Gersnet Exclusive: The Celtic Letter to the SFA

[Frankie 8,383]

Recent weeks have seen two Celtic letters wing their way to Hampden Park as Scotland's vice-champions continue to deflect from their team's failings in order to misrepresent any given match as one where they were wronged out of a victory.

 

In a media age where SFA decisions and reports are leaked for various reasons, Gersnet was astounded to find the following attachment in our email inbox this morning which appears to be the template letter Celtic are using to send their complaints to the SFA.

 

Far be it from us to not be transparent, so we attach it below for your perusal. Please click on the following image to ensure you can read it in full.

 

 

[ascender 352]

Brilliant stuff

[maineflyer 0]

Superb - gonna have to send that to a few folks.........

[rbr 1,255]

Absolute genius once again

[Zappa 0]

Brilliant! I love the CC to Eric Riley part at the bottom.

[Gazza_8 233]

Should never start a letter by writing 'I/we are writing'.

 

That's what my old bat of an English teacher always used to say.

 

[ian1964 10,629]

No mention of the hand ball,both hands, by Hooper before he scored??

[ian1964 10,629]

Borrowed from another forum:-

 

 

 

 

As all of you are aware, Celtic FC has now written to the SFA twice in two weeks demanding answers on why refereeing decisions have went against our club.

 

The first instance at Tannadice has now seen the match linesman, Steven Craven, resign from his position with the SFA after he did not want any part in the ‘cover up’ which followed the match. It was reported that he informed the match referee, Dougie McDonald, that a penalty that he had given just moments earlier, was in fact not a penalty. It has since been reported that Steven Craven did not have any involvement in the change of decision. We await answers from the SFA on what really happened. I personally am not holding my breath. Will we ever find out the real conversation between Dougie McDonald and Hugh Dallas? Will we ever find out who else within the offices of the SFA was aware of this? Will we ever find out the truth? Probably not.

 

The second instance occurred at Celtic Park in our match against Rangers. The referee, Willie Collum, awarded a penalty to Rangers. Television replays show firstly that he was deceived by Kirk Broadfoot. They also show that he did not have a clear view of the incident, and was in no position to award the penalty kick. This penalty kick effectively handed the match to Rangers who were already leading 2-1 at the time.

 

Celtic FC find themselves in an extremely difficult position. We believe that there is a clear bias in this country which favours Rangers FC. Both the Board of Directors and the Celtic support believe this. The media laugh this off claiming that the Celtic supporters are paranoid. They tell us how these things ‘even themselves out over the course of the season’. They laugh at us, they mock us. Are we laughing? No.

 

What can Celtic FC do to combat this issue? I have spoken with scores of supporters who demand the board ‘go for the throat’ of the SFA – unfortunately none of the supporters can give us a flawless way of doing this. We only have one chance to win the right for equality. Should Celtic gather enough video evidence to show that we have been the victim of bias – it can be blamed on human error, and it would be extremely difficult to prove in a court of law.

 

There have been several incidents of corruption throughout world football. Whether it be players involved in match fixing or referees taking bribes. What we are dealing with here is much bigger than that. We believe that we are the victim of prejudice from our own Football Association. We believe that from top to bottom we do not receive a ‘fair crack of the whip’.

 

As Celtic fans, what can we do to help our club highlight the situation? I believe that the only way we can start to get people to sit up and take notice is by starting to boycott away matches. Ideally this would start with St. Johnstone in the Co-operative Insurance Cup this evening. This is not possible as Celtic fans have already bought every ticket for the North Stand, people have already made and paid for travel arrangements and it is too short notice to be effective.

 

Our supporters have also already paid for and in some cases received match tickets for the following matches: St. Johnstone 30/10/2010; Hearts 10/11/2010; St. Mirren 14/11/2010; Hamilton Academical 18/12/2010.

 

The next away match that we play in that ticket distribution has not started yet is Aberdeen on 04/12/2010. The tickets for this match will be distributed directly to Celtic supporters from Celtic FC by way of offer letter.

 

Aberdeen away is one of the highlights of the season for many fans including myself. The Celtic support always finds itself in good voice up at Pittodrie, and we usually get a good game. This is one of the more ‘attractive’ fixtures that we play in throughout the season. I believe that our allocation could sell out two or three times over if more tickets were made available to us.

 

I feel that by boycotting this fixture – it would make a statement to the chairmen of the other SPL clubs that they would be next. Our allocation is between 3,000 to 4,000 tickets. We have not yet been made aware of the price of tickets yet for this fixture. If the tickets are priced at Ã?£24 and no Celtic fans attended the match, Aberdeen would lose in the region of Ã?£72,000 to Ã?£96,000 in ticket sales alone. They would also lose out on a substantial sum generated by selling overpriced food to our supporters within the stadium.

 

Scottish Football finds itself in a dire financial state. Celtic are in a rare position of being financially stable, even though we have lost out on tens of millions of pounds through failure to qualify for the Champions League, with a ‘little bit of help’ from the SFA. Most of the other clubs rely on the huge travelling supports of Celtic and Rangers filling there stadium when we play them at their own grounds to keep afloat.

 

We, the travelling support, must do our bit to highlight this ongoing situation. As most of us are aware, it’s not a recent problem – but I don’t feel that listing incident after incident is going to change anyone’s mind of whether or not they would or would not support a boycott. Having travelled to over 90% of Celtics fixtures over the last decade, I do not want to boycott. I love travelling to watch Celtic. I love cheering on the team. But what other options do we have?

 

I ask you, the heart and soul of Celtic FC, to boycott this fixture. I ask that you pass this message onto any of your friends that travel to away fixtures. I ask you to print it off and distribute it on your supporters busses.

 

I understand that many of our ‘hardcore’ fans are against the idea of boycotting – they want to give them team their all to help them onto victory wherever we play. Having been the same man myself, due to recent incidents, I can now only view this as short sightedness. We cannot continue to be denied the opportunity to receive fair treatment. People must open they’re eyes and realise that money talks. Let’s hit the other SPL clubs where it hurts, in the pocket. Boycott Aberdeen on 04/12/2010. Then we can target another fixture (Kilmarnock on 29/01/2011?), and another until things change.

 

Yours in Celtic,

[ian1964 10,629]

Hey Lemon, what was wrong with the penalty???,soft yes but not a dive like yours eh!!!

 

[craig 5,199]

How about they boycott Ibrox on Jan 2nd ? Would rid us of the scummy bassas for a game !

 

The problem with them "listing incidents" is that in doing so they open the door for so many others to do likewise when results/games have gone their way.

 

Zander Diamond's goal in the 2007-08 season which was ruled out for no apparent reason ?

3 or 4 incidents within the game at the weekend which undoubtedly favoured them ?

A multitude of others in that 2007-08 season ?

 

Sadly, they paint over the incidents not to their liking because it doesnt sit well with the "forever offended, forever cheated" agenda.

 

Wake up, your team is SHITE and THAT is why they lost on Sunday, not because ONE decision went against you.