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The Eve of War<\/p>\n
<\/strong><\/p>\n The news, announced informally in late October 2009, by Ranger\u2019s manager Walter Smith that Glasgow Rangers were in effect being run by their bank, Lloyds TSB because their rising debt (\u00a317M to \u00a331M from 2006 to 2009) was no longer acceptable to Lloyds, not only gave Rangers problems of reducing the cost and, over time, the quality of its squad. It had a wider and unforeseen effect in terms of creating the conditions for war to ensue. What changed when Rangers financial position became clearer (though still muddied) was that winning the SPL title and so access to CL millions was no longer a desirable aim with the associated gloating rights. In the eyes of many of the Celtic support it had become an essential aim for Rangers to which survival<\/em> rights had now become attached. In effect a whole new ball game, where if Rangers lost the title they died, at least as the major force in Scottish Football, if not actually having to enter formal administration.<\/p>\n In the previous season 2008\/09 Rangers did win the title when Celtic failed to take advantage of a New Year points lead under Gordon Strachan and score in a couple of games in the run in. That title loss may well have kept Rangers alive, given what was revealed a few months later by Walter Smith and what has emerged on the HMRC front since. The loss of the title was put down to Celtic\u2019s failure to strengthen the team in January 2009, for which Peter Lawwell\u2019s grave headstone will bear the inscription (according to a statement by the man himself at the first Celtic Roadshow).<\/p>\n However in season 2009\/2010 under new manager \u201ctake it on the chin Tony Mowbray\u201d Celtic faltered badly through a combination of inept football management and equally inept refereeing. The referee \u201cfaltering\u201d started at Ibrox in early October 2009 when Craig Thomson admitted to the first of what has become known as honest mistakes, when he denied Celtic at least one stonewall and two other strong penalty claims. (To continue with the science fiction theme, it was the shape of things to come.) There is circulating in Celtic cyberspace what has become known as the 40 Honest Mistakes, a list of refereeing match changing, point costing decisions ranging from highly questionable to incomprehensible that either cost Celtic points or prevented Rangers losing them during season 2009\/2010. These mistakes continued to occur into 2010\/11.<\/p>\n The Dawn of War. In February 2010 Scott Brown was harshly ordered of by referee Dougie McDonald (more of whom later) for an incident with Kyle Lafferty that Sky Sports described as \u201cmore petulant than violent\u201d. Rangers won 1-0 but what incensed the Celtic support was McDonald\u2019s refusal to admit he had got things wrong when the ordering off was appealed under an appeal process that allowed the judge to judge himself. So incensed were the support that a good number turned out at the third of a series of Open Meetings of Celtic supporter groups, viz the Celtic Supporter\u2019s Association (CSA), the Celtic Supporters Trust (CST), the Green Brigade as well as various individual supporters held at St Mary\u2019s Calton, arranged and facilitated by the CST. From that meeting came a letter for Celtic to deliver to the SFA stating that the Celtic supporters had lost confidence in the ability of the SFA to administer the game properly and asked for the introduction of more transparency and accountability in their processes, referring to the exercise being carried out by Henry McLeish as a possible means of doing so. It also asked that the Review Panel and Appeals process be changed to stop the referee from being the judge of his own decisions. A letter to this end was delivered to the SFA in April 2010 accompanied by the threat of a boycott led by the CSA, but in the event, the then SFA CEO Gordon Smith, who had overseen the workings of the Review Panel, resigned shortly after its delivery, and changes were promised to take the referee out of his blocking position in the Appeals loop, so no further action was necessary on the appeals issue that had triggered the anger. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n However the issue of greater transparency and accountability, which was essentially aimed at curtailing honest mistakes, had still to be pursued, but in the absence of an SFA CEO it was decided to await the arrival of a new CEO. The CST acting for all Open Meeting parties did however have a meeting with Henry McLeish on the issue of more transparent and accountable governance and it looks from his final report that he took on board and agreed with the points made to him by them. So Celtic, or more accurately, the Celtic support, with Celtic\u2019s help, won the first skirmish and looked forward to dealing with the new CEO on his arrival in October on the major issue of transparency\/accountability.<\/p>\n Then on 17th<\/sup> October 2010 at Tannadice v Dundee United, Dougie McDonald, the same referee who had been responsible for the initial skirmish, when he ordered off Scott Brown, set loose the dogs of war through the \u201cDougieGate\u201d, escalating matters to a whole new level.<\/p>\n It is not the events of that day, which everyone is now so familiar with they need no repeating but the lie told to the Celtic manager that became the causus belli.<\/p>\n War Breaks Out<\/strong><\/p>\n Celtic CEO Peter Lawwell had a meeting with Stewart Regan the new SFA CEO on 3rd<\/sup> November \u00a0and came to an agreement on reform at the SFA. This was welcomed by the CST who said the following on their web site:<\/p>\n \u201c The Celtic Supporters Association, along with the Celtic Trust, the Affiliation of Registered Celtic Supporters Clubs, and the North American Federation of Celtic Supporters Clubs are 100% behind Celtic Football Club in their campaign for fair and just treatment within Scottish Football.<\/p>\n We have already submitted a letter to the powers that be asking for a more transparent and just system, and for there to be accountability within the system. There has been no response to that letter so far.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\n In the event the SFA did reply declining a meeting presumably on the grounds that they had reached an agreement with Celtic (and probably because by then they had a referee strike to deal with).<\/p>\n All then went quiet, until Celtic Chairman Dr John Reid spoke at the Celtic AGM on 18th<\/sup> November about their dealings with the SFA, when he signalled an end to the unhealthy relationship that existed between Celtic and the SFA with the words \u201cThose days are gone\u201d.<\/p>\n However in early January 2011 the SFA Disciplinary Committee seemed to disagree, when after an Appeal, they extended a automatic 2 game touchline ban on manager Neil Lennon to 6 for his behaviour at Tynescastle, on the grounds of excessive misconduct.<\/p>\n Celtic reminded the SFA that \u201cthose days have gone\u201d when they again appealed on the grounds that the punishment was excessive and unprecedented for a first offence. A QC was hired to fight the Celtic manager\u2019s case.<\/p>\n To add salt to the wound, referee Wullie Collum and his assistant Mr Murphy, allowed a point costing goal against Celtic at Hamilton where, according to the subsequent justifications the media provided (rather than the SFA officially admit the decision to allow the goal to stand was plain wrong), clubs would need to have a list of referees who follow the Collum\/Murphy interpretation of the rules and those who stick to the official version, in order to organise their defences.<\/p>\n Celtic supporters too were angry at the SFA attitude towards Neil Lennon which led to the General Secretary of the CSA proposing a boycott of the game at Kilmarnock, whose Chairman was on the Disciplinary Board, to take place at the fixture in early March.<\/p>\n The effect of this manifestation of the support\u2019s anger was to help bring about the meeting with SFA CEO Mr Regan that the Celtic supporters had been seeking in the follow up to the original letter of the previous spring, but with the welcome addition of Mr Neil Doncaster, CEO of the SPL along with Celtic CEO Peter Lawwell.<\/p>\n A report back on that meeting was provided on the CSA web site at<\/p>\n
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