Bill

Who he?

So, don't complain when the SFA and its referees are pissing in your porridge. Smile and lap it up in case someone might think you're a Celtic fan.

We need to be shopping in a different store. If we try to do deals in the EPL then it's inevitable we will sign over-priced players.

So, we only deserve fair refereeing of our matches if we play well? I think you've lost the path somewhere.

What you seem to be saying is we should accept having to win matches despite referees. I don't think that's something we should so easily tolerate simply by raising comparison with another club.

If spending money was the key to making successful signings then Dessers and Lammers would already be Rangers heroes. What we need is not just paying higher fees, it's signing better players. If last summer showed us anything then it is this.

It's only natural that discussion has focussed specifically on the use of VAR in the recent game at Parkhead and there are certainly no shortage of issues that at least require scrutiny. However, there's an extent to which VAR has become a distraction from what has always been the central issue with refereeing in Scottish football - the propensity of referees to act in favour of Celtic. None of the recent controversies involving VAR would or could have happened without the intervention of human officials. At the root of all of it is the unprovable but nonetheless real bias displayed time and again to assist Celtic. It's the sort of corruption that most reasonable people tend not to want to believe is real, preferring instead the more palatable option of incompetence to explain the absurd refereeing decisions we see so often. But after a lifetime watching the routine bias exhibited by match officials and those who run our game, I'm convinced the opaque oversight of the sport has bred a conscious willingness to interfere in the outcomes of games involving Rangers and Celtic. I will never forget the lead up to our UEFA Cup final in Manchester where the SPL contrived to deny us a league title and severely affected our chances in the UEFA cup final. That disgraceful episode may stand out but it was only one of many examples of what we know in our hearts is only too real.

As always the SFA splutters and protests ..... but stops short of offering a useful explanation of the actions of its officials or opening the door to transparent scrutiny of its VAR systems. It's yet another example of "trust us and don't dare question us". But through the fog of indignation and bluster it's just possible to detect an organisation that has been severely rattled ..... not by events at Parkhead but by being caught covering up its dubious operations. For so long as the SFA denies scrutiny of its match officials, there can never be a basis of trust in them. Only when they allow a modicum of transparency will the SFA have any right to express indignation. I look forward to welcoming Willie Collum back to Ibrox.

What the hell was that? 😮

In which case it fails on all four counts.

I think we need to review this whole notion of what comprises "a cheat". Is it only someone who sets out with deliberate intent to disadvantage one team with respect to another. Or can it also include someone who simply takes advantage of an unexpected event to favour one side. The outcome is likely to be the same in both cases of course. Both involve cheating but the former is driven by intent while the latter depends on fortuitous opportunity. Which kind of cheat is Collum?

Nonsense man. You are wrong, I am right. Where's the subjectivity in that? 😉

Since the issue of deliberate or accidental is irrelevant, there should be nothing subjective about it. If there is then VAR is a complete waste of time. There are two fairly straightforward decisions - did the ball contact the player's arm and was his arm in an unnatural position (whatever that is) at the moment of contact? In this particular case there was definitely contact and the are was well away from the player's body, so it's a mystery why subjectivity would come into it. In the beginning, it was thought by many that VAR would relieve officials of pressure by making it clear to fans why certain decisions were arrived at. In reality what it has done is provide fans with enough information to confirm how inadequate our officials are and have been all along. Now we have an incident that takes things further and sheds light on something much darker than incompetence, something that I've long suspected permeates not only football but virtually every institution in Scottish life. Willing corruption.

Voting SNP is a declaration of inferiority.

He's not a Rangers fan. He just thinks he is.

As bad as he is, Collum isn't the main problem. Underpinning every outrageous decision on the field is the SFA/SPFL that insists on opacity in every aspect of the game. Referees can't explain their decisions or be held accountable, VAR has to operate in silence, the Compliance Officer had to be chosen by clandestine means, evidence goes missing from investigations, secrecy at every turn, etc, etc. You couldn't create a better environment in which corruption could flourish if you tried .... and flourish it has.

That's a bit insensitive. Don't forget a majority of Gersnet wanted to persevere with that 'idiot'.

VAR clearly has the potential to make a huge contribution to the game and frequently enables better decision making. The problem is that it cannot cope with or compensate for either the deliberate dishonesty of officials or their gross incompetence. VAR remains entirely dependent upon the honest intentions and professional skills of those who operate it. So when you get a chaotic decision making and cover ups like we saw during the recent old firm game, it's no good riding to VAR's rescue quoting "in-principle" advantages of the system. When officials fail, VAR fails. At that point trust is lost and what should be a force for good becomes a tool of corruption.

Yes, how dare we take umbrage at being cheated. And how dare we catch them doing it.

However you spin this, the objective of VAR is to deliver correct and factual decision making on a consistent basis. That's clearly not happening. If VAR depends on the impartiality and fairness of officials then it's probably a waste of time in Scotland. The stain of bigotry and corruption permeates everything in Scottish football and it will never fulfil its mission unless it is taken out of the hands of our domestic officials. Ergo, something is very wrong with VAR.

100% couldn't agree more. They're a bloody nuisance we could easily do without.

Does it matter how play is reviewed if it continues to be done in secrecy? It will always be open to the sort of shit we saw from Collum on Saturday.

Cue another round of ridiculing rugby and asserting football as a very different game that necessarily depends of secrecy and cover-ups. We can't have transparency in football - we would have to get rid of most of the clowns referees we have today.

Surely the denial of a penalty against Celtic and the subsequent cloak and dagger cover up suggests there is something VERY wrong with VAR. It's not just a case of missing things when the process becomes steeped in denials and contradictory explanations. The problem (as it was always bound to be) is that VAR has become just another tool to be employed by corrupt officials in Scottish football.