ICT -V- Celtic : Matchday Thread

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

I thought that Davis (especially in the first half) and Shinnie were the main candidiates but lets face it the sending off changed the face of the game and the decision to bench the geek. It would have been so interesting to see what would have happened if it was 11 v 11.

Still more positives than negatives.

[Scotty]

Terry interviewed on beeb right now .... not mincing his words !!!

"assault by fingernail" !!!!!

referee also refusing to speak to Terry or Mo !!!

[Caley Mad In Berks]

It is very rarely that I jump on the bandwagon of blaming refereees. However the Tansey sending off was a joke. Even if it had been called for a second yellow it would have been harsh. How the referee could see from where he was is a mystery. He was completely conned by the Celtic player going down like a sack of spuds. No way was it a straight red challenge.

I really feel that referees should think more before they use the red card option. In today's case he completely spoiled an even game. Who knows what repercussions it may have for ICT this season where our league situation is precarious anyhow.

Surely in open play situations, not I would agree for clear cut scoring opportunities, the straight red should be used more sparingly. That way the game itself and the enjoyment of hard working fans spending their 'hard earned' is not totally ruined. I would not be against 'citing' as used in rugby where post match reviews could take place to judge and decide on suspensions if the referee clearly missed someting.

Trying to take some positives from today I thought that Meekings and Davis were our best players. Tokely MOM ?? I don't think so. He was caught on the wrong side of the attacker a couple of times leading to Celtic chances in the first half.

But, I'm still hopeful that with more than half the season left we can climb the table to safety.

[hislopsoffsideagain]

Usually I'm happy to put down these shocking decisions down to the refs just being incompetent - but having watched that game, that's the closest I've ever come to believing that a referee is bent. I'm certain that, had the score been 0-0 with 20 minutes left, he would have found a reason to give Celtic a penalty.

I'd love to see Samaras in front of the SFA for clearly feigning injury to get a player sent off - but the SFA will probably ignore that...just as they will inevitably refuse to rescind the red card.

As for our own players today, I thought they put in an excellent performance - the back four did a very good job indeed, with Tokely as the stand out, and I thought David Davis was absolutely magnificent in midfield.

The next time we play one of the Old Firm, we should probably just start the game with ten men, in order to save the referee time later on.

Oh, and what on earth was the deal with that 'Famine and Oppression' banner in the Celtic end? Judging by the waistlines of the away support, there ain't been no famine anywhere near them. They were also giving the sectarian songs a good belt outside the ground after the match, with not a policeman in sight.

[hislopsoffsideagain]

Terry's post-match interview is utterly, utterly wonderful. I hope he and Mo waited outside O'Reilly's door for the coward to come out and face the music.

[Yngwie]

Which was softer - the decision, or Samaras?

[caleyblue]

yet again the old firm get a wee helping hand

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

ESSON :bouncyred: Really wasnt tested apart from the two goals and he didnt have much of a chance of stopping either of them.

MEEKINS :bouncyred: Seen enuff to prefer him to Piermayr - I feel he is a more solid defender although he looks limited going forward.

TOKELY :bouncyred: He may well have won most in the air and showed a few nice touches but he is still prone to be caught out of position - may be harsh but I would fault his positioning at the first goal.

HOGG :bouncyred: He came on to a stronger game and looked the better central defender in the second half. Afraid that Hooper and Stokes's movement in the second half troubled us a lot

GILLET :bouncyred: Almost the opposite comments to Meekins - looks good going forward but not so adept defending - seen enuff to prefer wee Shinnie

HAYES :bouncyred: Didnt use him enuff early doors. Showed some nice touches and really is a joy to behold when he takes people on. I feel he is the key to survival and/or climbing the table.

DAVIS :bouncyred: :bouncyred: My MOM as he was immense in the first half although he faded in the second. So strong in the tackle and always looks for the easy ball / pass.

TANSEY Sending off was harsh but it was a rash, needless and foolworthy challenge.

SHINNIE :bouncyred: :bouncyred: Very close to MOM and looked the better of the midfield pair in the closing stages.

FORAN :bouncyred: Back in his favoured position / role. May not have stood out today but will make inroads on lesser opposition.

TADE :bouncyred: Cellic played deep and the sending off left him isolated. Didnt really get a sniff but kept on working.

TERRY AND MO :bouncyred: :bouncyred: They must be absolutely feckin gutted. We were looking the more likely up to the sending off and at times afterwards it didnt look like we had ten men. The refree basically ruined the game and robbed us. Lets just persevere with the system though.

[Agent N]

Just back from the game, very disapointed, but there were some positives. Only 2 goals against and heads never really went down.

Never a red card but typical of Lennon's Celtic, cheating is acceptable to them, and make no mistake it is cheating. They have conned the media that everyone is against them and this would it seem to have rubbed off on the refs.

Celtic have traded on the last year on "poor persecuted Neil lennon", the board knowing they had a weak team by their standards,appointed him knowing that he would be supported by the element in their fan base who are "Celtic minded" ie the vocal minority.

It all started in our first SPL game against them when Juanjo was sent off for allowing Lennon to step on his foot and so it goes on.

[dead_ball_specialist]

Oh, and what on earth was the deal with that 'Famine and Oppression' banner in the Celtic end? Judging by the waistlines of the away support, there ain't been no famine anywhere near them.

Can't fault ICT today. The Celtic players were a disgrace, just a bunch of diving, cheating, injury feigning b******s. Their constant nagging of the referee to book ICT players was also pathetic. They couldn't have picked a better referee to con, absolute tube.

[Fanoffooty]

wasnt impressed with the school kids section being filled with Celtic fans :irritated:

[Ten4]

The most disappointing thing was to lose to such a poor team - up until half time we were much in control.

Great to see Hayes ripping thru the opposition again - but unfortunately Tade off day.

agree the celtic players fell over a lot or were not strong enough for our guys. I reckon Samaras should be investigated by the new procedures for faking injury-what a weakling

[+Hiro]

Abysmal couple of decisions but what else would we expect. The most disappointing thing is that we were looking good for at least a point and even after the sending off I felt we were comfortable. The only consolation is that when we look at the fixture list this isn't a game where I would immediately expect us to get anything out of it. Dunfermline are losing again, if we keep showing the improvements we are it won't be long till we've left them isolated at the bottom and we're looking to close in on the top 6

[Oldken27]

Should we have had a penalty when Tade was taken down in the box?

Were all the offside decisions against us really offside?

Am I acquiring a persecution complex like the well known cheat Lennon?

To keep me sane I need the right ticks in the boxes!

neksor

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Should we have had a penalty when Tade was taken down in the box?

Were all the offside decisions against us really offside?

Am I acquiring a persecution complex like the well known cheat Lennon?

To keep me sane I need the right ticks in the boxes!

neksor

It clearly wasnt a penalty ; our players - especially Foran and Gillet were simply not watching the line - but Stokes was offside for the second goal; It is probably Terry who has a genuine feeling that the powers to be are persecuting us - however you were, still are and always will be insane.

[MissICT]

Terry's pre-match comments were right to the point.

I was going mental at the game. especially when Tansey when got wrongly sent off. How can celitc fans say there's a conspiracy against them? need a good look at themselves. another red card wrongly given out and in our second home game in a row. how can the SFA honestly stand by and watch this happen? makes me sick to the stomach.

[AJS]

Im very proud to be an ICT fan today, not many teams would go down to 10 men against the Old Firm and stay as solid as we did, Stokes is one of the best strikers in the league but throughout the whole game Celtic were made to work for the chances that came their way and they didnt have that many.

Now onto what everyones been talking about. Stephen O'Reilly you must be broken, that has to be the worst card ive ever seen. There was no elbow, no intent to injure Samaras, though i wanted to skelp him for the way he went down. Imo O'Reilly guessed that red card, he had an obscured view and i think his call was based purely on the reaction of Samaras. If thats the case then O'Reilly needs to take a good look at himself and if he has any decency he will admit to getting it wrong...not holding my breath though.

After that credit to the boys, i think we all knew what would follow eventually but they did their best to make a game of it. Jonny was my pick of the bunch, defensively he chipped in where needed and was probably our biggest threat on the attack. Thought Josh Meekings did ok as well, this was a big test of his nerve today and i thought he contended with Celtic well. Could prove to be a decent find.

Hope the club appeals Tansey's red and more importantly i hope the Panel watching has at least one brain cell between them. Roll on Tynecastle.

[robbylad]

Rossco had a great game. On other hand cant fault anyone today. 11 v 11 i dont think celtic would have scored.

[davie]

Celtic were given a present today by the referee, who would simply not have allowed them to lose. The sending off offence wasn't seen by the referee, his view was blocked, but he made the decision anyway. The assistant, who had a perfect view, said nothing. Samaras is actually above Tansey, and to elbow him in the face was a physical impossibility (unless you're inspector gadget) Samaras conned the referee and thereby cheated in getting a fellow professional sent off. He should be reported. Throughout the game, Celtic players were petulant, getting at the ref at every opportunity. Why wasn't Majstorovic booked when Foran was? Why wasn't Mathews (I think) booked for booting the ball into the stand? The standards of officiating were shocking today, and merit protest to the SFA.

As for the game, it was ruined by the above. I think there was a real lack of quality, Inverness being dragged down to Celtic's level. I got the feeling that Ryan Esson might have done better at the first goal, but it was inevitable after all the chasing we had done. After all, if they hadn't scored they would have got a penalty. Sick of it.

[CELTIC1CALEY3]

Two offside goals and an assist from the referee. In other walks of life a person could be disciplined for such ineptitude. He should be made to watch a video of his key decisions rather than allow the SFA to bury them and move quickly on.

Ref also sent off Steve Jennings who comes from the same territory as Greg. A neutral person would have found today's decision dodgy. The BBC found little in it.

[PullMyFinger]

wasnt impressed with the school kids section being filled with Celtic fans :irritated:

Do you have any evidence? Did you complain to stewards?

[tm4tj]

My tuppence worth, (that's about 10 pennies in old money), the referee is a tozzer.

He spoiled an even contest by being conned by a cheat, simple as. Foran's booking enraged me, a normally mild mannered man, I had to get off my seat to enquire about his paternity, he should have booked both or none, the booking was instigated by Danny Bhoy shoving an up until that point relatively innocent Richie. Strewth

Anyway, we played within ourselves but still contained the misfits from hell. That was untill O'Reilly intervened and ruined my day. After that it was always going to be uphill, but we stuck to the task without really threatening the cheats.

No complaints about them eventually getting the better of us, but it all depended on us keeping 11 on the park and not having the obligatory penalty awarded against us by the conspiracy.

Hey ho, we expected little from this game and thankfully that's another old firm encounter out of the way without too much damage. We deserved better, but it's difficult against the corrupt and the corrupters. Sepp Blatter could be their boss, no question.

Rossco was immense, in fact all the back line were cool, lets not forget that Meekings is only 19 and Gillet policed the man without a neck pretty well, considering he ripped the Dutch u21 a new arsehole. Davis excelled and Hayes is the man to get the crowd on their feet, although the far end were on their feet all game anyway. Foran worked himself to a standstill again, performing heroics front and back, Tade never got the same service he did at Killie and struggled because of it, no shame in that, Shinnie almost poked one past the giant keeper, but he foiled it and well, just well......

My MoM was Hayes, he tormented the Tics without getting into the Reilly dangerous positions, however, when he is fully fit he will be some player. Rossco and Davis and Meekings are all runners up and Esson is blameless.

[Fanoffooty]

wasnt impressed with the school kids section being filled with Celtic fans :irritated:

Do you have any evidence? Did you complain to stewards?

Eh when i say school kids section (cos thats where they usually sit ) i mean " singing section " area & i think the fact they were all wearing green & white was evidence enough !!

As for complaining to stewards your having a laugh :hahaha: :hahaha:

[Alex MacLeod]

wasnt impressed with the school kids section being filled with Celtic fans :irritated:

Do you have any evidence? Did you complain to stewards?

Eh when i say school kids section (cos thats where they usually sit ) i mean " singing section " area & i think the fact they were all wearing green & white was evidence enough !!

As for complaining to stewards your having a laugh :hahaha: :hahaha:

Is this the seated area of the west stand your referring to or the south wing of the main stand? If its the main stand section then these seats have been sold to OF fans in the past. Makes good sense to try and increase gate reciepts rather than have them empty.

[Scarlet Pimple]

The pattern has emerged for the SPL.. And it is as clear as crystal.

If you are playing either Rangers (remember Tokely's brilliant last ditch stop of the Rangers player, but got nailed by the ref for his legitimate effort)or Celtic, there is little chance that you will ever find a referee who is either strong enough or unbiased enough to judge the match fairly. i.e give the underdog the expectation of a completely unbiased and equal assessment throughout the match.

It's a disease where money, influence and power overwhelm the referee's common sense and he has fear of reproach and pressure from powerful forces behind the scenes foremost in his mind.

No wonder we are sick of it, especially when we have more then the sneaking suspicion that ICT are the target of MORE than their share of this behaviour. As has been said above, this one judgement could alter the whole season because if we had won today the whole complexion nf our attitude and the team's future progress could have been positively affected.

Terry feels that it is a waste of time going down to Glasgow to appeal anything since, clearly, the Beaks have a vested interest in these two teams. A Managers' association should be formed to constantly express the protests against these outrageous decisions and to constantly put their cases in the media, rather than to this Glasgow Council of Complacent Hypcrites. Terry says if he does that then the Beaks will go after him instead of dealing with the issues themselves. So what does that cost him or the club if they do? Is it worth his time to try to do anything at all. Defeatism, like? Currently he has no other option and maybe, if his club backs him on this, then other clubs will follow suit and the trickle of discontent will become a flood?

I would much prefer that he and the club use the media to highlight the issue and their plight and point out that the only future outcome of a continuance of this nonsense is the demise of the fans will not attend matches , Celtic and Rangers will go to the wall and the remaining members of the League will form a separate Alliance and pick their own committees of judgememnt.

This will inflame the controversy and that is what is needed--to shame them and to shout more boldly than the Beaks and challenge them to come out in the open and answer their critics. And shout long and hard for Video replays of the incidents just like in other sports where controversies like this are immediately defused by this means and fans are both appeased and confident that the decisions made by this means ARE FAIR AND ACCURATE.

This situation is a disgrace. No justice and no fairness.

The Managers must coalesce into a group who constantly lambasts these Glaswegian idiots in the media and keeps their feet to the fire daily. The fans too must strengthen Terry's and the club's position by starting a campaign of support -- a petition would be good citing their 100% support of his views and attitudes.

If you want change you can't sit back and do nothing. But you never know, maybe the fates of these two large Glasgow clubs is already sealed and Rangers will be the first to hit the skids owing ..what is it..49 million pounds, which is absolutely incredible.

If correct, it shows that this club is staffed by Beaks who have their head in the sand, who pay huge sums of money to players who are grossly overpaid and to do this they neglect paying their bills timeously and obviously never put money aside on a monthly basis to allow them to meet known, and large, future expenses. This is not sound fiscal policy and is a recipe for disaster.

The unbelievable thing here is why such businessmen think that this kind of situation can go on for ever without their having to pay a heavy price by adopting this attitude. They probably expect HM Revenue service to "settle" with them at a future date, allowing them to cut their outstanding debt substantially. Now that is a very dangerous course to follow because the Government is in no financial state to necessarily be that sympathetic and the signs are that their days could, as a result, be numbered at Rangers F.C.--unless more wealthy backers appear out of the mist,.. backers that is who have the same strange fiscal attitudes that prevail at that club. There are not too many Romanovs around and he has already tasted the fuits of disappointment by attemting to buy success. He is lucky he has deep pockets....

Good luck Terry! It seems as if it is going to continue to be an uphill battle. Stick at it.