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[barca72 440]

Found this one while looking for the clip above.

Another cup semi-final they couldn't win. Who says they would have taken a 2-0 lead if they had been given the penalty?

Bottlers ...

 

 

p.s. look at the poor crowd, even back then.

p.p.s. where is Mulgrew now?

[RANGERRAB 3,771]

keith jackson @tedermeatballs · 24m 24 minutes ago

 

Something stinks about the SFA's mishandling of Meekingsgate. Questions must not go unanswered.

 

Wow has Keech just realised that the SFA are rotten to the core and run by the yahoos?

[ian1964 10,761]

Keith Jackson: Meekingsgate affair is a scandal.. so why is Stewart Regan brushing it under the carpet?

 

WHEN FIFA is the voice of decency and integrity - not to mention commonsense – KEITH says it is a telltale sign that our own game has entered a scandalous state of affairs.

 

LISTEN, don’t mention the war. I mentioned it once but I think I got away with it all right. Let’s hear no more about it.

 

If Stewart Regan thought he could slip away quietly from Hampden’s Fawlty Towers last night and wipe his hands of this latest comical episode, as if the whole Meekingsgate affair had never really happened, then the SFA’s chief executive needs his head bandage tightened.

 

Yes, Josh Meekings has been spared the agony of missing out on the Scottish Cup Final and, yes, it will come as a welcome relief to have him down there on the pitch playing his part in creating a little bit of history rather than forcing him to watch it from a seat in the main stand.

 

But while the Inverness defender received a quantum of mercy yesterday, that must not be the end of the matter.

 

Now is not the time to shrug shoulders and say all’s well that ends well. Rather, this seems an ideal moment to pose some serious questions about why Meekings was placed in such a position in the first instance.

 

And to ask again, what exactly does this man Regan think he’s doing to our game? And how much longer must we put up with the John Cleese of sporting administration?

 

It’s almost as if we’ve grown so used to having Scottish football glibly dismissed as a laughing stock that it barely even registers these days, far less offends.

 

But at some point there must surely come a time when enough is enough. When the likes of Regan have exposed us all to ridicule once too often?

 

I mean, seriously, what on earth has been going through the head of the chief executive over these past few days as the reputation of our game has been booted around from pillar to post? Just once, did he ever stop to think the very organisation over which he presides – the one that is supposed to protect our national sport and nurture it – was responsible for humiliating it on a worldwide stage?

 

And don’t think no one else stopped to notice because the back page of yesterday’s Record made it perfectly clear what the rest of planet football made of this latest self-inflicted farce.

 

You know you’re in trouble when a man from FIFA calls your actions ludicrous. But that’s exactly what happened in this instance and for that reason alone Regan ought to feel ashamed of himself.

 

When the world’s governing body is the voice of decency and integrity – not to mention commonsense – then it means our own game has entered a scandalous state of affairs.

 

And let’s be clear here, that’s what this Meekings debacle has now become – a scandal.

 

If it took a threat from FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce to embarrass the SFA and scare them into yesterday’s U-turn, Sepp Blatter can finally claim reflective credit for his own shameless mob getting something right.

 

Can you imagine Regan attempting to explain his way through this entire shambles if the big bosses from Switzerland did feel forced to clean up the mess?

 

For starters, how could he justify appointing Stevie McLean to referee a match of such significance when this official’s recent CV reads like a guide in how NOT to do it?

 

McLean has a history of making extraordinary mistakes at crucial moments. On his previous trip to Hampden, just a few weeks ago, he managed to knock Aberdeen out of a League Cup semi by chalking off a goal for no apparent reason.

 

So what did the SFA feel he had he done to merit getting this gig in the first place? Then, when another calamity inevitably befell this hapless whistler, how exactly did Regan allow this to develop into a full-blown crisis?

 

The truth is, the moment Peter Lawwell penned a public letter demanding an explanation for McLean’s failure to award Celtic a stonewall penalty, Regan should have been man enough to tell Celtic’s chief executive to wind his neck in. Better still, Regan should have reminded him of his duty to the game in this country as a member of the SFA’s board.

 

Yes, Celtic had every right to be infuriated by such blatant incompetence. But by questioning the reasoning behind it in the name of their supporters, they were nodding towards all manner of hoary old conspiracy theories. With that letter Lawwell dragged our game back into a very dark place – somewhere dangerously close to disrepute – and Regan should have told him so.

 

Instead, it felt more like the SFA’s leader came over all peculiar and weak at the knees. It was almost as if the mounted moose on the wall of his sixth floor office had just fallen on his head, sending him into full-on Fawlty mode.

 

And this is where things become very serious indeed because Regan must now explain what went on behind closed doors which led to compliance officer Tony McGlennan hitting Meekins with the proposal of a Cup Final ban.

 

McGlennan’s mandate is to deal with incidents that were not seen by match officials. Is he, or Regan for that matter, asking us to believe that none of the six match officials at Hampden on Sunday had their eyes open when Meekings smashed Leigh Griffiths’s header off the line with his forearm?

 

Because that really would be beyond all belief. And, worse still, they were contradicted by the official internal briefings from yesterday’s climbdown.

 

McLean was looking at the incident all right – he just didn’t see it clearly enough. And with advice from assistant Alan Muir, the pair of them made a horrendous error.

 

If that was the truth of the matter then it was all the explanation Celtic were due.

 

And, crucially, there was no need – in fact no basis at all – for McGlennan to go after Meekings, who insisted after the event that he had not “deliberately” handled the ball. So, again, another

question of huge importance must be asked – did the Hampden lawyer act off his own bat?

 

Also, was it hoped that Meekings would simply bend over and accept his ban and sacrifice himself as a scapegoat so that this issue would be quickly resolved? If so, then someone has made another massive error of judgment.

 

And why was Meekings on the stand yesterday when it really ought to have been McLean and his team who were being taken to task?

 

In fact, retrospectively speaking of course, it’s difficult to think of a single decision which they have called correctly throughout this latest hysterical episode.

 

Above all else now, one thing is clear. Watching Regan’s SFA is just like watching Basil.

 

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/keith-jackson-meekingsgate-affair-scandal-5572144

[Scott7 6,173]

I supose there's no point sacking McGlennan. They'll just find another spalpeen to replace him.

[RANGERRAB 3,771]

I supose there's no point sacking McGlennan. They'll just find another spalpeen to replace him.

 

another yahoo from the glesga legal profession maybe?

[26th of foot 6,119]

Radio Snyde was at it's fulminating best last evening. The current objective Host of ra Show is Gerry McCulloch, and he moderated both Nuremberg Hugh Keevins and Mark(the Slug)Guidi throughout two hours of venom spitting. All three arrived at the conclusion, two minutes into ra show that the current Compliance Officer, Tony McGlennan should make a statement, by resigning his post. Tony had recommended a one match ban, his predecessor, Vincent backed Tony, and the three man panel had embarrassed Tony. Jim Farry, Dougie, Dougie, Cadette, ...............................etc were petrol poured on the flames.

 

In mitigation, Tony(and Vincent for that matter) was just doing what Peter told him to do.

[ian1964 10,761]

Radio Snyde was at it's fulminating best last evening. The current objective Host of ra Show is Gerry McCulloch, and he moderated both Nuremberg Hugh Keevins and Mark(the Slug)Guidi throughout two hours of venom spitting. All three arrived at the conclusion, two minutes into ra show that the current Compliance Officer, Tony McGlennan should make a statement, by resigning his post. Tony had recommended a one match ban, his predecessor, Vincent backed Tony, and the three man panel had embarrassed Tony. Jim Farry, Dougie, Dougie, Cadette, ...............................etc were petrol poured on the flames.

 

In mitigation, Tony(and Vincent for that matter) was just doing what Peter told him to do.

 

I didn;t hear the show,however I believe the panel were agreeing with the yahoos who were on saying the team should not have came back out for the second half?.

[ian1964 10,761]

Barry Ferguson: Josh Meekings shouldn't be punished for ref's massive mistake

 

BARRY says it's a joke Josh Meekings could have missed the biggest day of his career when it should be the officials who get a slap on the wrist for the error.

 

I COULD have responded in seven words to Celtic’s request for clarification on the decision not to award them a penalty in last Sunday’s defeat to Inverness Caley Thistle.

 

And it would have gone like this: “The referee got it wrong. Move on.”

 

It’s as simple as that. What more do they want? Deal with it. Get on with it and win the league.

 

Look, there is no doubt every club acts differently in situations such as the controversial one we found ourselves in this week and the fall-out from the Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden.

 

Celtic have clearly thought about it and decided the road they wanted to go down was to write to the SFA and ask for answers.

 

If it was another club they might have gone about it another way.

 

Every club chairman, owner or director has the right to go about it in whatever way they want.

 

But I’m not entirely sure what they were hoping for as a response. The ref got it wrong, end of story.

 

Maybe this has blown up because Celtic didn’t get to a cup final. Who knows?

 

A massive mistake was certainly made that has stopped Celtic from winning the Treble but just get on with it.

 

When I was playing for Rangers I used to get it all the time when I walked down the street, Celtic fans shouting “Referees are all for Rangers”.

 

Celtic players will tell you it was the same the other way around when they’re out and about.

 

But referees have to be professional otherwise they would not be in the job in the first place.

 

I don’t believe there is a single referee who has gone out and intentionally given a decision against a specific team.

 

There are times where I’ve been booked and felt the yellow card was for nothing but a referee out to get my club? Never.

 

But the problem with the west of Scotland is there is always this feeling of bias.

 

I’ve been involved in a few instances where the ball was netbound and it’s maybe hit someone on the arm and you’re angry at the time. But once the dust settles you just accept that’s football. That is the end of it. Why not in this situation?

 

For me the biggest thing that has been lost in the whole furore this week is poor Josh Meekings himself.

 

Here we have a 22-year-old who could have been banned from the Scottish Cup Final.

 

He went from the high of helping Inverness get to their first final to all the stuff that has gone on this week leading up to his ban and yesterday’s appeal. Retrospective punishment is fine for dangerous play or off-the-ball incidents but not handball.

 

There is no way Meekings intended to stop that ball going into the back of the net.

 

If the referee had seen it action would have been taken at the time. But he didn’t and the officials got it wrong.

 

They should have sat down with their bosses after that and decided on appropriate action.

 

Why should Meekings pay for their error? For him to have missed the Scottish Cup Final would have been a scandal. I was absolutely astonished when the story came out they were attempting to ban a him over the incident.

 

I was genuinely lost for words. I’ve been involved in football for a long time and I’ve suffered bad decisions.

 

If I felt it cost my team, as it did Celtic on Sunday, then of course I was disappointed.

 

But there is nothing you can do about it.

 

Bad decisions don’t just go against Celtic – they go against everyone.

 

Things happen in football. The referee and the additional assistant made a mistake. This has opened a whole can of worms and it’s no surprise people have been queuing up to offer their opinion this week.

 

It’s a joke Meekings could have missed the biggest day of his career when it should be the officials who get a slap on the wrist.

 

It’s okay for me to sit here and say it was a blatant mistake but we know the referees have a split second to make a decision.

 

It’s inevitable they’re going to get it wrong at times.

 

I feel for officials and you couldn’t pay me any amount of money to be a referee. It’s a horrible and thankless task.

 

I see Steven McLean is not refereeing a game this weekend so that appears to his punishment. So that should be it, end of story.

 

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/barry-ferguson-josh-meekings-shouldnt-5572156

[26th of foot 6,119]

I didn;t hear the show,however I believe the panel were agreeing with the yahoos who were on saying the team should not have came back out for the second half?.

 

That very course of action was advocated by Mark Guidi.

 

Further, a consensus was achieved on match officials declaring who they supported as boys and girls.

[Juancornetto 1]

That very course of action was advocated by Mark Guidi.

 

Further, a consensus was achieved on match officials declaring who they supported as boys and girls.

 

I listened last night for the first time in ages and wasn't disappointed...it was like a Faustian pantomime. All three panelists refused to criticize Celtic instead blaming "West of Scotland" football fans for creating the furore.