Zappa 0 Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 There's absolutely no way I'm going to believe that Legia purposely left the player off the 25 man list for the game against St Pats thinking they could gain an advantage. It's just not even conceivable. They must have believed that by leaving him off the list, he would still officially be serving his suspension. It's now pretty clear that Legia have made a technical administrative error, but the punishment certainly does not fit the error when they beat Celtic so convincingly over 2 legs. I could understand the decision if they had gained a sporting advantage, but having a 25 man squad instead of 24 against St Pats is hardly what you'd call a sporting advantage when the 25th man would undoubtedly have been a reserve/fringe player anyway and is highly unlikely to affected their 6-1 aggregate humping of St Pats (yes, they beat both St Pats 6-1 AND Celtic 6-1). UEFA definitely needs to review this section of their regulations and also the punishments for various types of breaches because this simply isn't fair on Legia at all when they've comprehensively won their matches on the field of play. All round it's just a disgrace on the game and I think any fair minded person would say the same about any team even if it wasn't Celtic involved. I spoke to a Celtic fan I know earlier who was completely mystified himself and said he didn't think they deserved to be reinstated at Legia's expense for something so trivial. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrahimHemdani 1 Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 There's absolutely no way I'm going to believe that Legia purposely left the player off the 25 man list for the game against St Pats thinking they could gain an advantage. It's just not even conceivable. They must have believed that by leaving him off the list, he would still officially be serving his suspension. It's now pretty clear that Legia have made a technical administrative error, but the punishment certainly does not fit the error when they beat Celtic so convincingly over 2 legs. I could understand the decision if they had gained a sporting advantage, but having a 25 man squad instead of 24 against St Pats is hardly what you'd call a sporting advantage when the 25th man would undoubtedly have been a reserve/fringe player anyway and is highly unlikely to affected their 6-1 aggregate humping of St Pats (yes, they beat both St Pats 6-1 AND Celtic 6-1). UEFA definitely needs to review this section of their regulations and also the punishments for various types of breaches because this simply isn't fair on Legia at all when they've comprehensively won their matches on the field of play. All round it's just a disgrace on the game and I think any fair minded person would say the same about any team even if it wasn't Celtic involved. I spoke to a Celtic fan I know earlier who was completely mystified himself and said he didn't think they deserved to be reinstated at Legia's expense for something so trivial. I think your first two sentences are just a little contradictory. If "They must have believed that by leaving him off the list (or when they left him off the list) , he would still officially be serving his suspension" (which I agree must have been the reason they left him off) then it follows does it not that they thought that would give them a full 25 man squad to choose from. I completely agree that any advantage was minor at best and indeed the additional player may not even have been involved in the match/on the bench; but it is an advantage nonetheless; and one the Rule is designed to prevent. That apart I completely agree with your sentiments and perhaps this may even lead to a Rule change. A Celtic friend of mine is equally embarrassed as was Ronnie Deila at the press conference IMHO; made worse of course by the Norwegian connection. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zappa 0 Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 A much simpler system would be UEFA letting clubs know when a suspended player is eligible for selection again. It would remove all chances of human error on the clubs part, and in turn, stopping fans watching in effect meaningless matches. If UEFA are serious about implementing 'fair play' systems, then they desperately need to sort this out because it makes a total mockery of 'fair play' to have a team like Legia who won two CL qualification ties in a row 6-1 aggregate going out on a trivial administrative error like this. There's no fair play in that at all. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zappa 0 Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 I think your first two sentences are just a little contradictory. If "They must have believed that by leaving him off the list (or when they left him off the list) , he would still officially be serving his suspension" (which I agree must have been the reason they left him off) then it follows does it not that they thought that would give them a full 25 man squad to choose from. I completely agree that any advantage was minor at best and indeed the additional player may not even have been involved in the match/on the bench; but it is an advantage nonetheless; and one the Rule is designed to prevent. I know what you're saying BH, but it's a minor technicality, nothing else. To suggest the 25th man in this case was any sort of sporting advantage is just nonsense. Legia drew 1-1 with St Pats in the first leg and then went into the away leg and completely fairly beat them 5-0. Likewise in the two legs against Celtic, nobody can say Legia cheated. They royally humped them in Poland and came to Edinburgh and won the match fairly. The whole thing's a joke. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheTinMan99 0 Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 If UEFA are serious about implementing 'fair play' systems, then they desperately need to sort this out because it makes a total mockery of 'fair play' to have a team like Legia who won two CL qualification ties in a row 6-1 aggregate going out on a trivial administrative error like this. There's no fair play in that at all. It could be avoided with a simple amendment to their rules, such as, any team falling foul of this rule will suffer punishment A,B, or C. It could range from what they have done in this instance, right down to a fine for what is basically a clerical error, to which no real sporting advantage was gained. There's not a person in football that wouldn't think a fine is a suitable punishment for this. If the guy came on and rattled a hat-trick, then the punishment could be more severe. Even the most ardent Celtic fan can't argue the punishment fits the crime. The whole episode is an embarrassment for UEFA, and for football in general. Imagine they done the unthinkable and went on to win it. Hardly likely, but could happen to a better team, who does have a chance of winning it. Football needs a certain level of bureaucracy, but when it impinges on the spirit of the game, it's going way too far. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hildy 0 Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 It will be on the lips of many Celtic fans - they broke the rules - they deserve to be punished. Rules are rules! If it had been us, though, would you have wanted Rangers to be reinstated? Would the 'rules are rules' approach have been yours, too? Rules are essential for civilised society and formal sport, but sometimes their application leads to injustice. Celtic's reinstatement will not generally be viewed as fair, but there is so much at stake, Celtic will likely grab the opportunity to stay in the competition, and this hardly makes them unique. Be honest, if you perceive injustice here, and want the situation resolved more fairly, would you be making the same argument if Rangers had benefited in similar fashion? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Real PapaBear 0 Posted August 8, 2014 Author Share Posted August 8, 2014 It will be on the lips of many Celtic fans - they broke the rules - they deserve to be punished. Rules are rules! If it had been us, though, would you have wanted Rangers to be reinstated? Would the 'rules are rules' approach have been yours, too? Rules are essential for civilised society and formal sport, but sometimes their application leads to injustice. Celtic's reinstatement will not generally be viewed as fair, but there is so much at stake, Celtic will likely grab the opportunity to stay in the competition, and this hardly makes them unique. Be honest, if you perceive injustice here, and want the situation resolved more fairly, would you be making the same argument if Rangers had benefited in similar fashion? No, No and Yes. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hildy 0 Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 No, No and Yes. . . . is the right answer. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zappa 0 Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 It will be on the lips of many Celtic fans - they broke the rules - they deserve to be punished. Rules are rules! If it had been us, though, would you have wanted Rangers to be reinstated? Would the 'rules are rules' approach have been yours, too? Rules are essential for civilised society and formal sport, but sometimes their application leads to injustice. Celtic's reinstatement will not generally be viewed as fair, but there is so much at stake, Celtic will likely grab the opportunity to stay in the competition, and this hardly makes them unique. Be honest, if you perceive injustice here, and want the situation resolved more fairly, would you be making the same argument if Rangers had benefited in similar fashion? It's easy to ask these questions, but more difficult to answer them because we're not in the same position. At the end of the day though, I think it would need to be a serious breach of the rules for fair-minded fans of ANY club who got humped 6-1 over two legs to think their club deserved to be reinstated. If there was a breach that involved a notable sporting advantage, then fair enough, but that's not even remotely the case here. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
barca72 440 Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 It will be on the lips of many Celtic fans - they broke the rules - they deserve to be punished. Rules are rules! If it had been us, though, would you have wanted Rangers to be reinstated? Would the 'rules are rules' approach have been yours, too? Rules are essential for civilised society and formal sport, but sometimes their application leads to injustice. Celtic's reinstatement will not generally be viewed as fair, but there is so much at stake, Celtic will likely grab the opportunity to stay in the competition, and this hardly makes them unique. Be honest, if you perceive injustice here, and want the situation resolved more fairly, would you be making the same argument if Rangers had benefited in similar fashion? I presume your questions are directed at our support in general? As a comparison of the two supports ... We demanded that Rangers started in the 3rd division rather than accept the corrupt plan from Regan and Liewell to drop only to the 1st division. We wanted to support a team we could be proud of, not one in which we would be embarrased. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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