[madwullie]

You couldn't make this shit up.

[Colin M]

I wonder what it actually feels like to be warped like that.

[deky]

Nike_Ayrshire, on 17 March 2010 - 15:48, said:

The fact is that Rangers being helped is more complicated than every decision from every referee going to Rangers; the timing of certain refs getting certain games and the the timing of the assistance is the point that should make every fan other than Rangers fans uncomfortable.

I remember being young and the 'joke' before every game V's Rangers (and I mean when being taken to Love St) was along the lines of how many pens will they get today? But it is really not that funny a joke anymore.

Yes, Celtic will get more assistance from the neutral ref as Celtic are going to benefit from the big team bias, (for some reason against St. Mirren more than any?) And this helps create that cushion between us and those below BUT when you are going for the title in a two horse race being the second most helped team is still disadvantageous.

To the average OF fan there are only 2 clubs in Scotland so I appreciate the apathy amongst the masses as the Celtic faithful gloss over the pro-Celtic refs and the big team bias. But the fact is if Rangers are playing a big domestic game they will 'usually' get that last minute penalty or whatever is needed and that is the design of the system. The pro-Rangers men at the top appoint the pro-Rangers refs in the important games and whether they mean to be a cheat or they just, like every other football fan, have the tinted specs on - it is the same result.

I fully expect that Celtic will get dodgy decisions between now and the end of the season and this will be claimed to have 'evened out' the errors but when the league is over, does it matter to us? No, but it will effect the views of those teams who are cheated to say same old OF bias and ignoring the context of the cheating. It will be unfortunate for those who are the bad decisions cannon fodder but it is coming as sure as the Sunday Mails 'Celtic star to be sold' headline on OF day or Rangers getting a penalty when losing in the cup.

You can distract and say if Celtic were better we would not need it but is this really fair? Do we need to be much better just to be on a level playing field with Rangers?

You just don't get it though. All your bleating means nothing to us diddies. Most of us don't care what old firm team wins the league, we care about our own teams. When we get decisions going against us when we play the old firm it actually has an effect on us, not just poor wee Celtic's laegue challenge. It could be the difference between Europe, top six or even relegation for teams who don't get the decisions. We all know there are only two teams in Scotland as far as the media and old firm fans are concerned. When our goal was chopped off against Rangers, I didn't care how it effected Celtic, only that it denied us another 2 points in our European challenge. That's the point that seems to be lost to a lot of Celtic fans, we're all trying to win as many points as we can, which isn't helped when the old firm get the majority of decisions at FP.