HONEST MISTAKE
Wonder what lodge Bro Collum attends, I haven’t seen him at any I’ve been to.
the bookies gave 5/2 for rangers easy money , beat the turkish champs , drew with man u , drew with valencia when the should have won easily . won every game in the spl . but keep the blinkers on celtic fans its the refs fault . 2 scottish players in your team one ripped his tights and went off the other is never celtic class . no heart
yeah I agree that Rangers are showing title winning form at this early stage of the season BUT it remains to bee seen if they can sustain these wonderful results whilst still having a relatively small playing squad AND challenging on 3 other fronts for 2 domestic cups & 1 of the European trophies.
There’s still plenty to play for & even though I believe that the refs in scotland are not “bent” they do give some very strange decisions & occasionally they overturn them after speaking to a linesman or after speaking to the press
Anyway interesting times lie ahead