Back to earth with a bump then.
Celtic and the SFA have gone to war.
It all began with a Celtic ‘source’ leaking a story to the media in the frantic build-up to February’s Old Firm game about a Parkhead complaint to the game’s governing body over a lenghty list of complaints they believe have gone against them this term.
Both previous Old Firm games were cited in the list, the first when Celtic were denied what was a stonewall penalty at Ibrox in a game they lost 2-1, the other in the game against Rangers in January when they were denied a goal from Marc-Antoine Fortune, a match they went on to draw 1-1.
In between times we a couple of offside goals against Falkirk and Dundee United that TV cameras later proved to be legitimate. Celtic drew both of the games.
However, the furore that greeted their complaints ensured that referee Dougie McDonald was under intense pressure going into the third Old Firm game at Ibrox at the end of the month. The game was an hour old when Scott McDonald and Kyle Lafferty tussled and the red card was waved in Brown, the Celtic captain’s direction.
It seemed a harsh decision and the satta matka side went on to lose a game they really needed to win with a goal conceded in the dying seconds of the game. The celebrations from the Ibrox dugout told their own story with regards to whether or not they really believe the league title is not over just yet.
Celtic’s appeal was then thrown out by the SFA, but the simmering resentment on the part of the Parkhead club continues to linger.
In truth, they have been undone this season by a combination of desperately poor finishing in games they have dominated, while at the back they have have toiled desperately defensively. So far this term Celtic have conceded an astounding 29 SPL goals.
They have not been helped by a string of poor refereeing decisions and it is no slight to say that Scottish whistlers have had an appalling season, not just when officiating Celtic games but in an entire host of matches where blatant mistakes have been shown up. Yet, it was the actual appeal process which so rankled Mowbray. “Who was the appeal to?,” he said. “My frustration is that the same referee who has made the decision on the day has another look at it and the matter is finished.
“It doesn’t seem much of an appeal. If you appeal something, then you want to do so to an independent body. But that is not the case here.
“I didn’t know the process before we went into this. I thought we would appeal, someone would have a look at it and think, ‘yeah, maybe the referee got that one wrong’, without going over the top of the individual or wagging a figure at him.
“If it gets thrown out by an independent panel then you say, ‘fine, we all move on’. It just seems harsh to me that the guy who makes the decision is then asked to make another decision.”
Mowbray said that he had watched the video of the Brown-Lafferty clash on four or five subsequent occasions, and he remains convinced that McDonald made the wrong decision in sprinting across the Ibrox pitch to brandish his red card at Brown.
“I’ve watched it back and I can’t see a sending-off,” the Celtic manager said. “Even if you think I have a level of bias because I work for this football club, I still can’t see a sending-off. As a guy who looks at things honestly, I can’t see what he [Brown] has done. People have said to me that it might be a headbutt, but is there a headbutt? The crime of feigning a potential headbutt might be more of a crime than what Scott Brown did. If you can sit there and honestly believe Scott threw his head towards at him and that his headbutt was a violent act, then fine. I have watched it and can’t see it. I just can’t see it.
“Scott has been flung around. He was put in a headlock and thrown to the floor. When you watch it back, it is wrong.
“And the other frustration is, in such a massive game with the whole world watching, and given what happened in the previous two Old Firm matches, why make such a big decision if you aren’t sure of it?”
With the pressure building around the Celtic manager, Mowbray insisted that he would be there for the long term at the club.
There are various rumours doing the rounds that Mowbray will quit Celtic in the summer – or even be pushed – but he blankly denied such notions. Winning the Active Nation Scottish Cup, however, now seems more essential than ever to Mowbray and Celtic.
“From my perspective we have to keep going, keep working with the team, keep building it,” he added. “I see positive signs, but I also see parts of the team we still need to work with, but we will keep going.
“This team has to win every season. Some seasons you do, some you don’t. Our goal at the start of every season is to win everything. We have to go and try to win our league games and see what happens. But it is there for Rangers to lose it now.
“It’s the same as every year. This club has to win something, but if you don’t, do you throw everything out and start again? If you are logical, then you don’t, you buy into what you believe is going to take the club in the right direction and you keep going.
“Gordon [Strachan] was very successful and won three championships, but I play a different style of football – a different type of football. I want expansive football and at times it can be like a rollercoaster. You are going to have days where you lose goals, but you will also have days of great victories and fantastic football. That’s the journey you go on.”
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