Celtic lose on the road, but Officials are the talking point once again
Steven McLean and Alan Muir strike again as Celtic lose at Easter Road.
A first half double from Josh Campbell secured a win against league leaders Celtic, inflicting the champions’ second defeat of the Premiership campaign this season.
After the midweek heroic and heartache defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League, Celtic’s famed ‘European headache’ seemed to rear its ugly head again as they struggled to get into the game.
And Campbell made them pay twice, first just two minutes into the game and then headed home a Martin Boyle cross just before half-time to give the Easter Road a 2-0 lead.
Celtic talisman Daizen Maeda, pulled a goal back for the visitors on 68 minutes and from there Celtic pressed forward looking for an equaliser and with seven minutes to go the Japanese striker found the back of the net once again latching onto a cross from Alistair Johnston.
Celebrations were cut short though, as VAR officials had deemed the ball had crossed the byeline before Alistair Johnston crossed into the box. Celtic protested the decision, and with replays inconclusive the goal should have stood by the letter of the law.
Hibs held on to claim victory and sent Celtic back to Glasgow cursing the actions of match officials Steven McLean and Alan Muir once again.
Duo have a history of ‘dodgy decisions’ against Celtic
Following the match, Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers criticised VAR official Alan Muir and his decision to rule the equaliser out.
The Northern Irishman said: “I was very disappointed we didn't get that especially when the linesman didn't think it was out. He probably has the best view.
"I don't know how you can tell the ball is definitely out from an image from the 18-yard line. We need to see evidence the ball was out. If you don't have that, you're having a guess."
The Scottish FA were uncharacteristically quick to issue a statement following the match, stating that VAR checked and the 18-yard line camera showed the ball had indeed crossed the byeline.
However, the incident was reminiscent of the 2022 World Cup game between Japan and Spain, when Ao Tanaka’s second half strike was initially disallowed, as the ball appeared to have crossed the byline before Kaoru Mitoma pulled a cross back into the box.
But after a long VAR review, the goal was given, sparking much debate as different angles from television images made it difficult to discern exactly where the ball was in relation to the line.
Following the game, FIFA explained: “Japan’s second goal in their 2-1 win over Spain was checked by VAR to determine if the ball had gone out of play.
“The video match officials used the goal line camera images to check if the ball was still partially on the line or not.
“Other cameras may offer misleading images but on the evidence available, the whole of the ball was not out of play.”
Unfortunately, the system used in Scottish Football does not include goal line technology and with the lack of proper well-placed equipment to provide a complete picture across the pitch - it leaves our game susceptible to incompetent and biased match officials.
This isn’t the first time that both Steven McLean and Alan Muir have caused controversy in a game involving Celtic. In the 2015 League Cup Semi Final between Celtic and Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Celtic were denied a stone wall penalty after Josh Meekings clearly handballed a goal bound header from Leigh Griffiths. Muir was five yards from the incident and had clear line of sight, despite the protests McLean refused to award the spot kick - Celtic went on to lose the tie and with that then-manager Ronny Deila’s chance of winning a domestic treble in his first season in charge.
We can argue whether the duo are incompetent or biased again Celtic until we are blue in the face, but as such incidents continue to build up over the years it only points to one line of questioning - if the match officials continually produce such ‘dodgy’ decision making, why are they not held accountable for their blunders and punished by the SFA accordingly? Why are they immune from punishment by their employers?
Whether it is self-confessed Rangers fan John Beaton or Steven McLean - brother of former Rangers player Brian McLean - it is clear there is a cabal of Rangers fans inside the Scottish FA refereeing pool. No wonder the governing body are venomously opposed to following the English FA making referees declare their club allegiances - they wouldn’t have any match officials left to referee Celtic or Rangers games!
Just like our VAR system, the match officials in this country are not fit for purpose. I long for the day that the whole sordid lot of them go on strike again and we bring in foreign referees to show them how to actually officiate football games properly - as happened in 2010, when the referees went on strike over their perceptions that the SFA were not doing enough to protect referees from criticism. Which stemmed from referee Dougie McDonald lying to Celtic manager Neil Lennon during a game against Dundee United, and subsequently led Hugh Dallas trying to coerce his employers into closing an investigation into his bigoted email scandal [which led to his eventual firing] in return for stopping the strike from happening.
For Celtic, this week has been a tale of two dodgy refereeing decisions - one in Munich and one in Edinburgh. While they failed to pick up a point today, news later this afternoon that rivals Rangers lost 2-0 at home to St.Mirren ensured that there was no change at the top of the table with Celtic remaining 13 points clear of Rangers.
Up next for Celtic is the visit of Aberdeen to Celtic Park on Tuesday.