Celtic & Rangers: Old Firm clubs acting as small-time squabblers
- Published
Watch: Christie charged for Morelos genital grab
When Celtic issued their plea for consistency and fairness in the wake of Ryan Christie's ban for grabbing the genitals of Alfredo Morelos in the Old Firm derby last month, their words begged a few questions.
How much consistency are they looking for? How much fairness? And what are they prepared to do about it beyond re-entering statement wars with Rangers, two giant clubs who through their incessant tit-for-tat carping are revealing themselves as small-time squabblers.
Celtic want consistency and fairness in the Scottish FA's judicial panel system. If they want it after a game then, presumably, they want it during a game, real-time justice always being better than retrospective justice. On that we can all agree, surely?
They want consistency and fairness across the board. So consistency in the application of the offside law, which would have meant that their winning goal in the League Cup final would not have stood. Consistency, also, in the handball law, which would have meant that their equaliser in the Old Firm match in December would have been ruled out. Consistency in terms of yellow-card offences being picked up on, which could have seen one or more Celtic players being sent off in the same game.
These incidents were hard to spot at the time, but when you watch again the evidence is there to be argued. If a club wants consistency and fairness then it doesn't just apply to opponents, it applies to everybody. Only you won't hear that kind of balance in Old Firm football because both camps are so entrenched and so sold on their own correctness that they may as well take the second eye out of their head because one eye is clearly all they need.
In calling for consistency surrounding the Christie affair, Celtic somersaulted over the fact that the Scottish FA were entirely consistent in giving the Celtic man the same ban they gave Hearts' Steven MacLean last season for the same offence. Perhaps Celtic forgot about MacLean given that Hearts accepted the sanction against him and moved on. No statement, no hubbub.
The fact that Celtic bypassed the MacLean case and referred, indirectly, to unpunished offences by Morelos was illustrative of the mindset.
'Statements are just to appease angry fans'
Celtic's League Cup final winner against Rangers would have been disallowed had VAR been in use
These clubs are obsessed with each other, this season more than any season in recent years because there's a genuine fight for the title now and the edge has ratcheted upwards.
Are there problems with the disciplinary system? Yes, for all teams. Are referees making bad calls? Yes, for all teams. Is demanding more consistency and fairness and better refereeing understandable? Of course. But what else are they bringing to the table apart from statements?
If Celtic want consistency and fairness - or, at least, a better chance of consistency and fairness - then a version of VAR is the way to get it. Not the dog's breakfast VAR from down south, but another version that shouldn't be beyond the wit of man and woman in Scottish football.
VAR would probably have seen Morelos sent off in that Old Firm game last December for three separate offences - a kick, a grope and a step on the back of a prone player - that still rankle with Celtic. Indeed, a fan raised the episode at the club's AGM. VAR would also have corrected multiple calls in recent meetings of the clubs. Celtic's winner at Hampden would have gone. Their equaliser at Celtic Park would have gone. Christie would have gone.
How far do Celtic really want to go in their pursuit of consistency and fairness? Not that far, it would appear. The club's hierarchy is not having VAR. The one thing that might help achieve what they say they're looking for and all information is that they would vote against it.
These statements, from Celtic Park and from Ibrox, are issued, in part, to appease the angry elements among their online support, the people who see no wrong in what their team does and every wrong in what the other lot does even if the offences committed are virtually the same.
The rest of Scottish football is used to this but even by previous standards the events of the last year or so have been quite something. Fans of other clubs are looking on with a mixture of incredulity, amusement and contempt.
They could keep you there for hours talking about decisions that went against their team in matches against Celtic and Rangers, but they don't tend to whinge about it. They know there's little point. Nobody outside their bubble really listens for all that long.
Do Celtic and Rangers fans think that these supporters couldn't reel off a litany of perceived injustices? Do they care?
'Clubs fuelling this, not calming it'
'Morelos needs protecting from bigots but also from anybody who might seek to turn him into a pawn in a game'
There's been an escalation in Old Firm hostilities, and a rise in the Old Firm cringe factor, in recent times, that's troubling, though. Nothing is off limits. Allegations about racism that are unproven are accepted as stone-cold fact by a lobby of folk who have convinced themselves that Colombian Morelos is being abused because of the colour of his skin rather than the excellence of his football and the flakiness of his temperament.
Morelos has been subjected to hateful and sectarian language by Celtic fans. That's beyond dispute and it's ugly. If he's also been the victim of racism, then the evidence needs reporting, not just to the Scottish FA, but to the police. So far, what's been held up by Rangers supporters as indisputable is far from it. Morelos needs protecting from bigots but also from anybody who might seek to turn him into a pawn in a game.
Filth about paedophilia is pervasive and disgusting. On-field gestures are deemed inflammatory or innocuous based on party lines. Disposable indignation. Self-righteousness off the radar.
The media is said to be at fault for endlessly reporting this stuff, accused by the very people who go bonkers when you report it and bonkers when you don't, depending on the 'it', of course. Criticising 'them' is deemed fair and accurate and balanced. Criticising 'us' is unfair and inaccurate and reveals bias.
All of this stuff increases the temperature and makes each camp more strident. Instead of seeking to calm things down, both clubs are firing things up with statements that give credence to the sense of persecution and paranoia some of their followers possess. In a normal football world, the authorities would step in, bring the clubs together and urge caution. Scotland, of course, is not a normal football world.
The push for the league title is compelling for the first time in years. Two good teams, two massive institutions, one thrilling chase. The winner is going to have to display quality and leadership and discipline, they're going to have to hold their nerve and keep their dignity in the face of serious pressure and likely provocation.
That should be an objective not just for the players on the field but the men in the boardroom in the coming months.