Thread: The English media – ‘There is an agenda against Celtic in Scotland’

It appears the catalogue of perplexing decisions that have gone against us this season have been so blatant, that even the English media are starting to think we are unjustly victimised and therefore vindicated in our claims of Establishment conspiracy.

This was in the Daily Mirror

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opin...cle295983.html

Why Tony Mowbray and Celtic are the victims of ref injustice

Tony Mowbray has cut a forlorn figure of late as his Celtic side have slipped nine points behind Scottish Premier League leaders R*ngers.

The bold, inspiring leader I recall from his Middlesbrough days seems to have been overcome by a fragility that was never evident during his playing days at the old Ayresome Park.

It is almost as if an uninspiring start to his managerial tenure, aided and abetted by a series of dubious refereeing decisions and constant sniping from the media, has drained away the spirit from his imposing frame.

At his Press conferences Mowbray gives the impression of being nervous and edgy, talking in whispered tones and weighing up most questions with discernible suspicion.The big Englishman does not seem to be enjoying his return to the west of Scotland. He chooses his words with extreme care but his strained body language appears to indicate that he is battling a hidden agenda.

One of his more reserved players, German defender Andreas Hinkel, has dropped the strongest public indicator yet of what might be bugging his manager - "strange" refereeing decisions.

To R*ngers fans and much of the media this is another case of Celtic paranoia. But I have seen enough dodgy decisions north of the border this season to convince me that Mowbray's side have not had the rub of the green.

There have been a spate of transparently poor calls against Celtic this season, particularly in the two crucial games with arch-rivals R*ngers.

Hinkel stopped short of alleging outright bias but insisted the "strange" decisions were happening week after week. The latest referee to allow some high-profile howlers against the Hoops was Alan Muir in the 1-1 draw with Falkirk at Parkhead.

Muir and his officials enraged Celtic by penalising Artur Boruc for carrying the ball outside his box late on when television replays showed the Polish keeper released it at least four or five feet inside his area.

Falkirk boss Eddie May admitted afterwards that Celtic should have had a penalty late on when Marc-Antoine Fortune went down under challenge from Brian McLean.

Nothing doing said referee Muir, just as he had done when Celtic claimed a foul in the build-up to Falkirk's goal.

That some of the costliest of these "strange" decisions came in the two clashes with R*ngers have, I believe, only served to inflame the sense of injustice felt at Parkhead.

Referee Craig Thomson denied Celtic at least one stonewall penalty at Ibrox in September when Shaun Maloney was clearly fouled by David Weir in R*ngers' 2-1 win.

SFA refereeing supremo Hugh Dallas later admitted Thomson got it wrong and there was no doubt in my mind that the referee's error probably cost Celtic at least a point because there were another two debatable spot-kick calls that the official did not give to Mowbray's side.

Celtic also felt a sense of unfairness when referee Steve Conroy chalked off what most observers felt was a perfectly good goal from Marc-Antoine Fortune in the
1-1 return match at Parkhead.

Conroy's early decision only to yellow card Kyle Lafferty for a horrendous challenge on Hinkel was another decision that left the conspiracy theorists with plenty to ponder.

The dignified Mowbray refused to make an issue about those decisions, but plenty of neutrals, including former Motherwell manager Jim Gannon and my London-based Mirror colleague Steve Stammers, questioned the refereeing.

Had the decisions gone Celtic's way, the points difference between the Old F**m would now be just three with Mowbray's side having a game in hand.

Celtic have not played well this season, but the gap between them and their Ibrox rivals has been exaggerated by abysmal refereeing.

Early exits from the Champions League, Europa Cup and CIS Insurance Cup, coupled with the worst 21st century January deficit to R*ngers in the SPL, have piled the pressure on Mowbray.

And his decision to pay £3.8million for striker Fortune has so far not paid dividends. The jury is still very much out on Mowbray.

Some are claiming the battle for the league title is over. I am far from convinced. In the last two seasons we have seen both Celtic and R*ngers come from behind to be crowned champions with late runs.

But if Mowbray's side gets the refereeing breaks and Celtic use their financial advantage over R*ngers before the transfer window shuts then I think we may still have an SPL title race to look forward to.

Coming from nine points behind to win the title would provide the beleaguered Mowbray and Celtic with the ideal background to ask Scottish football's rulers to re-examine the litany of "strange" decisions.

It certainly doesn't do the integrity, image and marketability of Scottish football any good to see poor decisions by so-called top referees influence title-defining games.

There you have it, an ‘outsider’ stating what we all already knew.The agenda against Celtic is so transparent, even those with no emotional affiliation to either half of the O*d F**m can see it!

But apparently we’re just paranoid


(BTW, I think this article is what the caller on the Jim Traynor show was alluding to)

Fantastic read that sir

It'd been unbelievably blatant this season

excellent article, well put forward

Brilliant article there mate, about time people started to take notice!

It would be good to hear the opinions of foreign Celtic fans on this or even people who have n't followed Celtic for their whole life .Just to see if they also see the same as me .