The Mike McCurry Myth

[Frankie 8,552]

http://www.gersnetonline.net/newsite/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=600&Itemid=1

 

Don't know if Gersnet members have seen them but as usually happens when Celtic are trailing in the league, the usual conspiracy theorists are out in force telling us how the officials and Mike McCurray in particular are biased in favour of Rangers.

 

Allow me to post a few stats to dispute these claims. I'm sure each reader will make up their own mind whether or not a Baptist Pastor is capable of going against his faith and profession to cheat.

 

In the emails/forums, the main bone of contention for paranoid Celtic fans is the fact McCurry booked 9 of their players in one match (which supposedly helped Rangers win 3-0 that day) and the fact there is an anomaly with regard to how many Rangers games he's officiated this season.

 

Please don't laugh as I help these poor people with their arithmetic - using a suitable compairson in Dougie McDonald who has actually refereed more Celtic games than McCurry has Rangers so far this term (percentage wise).

 

As it stands this season we have the following stats:

 

McCurry

 

15 SPL games

5 (33%) involving Rangers (4 Rangers wins - 1 defeat)

4 (27%) involving Celtic (2 Celtic wins - 1 defeat - 1 draw)

 

McDonald

 

13 SPL Games

5 (39%) involving Celtic (5 Celtic wins)

3 (23%) involving Rangers (2 Rangers wins - 1 defeat)

 

 

Let's add in discipline for these refs:

 

McCurry

 

Rangers games: (8 Rangers players booked - 17 opposition players booked)

Celtic games: (12 Celtic players booked - 6 opposition players booked)

 

If you remove the old Firm game where 9 Celtic players were booked as they again lost their discipline in such a match (I can't remember any obvious officiating mistakes other than McDonald being lucky to stay on the park and a perfectly legitimate Rangers goal chalked off for offside), then you have very similar stats for both clubs. Certainly nothing worthy of genuine concern IMO.

 

 

McDonald

 

Rangers games: (6 Rangers players booked - 6 opposition players booked)

Celtic games: (8 Celtic players booked - 6 oppositions players booked - 2 sent off)

 

Again, very similar stats for both clubs. Certainly nothing worthy of genuine concern once more.

 

 

 

Also just for argument's sake it is worth looking at McCurry's direct Old Firm discipline record in a bit more detail.

 

Including the OF game you obtain the following data already posted above:

 

Rangers games: (8 Rangers players booked - 17 opposition players booked)

Celtic games: (12 Celtic players booked - 6 opposition players booked)

 

Take the OF game out of the equation (an understandable statistical spike given the volatile nature of the match) you get this data:

 

Rangers games: (6 Rangers players booked - 8 opposition players booked)

Celtic games: (3 Celtic players booked - 4 opposition players booked)

 

Now, that means despite only refereeing one more Rangers SPL game so far this season he has booked 2 times as many of our players compared to Celtic.

 

 

 

Conclusions

 

Now, I think we will all agree that some of the decision-making by the officials this season has been nothing short of scandalous, inconsistent and generally of a poor standard.

 

However, for anyone (Celtic or Rangers fan) to suggest someone is cheating deliberately (especially McCurry who has presided over more Celtic wins than Rangers wins in Old Firm matches over the years (and booked more Rangers players in these games); is not only laughable but dangerous when one considers how the Celtic support have behaved towards officials in the recent past.

 

What happened to the 'No Excuses' mantra - did that disappear with O'Neill and Sutton a few years back?

[calscot 0]

This is just the kind of analysis we need to debunk the Celtic minded propaganda. Well done Frankie.

[stewarty 2,010]

The Jungle Jims will use their Suville Calculators to work it out differently. TGIFTW - my a***!

[Trailio 0]

Did any of you hear the clyde phone in on Sunday after the Killie game. Some of the idiots phoning in about McCurry were unbelievable. One guy quite blatantly stated that McCurry was either a cheat or a coward relating to various incidents wher he felt that Rangers players should have received yellow cards in recent matches, when asked if he could back up is claims with evidence the guy was really stuck. Then the panel realised the callers could be in hot water if they continued to make allogations along those lines and warned them there could be legal implacations.

 

If I was McCurry i'd be getting the contact details of these numpties through radio clyde and do them for slander.