As the Rangers penalty kicks conspiracy is given free reign in Scotland, no referee is safe.
And yet, after another weekend of penalty drama, two of the awards from Celtic’s stuttering draw with Motherwell have barely made a headline.
That’s despite Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell demanding an explanation after Mikey Johnston was hauled down in his side’s box.
Whilst the shirt tug was clear, according to the manager referees had earlier told clubs that penalties would only be awarded in this instance if there is a clear chance the player can get to the ball.
Johnston motions towards it but it’s clear the winger never stands any chance of scoring.
It’s one of several moments this season involving Celtic which are routinely ignored by the conspiracists within their support that believe Rangers, referees and VAR are out to get them.
These are more inconvenient anomalies than evidence against a grand Rangers conspiracy and the situation has become so ingrained in Scottish football it‘s hard to know where to start with it.
Rangers penalty conspiracies ramp up
Contrast the incident with the draining, boring and ultimately self-defeating coverage of Rangers’ late penalty award against Aberdeen.
Connor Goldson had his shirt pulled in the Aberdeen box by Stefan Gartenmann as the ball came in from a corner and James Tavernier duly dispatched.
Barry Robson added fuel to the fire by claiming “it doesn’t look good” for the game.
Leaning into conspiracies and drawing attention away from the football and his side’s own shortcomings, the only thing that “doesn’t look good” are pathetic comments like these.
Whilst plenty are moaning about Todd Cantwell’s dive against the Dons, demanding retrospective action whilst wilfully ignoring other incidents in the match, perhaps the ire should more responsibly be cast on Robson.
When one of the Scottish Premiership’s top managers are alluding to some kind of dark arts at play then it brings the game into disrepute.
The SFA should be throwing the book at him, and justifiably so. This is a manager at one of the division’s top clubs given free reign to question the credibility of whistlers.
It’s actually shameless and in any other country there would be an example made of the Aberdeen boss.
And they’re not changing their minds
Forget the fact it was a stonewall penalty; the fact it was awarded in injury time, with Aberdeen under the cosh for the entire second half, is further evidence of a grand conspiracy.
In fact, for referees to prove they don’t have allegiances, they should’ve wilfully ignored it. That’s the only option they have. And that’s just it.
People have already made their minds up; Rangers are behind a penalty conspiracy and even if Celtic get more spot kicks – which they currently have this season (eight v seven) – they’ll never abandon this belief.
There is no refereeing award big enough that can either go for Celtic or against Rangers which would quieten these conspiracies.
When you ask these people to consider what they actually want, it usually warbles into something about Rangers getting less deci sions.
Fundamentally, it is not about getting more decisions right – as VAR did in the wake of the Aberdeen penalty call – it’s about giving less big ones to Rangers.
Effectively, any 50/50 should go against the Ibrox side. Any late call should be ignored. Penalties, even stonewallers, are a massive no.
That’s what these people want and, as routinely lambasted as the referees might be, they deserve some respect for standing up to this rubbish and at least attempting to preserve the credibility of the game in Scotland.
Scotland.
Well, at least not when they’re buckling under the pressure and ruling perfectly good Rangers goals out in Old Firm derbies.
Scottish football might be uninspired at times on the park, but filling the quality void with this vacuous content about referees, Rangers and conspiracies only paints it in an even uglier light.
The unfortunate thing for us all is that with the idea so embedded into the culture of the game now, and with digital media and shock jock pundits aplenty, it’s a discussion that is going nowhere.
