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Dignified Silence

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williemillersmoustache

williemillersmoustache

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Celtic manager Ronny Deila vows to take Aleksandar Tonev case to Court of Arbitration in Sport Midfielder - on loan from Aston Villa - awaiting verdict on appeal over charge of racial abuse but club pledges to take case to CAS if necessary
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Fighting the charge: Celtic have vowed to take Aleksandar Tonev's case to CAS Photo: ACTION IMAGES

9:10AM GMT 30 Nov 2014

If Aleksandar Tonev loses his appeal against an SFA charge of racially abusing the Aberdeen defender, Shay Logan, Celtic will take the case to the Court of Arbitration in Sport, according to Ronny Deila.

In a forceful condemnation of the indictment against Tonev as “word versus word”, the Celtic manager said: “I can’t understand this case.”

An SFA disciplinary hearing found Tonev guilty of calling Logan a “black c---” during Celtic’s Scottish Premiership home game against Aberdeen on Sept 13. Tonev, on loan from Aston Villa, made his debut in the match, during which Logan told the referee, Bobby Madden, that the Bulgarian midfielder had abused him.

The SFA disciplinary panel banned Tonev for seven games, but Celtic appealed against the verdict and their case will be heard at Hampden Park on Thursday. He was left out of the Parkhead squad for what Deila called “diplomatic reasons” when Celtic beat Aberdeen 2-1 at Pittodrie on Nov 9.

Celtic have insisted that they do not dispute that Logan believed he had heard an abusive remark but say that he misunderstood what was said.


In response to public declarations of support by for Tonev by Deila and the Celtic captain, Scott Brown, the Aberdeen manager, Derek McInnes, said: “We thought it had been dealt with – he was found guilty of an offence – we felt Shay was vindicated with that and we support him wholeheartedly.

“We’ve kept a dignified silence on it, as requested but it hasn’t always been the case coming from Celtic.”

However, Deila returned to the subject last night and raised the possibility of referring the matter to the CAS when he said: “If there is nothing new in the Tonev case on Thursday, we will take it all the way. I’m not a lawyer and I would speak to the club about where we take it but we have to do everything we can for Alex.

“I can’t understand this case because it’s not fair when it’s word versus word. If it’s clearly proved to the public that Tonev is guilty, I would never excuse it.

“We really don’t like racism and if our player did a thing like that it would be unacceptable – but it’s word versus word and I still believe my player.

“Alex insists he never used those words. If new evidence comes up, we’ll have another review of it, but if it’s just like it is now, we’ll support Alex. We were part of the case, we were in there, so we know what happened. They believed him [shay Logan] instead of Alex Tonev and, for me, that’s not fair. You need to prove it, you can’t judge people without proving it. It can’t just be your mind thinking it.”

Deila then expanded his grievance to say that Celtic had been treated unfairly in other disciplinary matters. “Look at Derk Boerrigter, he got a two‑game ban for diving, but I haven’t seen any other players being banned for diving,” the Norwegian said.

“I think if I go through all the games on video there’s been some diving at other clubs as well. The penalty is no problem for us to take but they then have to follow it up in every game because it has to be fair.

“If you’re going to have this Tonev case as it is, with no more evidence, it’s going to be very hard to keep up this way of treating players. I’m worried that Tonev’s career will be tainted because of this. He’ll be forever known as a racist footballer. But it’s not even about the footballer, it’s about the person. I wouldn’t like that on me if it wasn’t true. It could ruin a human being’s life and I don’t like it. If there’s proof, we’ll accept it, but I believe Alex.”

One possible complication, should Celtic choose to take the case to the CAS, is the time it could take to get a hearing, which could exceed Tonev’s loan period.

Logan, meanwhile, was in the Aberdeen side beaten 2-1 yesterday by Dundee in the fourth round of the William Hill Scottish Cup at Dens Park, where Sir Alex Ferguson was a spectator. Elsewhere, Dundee United came from behind at Fir Park to beat Motherwell 2-1 and Partick Thistle knocked out Hamilton Academical with a 2-0 win at Firhill.

Hibs and St Johnstone went through against Alloa and Ross County respectively, and Arbroath, Falkirk and Queen of the South will also feature in Monday’s fifth round draw.

The shock of the day, though, came at Ainslie Park in Edinburgh, where Spartans – of the Scottish Sun Lowland League – beat Morton of League One, with a last‑minute winner from Jack Beesley. Hearts are at home to Celtic and Rangers to Kilmarnock in today’s ties.

Celtics new manager setting into the victim mentality pretty well here and putting undue pressure on the appeal panel prior to the hearing, it's not on. Also liked the moaning about Boerrigters ban for diving at the start of the season, classy.

If you don't like the verdict then say so afterwards and if you want to go to CAS, fine that is your right. But to say we won't abide by the decision before it has been made (unless it goes wur way of course) is despicable and undermines the SFA and any pretence that we are taking our responsibilities to stamp discrimination out of our game seriously.

The last thread on this was horrendous so try to keep the OF one-up-man-ship out of this and for the record I don't think Celtic are a racist club. But I do think that they would argue that the sky is green, that up is down and down is up if it was convenient for them to do so. And more to the point, they'd do it in the press rather than in the judicial process of the association, whose rules they signed up to and agreed to abide by (unless it doesn't suit them it would appear).

It just shows the utter contempt they have for the game and their fellow professionals and they really should be taking a wee look at Aberdeens conduct during this shambles and try some dignified silence of their own.

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Casual Bystander

Casual Bystander

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For all the Celtic fans who seem to be getting all worked up about the charge being based on "probable cause" and that how such a thing wouldn't happen in a "real court". Have a look at the way the High Court adjudicated that Andrew Mitchell did call that police officer a pleb despite it being one word against another. This is the highest court in England and they have ruled on an issue in almost exactly the same manner.

Do Celtic have a right to appeal? Of course they do, that is right under any fair legal process, but are they correct when they question the validity of it being "one word against another", no, they are most certainly not, and to do so shows a complete lack of understanding of "probable cause" and it's value within the legal system.

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Casual Bystander

Casual Bystander

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On another matter I see Delia is now getting fluent in that specific Glaswegian form of whataboutery...

“Look at Derk Boerrigter, he got a two‑game ban for diving, but I haven’t seen any other players being banned for diving,” the Norwegian said.

That would most likely be because nobody has been guilty of such a blatant dive, but, you know, it's all about how badly the officials treat Celtic isn't it?

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G-MAN

G-MAN

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On another matter I see Delia is now getting fluent in that specific Glaswegian form of whataboutery...

That would most likely be because nobody has been guilty of such a blatant dive, but, you know, it's all about how badly the officials treat Celtic isn't it?

Has he said anything today about one of the most disgusting dives Ive ever seen ?

#hatethemasmuchassevco

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La_Leyenda

La_Leyenda

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Does anyone know what Tonev claims to have said rather than "Black C**t"?

It was, allegedly "Get off me you black ****"

Edit: just realised your post was asking about Tonev's version. I dunno what Tonev reckons he said, but the above is apparently what Logan alleges he said.

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rainbowrising

rainbowrising

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On another matter I see Delia is now getting fluent in that specific Glaswegian form of whataboutery...

That would most likely be because nobody has been guilty of such a blatant dive, but, you know, it's all about how badly the officials treat Celtic isn't it?

Managers lways defend players when it comes to diving tedious as it might be to see these kind of statements. You get it on Sportsound too with old pals acts around 'not that kind of player' crap.

Your point about Mitchell is correct - the judge in the end had to look at what evidence he had in front of him based on who allegedly said what and on all balance of probability found in favour of one side. That's how it goes - someone somewhere (a legal person I assume) has advised Celtic to continue this appeal process but to me it looks poor advice.

There is a group of tic fans that can't come to terms with this process of law (civil not criminal law I think?) so blank it out each time it's mentioned. Equally there are many on here that couldnt really give a feck about the incident but treat it as an opportunity for fake seethe and outrage..........that Celtic fans can't help biting at!

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