Gollum the Anti-Celt

When I decided to set up this blog I thought it's going to be easy.  I'm a relatively intelligent man who has thoughts and opinions about most things going on in the world.  So writing a few paragraphs occasionally should be an absolute doddle.  How come then when it comes to writing my very first piece, I don't have a clue what to write about or where to begin.

I had fully intended to discuss Tuesday night's game and the systemic racism that is the SFA but my good friends John, Davie and Dale have pretty much covered that one.  Anything I wrote on the subject now would merely be a rehash of their excellent pieces but I've got to write about something.  So here is my take on Tuesday night.

There was a great expectation amongst the Celtic support before the game kicked off.  The top team in the league were away facing the bottom team.  Even some of the press and TV pundits were predicting an easy win for the away team.  So on paper and in theory it should have been an easy win for the league leaders but things don't always go as predicted as we were to find out.

To start with Celtic had a number of absentees due to injuries and players called up for their national sides.  This meant the team selection was going to come from a much smaller pool of players than normal.  Not that Celtic has a particularly large pool of players these days.  In addition to this I'm confident that some of the squad would have had other things on their minds other than football. 

It has been reported in the news recently that 3 of the squad had been subjected to mental torture by mindless sectarian bigots who thought it would be funny to send them bullets through the post.  Mental torture I hear you cry.  Believe me if you received a bullet through the post you would be feeling mentally tortured.  What's more you would be preoccupied wondering whether or not you were going to receive another gift of a bullet and whether next time it would still be delivered through the post?  Towards the end of last week Neil Lennon and Niall McGinn would have received the bullets if they had not been intercepted at a Belfast sorting office.  The packages had originated from Northern Ireland.  On the morning of the game Glasgow police were alerted to another package that had been intercepted by Royal Mail workers in the east end of Glasgow that was intended for Paddy McCourt.  Surely these events must have had an impact on those involved.  I don't believe for one moment that all 3 men would have been able to completely ignore these incidents.  I don't believe it's possible.

As things got underway it was plain to see that Celtic had not turned up to the game.  This was a very different Celtic from the one that had beaten Rangers only very recently.  Celtic was going to struggle to beat Hamilton and would need some luck on their side if they were going to win.  As it transpired luck would have nothing to do with it but the referee would.  Originally Mike Tumilty was to have been the referee for this game but due to ill-health he withdrew and was replaced by Willie Collum (Gollum).  This change was to have a substantial effect on the eventual outcome.

There is a history of Gollum influencing the outcome of Celtic games.  After the Celtic v Rangers game of October 2010 Gollum had cause to apologise to Celtic after he awarded Rangers a penalty when Kirk Broadfoot dived to the ground having feigned contact with a Celtic player in the box.  The penalty award was even more remarkable because at the time Gollum had his back to it and didn't actually see the incident for himself.  This night would prove to be no different and Tuesday, 11 January 2011 would be remembered as the day Gollum confirmed his anti-Celtic bias.

28 min into the game Hamilton were awarded a free kick well inside the Celtic half. Martin Canning placed himself in an offside position right in front of goalkeeper Fraser Forster thus ensuring Forster was unsighted from the ball and unable to see what was coming.  This enabled Simon Mensing to header the incoming cross into the back of the net without Forster being able to react.  Neither linesman nor the referee picked up Martin Canning in the offside position and the goal was allowed to stand.  The offside was blatant and clear for all to see indeed subsequent television pictures have shown him to be at least 2 yards offside.  Yet both linesman and the referee failed to notice.

In the aftermath of this incident it's interesting to see how the Scottish media have referred to the offside goal.  Not one media person that I've read has come out and said that Canning was definitely offside and every one of these Scottish media hacks refer to the offside as, "alleged".  Not one has had the bottle to stand up and say it was definitely offside despite all the photographic and film evidence proving it.

In the 49th minute of the game young James Forrest was shown a straight red card for what was described as a rash challenge.  Subsequent television replays have showed that Forrester didn't touch his opponent with anything other than the slightest of touches with his trailing leg.  Any other referee would have warranted a stern talking too for Forrest.  For a small minority of referees the incident may have caused them to produce a yellow card.  For Gollum though the incident was a straight red without any doubt or hesitation.  If Gollum can find an excuse to shaft Celtic he will take it.

In the 85th minute of the game Niall McGinn was booked for unsporting behaviour when he was judged by Gollum to have dived to the ground in the Hamilton penalty area.  Subsequent television pictures have shown that he didn't dive at all.  It was in fact a stonewall penalty.  Yet no penalty was awarded and the poor player who is already under extreme pressure because of the bullets thing is now having his honesty and integrity called into question by Gollum the Celtic hater.

With the game at 90 min Simon Mensing was finally sent off for persistent fouling.  I mention this because he should in fact have been sent off in the early half of the first half for his robust method of play.  If you can call it that, I prefer to call it kick the Celtic player up in the air because that's what he and his teammates did at every given opportunity during this game.  Had he been a Celtic player he would have left the field after his second challenge.  The fact is the only time I've seen players foul more than this is when I've watched Celtic play Rangers.  Only Rangers players ever seem to be able to get away with this level of persistent fouling without receiving a sending-off or even so much as a booking.

There were other incidents during this game but for me Gollum got them correct.  James McAllister was given a straight red for dangerous play.  Stokes scored from the penalty spot (Mensing sending-off).  Stokes was denied a goal on 96 min after the ball was judged correctly to have swung out and back in again during what would prove to be the final corner kick and indeed act of the game.

Final Thoughts.

Celtic didn't deserve to win this game.  Quite simply they didn't do enough.  However without the interference of Gollum and had he got the decisions correct Celtic would have won this game by at least 1 goal if not 2.  I hate criticising Celtic people so I'm not going to discuss individual performances.  However, a couple of performances do merit a mention but for very different reasons.  For me Emilio Izaguirre was outstanding and was in my opinion the man of the match.  Lastly Anthony Stokes cannot play the role of a lone striker and in fairness to him should not be put in this position.  He just doesn't have what it takes to be a lone striker.

Well I've enjoyed my debut into the world of Internet blogging and I sincerely hope you have.  Regardless of how this is received I will be trying again.  So until I catch up with you next time be careful and stay safe.