Friday 18 September 2009

Grim, Grimmer, Grimmest #

"I think that, all things considered, that second half was the worst Celtic performance I've ever seen. I'd say that match was a clear cut case of selling the jerseys" - Gerry Coogan (ManAtTheWindow).

Well, yet again we have to remind you that we warned of the consequences of allowing not-so-super agent John Colquhoun to oversee the selection process for the new Glasgow Celtic manager.
We got Tony Mowbray in coincidence with an increase in one of Mr Colquhoun's bank accounts and Rangers being presented with the 2009/10 title, because Mr Mowbray is simply not up to the job.

This post, which is largely for subscribers only, addresses the greed merchants ruining the Bhoys and couples such observations with an assessment of the futility of the new Europa Cup six match officials nonsense - let us increase the negative impacts of human error/criminality even more.

We'll discuss last nights' debacle in the Occupied Territories of Palestine first.

As soon as he was appointed, we posted that Mowbray would fail, and badly, but we were not expecting such an immediate implosion.
Two home Champions League defeats after only Barcelona had won at Parkhead since the Easter Uprising, followed by some insipid league performances and capped by defeat to a team currently residing in 6th place in the 21st strongest league in Europe (sic).

After Celtic had dominated the first half in Greater Gaza, Kenny Dalglish warned that the home side were so poor that all Celtic had to fear was "complacency."
Let's have a glance at the betting markets.
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The gamble was inevitably landed.

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Somebody made a lot of money out of something that appeared highly unlikely at the interval.

There is a solution available at this dysfunctional football club.
Sack Desmond, Lie-Well, Reid, Colquhoun and the rest of the faceless pinstripes who loiter around the boardroom and reestablish the club as something belonging to Glasgow and the supporters.
How about trying the 'Barcelona model' of bottom up democracy?
It seems to work, after all.

And onto the latest ruse to maintain control over match outcomes in the necessary loci of power...

The Europa Cup trialling of two extra referees behind the goalline is an exercise in opaque futility.
Many clubs have complained that there has been no directive from UEFA as to how the experiment is to be instigated.
Furthermore, the logistics of communication and hierarchy of control are so complex that only 48 groups of match officials have been trained up to the required standard for the first phase of the Europa Cup.

Countries with functioning national associations, like Germany, have had a clear dialogue between the DFB, match officials, clubs and the fans about the project.
Obviously, in the Murdochracy, we get nothing.
As usual.

Bizarrely though, the two referees deemed qualified to referee at these Europa matches on behalf of Brittania are Mike Dean and Mark Clattenburg.
Just how blind?

If we published everything we know about Dean, we would face a court case, whilst Clattenburg was banned for all last season and yet still remains on the UEFA roster.
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Not only is the 6-referee solution impractical on the field of play - imagine an incident on the side edge of the penalty area which might be seen by the referee, the 6th official, the 4th official and the assistant referee closest to the action.
What a babbling brook of bullshit that would be.
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The degree of Houdini-like contortions that football bends itself into to avoid the implementation of virtually mistake-proof video technology, preferring instead to take their chances with human nature, is becoming a little surreal.
Take tennis.
It is known that there is lots of criminalised gambling in the sport, so the administrators have done everything possible to make the plotters' job more tricky to fulfill. Not only are there nine junior linespeople, there is the umpire and each player is allowed to question three calls per set (ie up to fifteen objections per match in a men's five-setter).
Or either of the rugby codes, that are more similar to football in dynamics etc.
Video technology is used to stop injustices and any corrupt input by the match referee.

In each of these sports, the result is very positively correlated with the action on the court or field of play.

This is simply not the case in football.
And Tony Mowbray's position describes the Reality perfectly.

Before the match, Mowbray decided to question the structure of the 5th/6th officials.
He made this assertion despite the fact that such an official would have spotted Adolf Eduardo's dive at the Emirates, and despite the fact that dissing the officials pre-match is not the most intelligent plan of action.
So, despite being damaged by a miscarriage of justice, Mowbray managed to offend the sensibilities that had been supportive of his position in this very case.
It was a bad decision to question potentially "overenthusiastic officials" before the match had even started.

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If Mowbray questions power, power may question him.

And so it continues.

The grouping of match manipulators expands and the integrity of the game sinks ever deeper into the mire.
But why should we allow these operators to destroy OUR sport?
These people already have nice big houses and cars, and yet their frequent psychopathic greed leads them to seek more and more, without taking any care to cover over their tracks.
They are untouchable.

So we get Peter Kenyon receiving a £2 million pay-off for failure.
And an illegal failure at that.
Still it gives him more time to carry on breeding...
Poor woman.

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