wellfan

The problem isn’t VAR itself; it’s the clowns running it.

I disagree. Blaming Slattery here gives the officials a pass. He’s already been punished, so anything that happens to him or his teammates following this should be judged on its own merits, not dragged in from previous incidents. We’ve already seen that different standard applied against Falkirk and Hearts. If officials can’t apply the laws fairly and impartially regardless of history, they shouldn’t be in the job. Suggesting a player or team can be refereed to a different standard because of the past just excuses poor officiating, normalises inconsistency and, at worst, bias. That’s on the referees, not the player.

He will be challenged. But, as I said elsewhere on the forum, he’ll contort to justify the decision.

If that’s a penalty, we might as well start coaching our strikers to get down to ground level and start diving head-first into the path of defenders’ boots at every opportunity in the box. Oh wait, that’d be a foul for the defender.

Another way to look at it is we’re not just dealing with a small pool, we’re stuck with exactly the type of personalities that are drawn to refereeing. Average Joes in the real world with small man syndrome who suddenly get to throw their weight around with impunity on the pitch.

The majority of this cohort of officials have been fast tracked due to the increased demand brought about by the introduction of VAR and, as a result, are overpromoted. Many of them also come across as arrogant twats, with their body language and the way they speak to players often being appalling. A good referee earns the respect of players through performance and communication, not by imposing themselves on the game or the players. Contrast our officials with full time professional referees in England, or in comparable sports such as rugby, and the difference is staggering. We should not have to accept this any longer, but it will likely take clubs collectively challenging the SFA to force any real change. That seems unlikely though, as the wagons will circle and the same group of underperforming, useless clowns will remain protected, with any serious pushback risking disruption to the league. If FIFA are effectively blacklisting SFA officials, what are member clubs and fans supposed to do if the SFA will not do what is needed itself?

The KMI Panel and VAR Review should both be scrapped. They’re pointless exercises that deliver no consequences for those making the mistakes and no meaningful change for those affected by them. It’s all performative nonsense that does nothing but wind people up.

With five games without a win, an unchanged XI and substitutions only being made if we go a goal down is likely to lead to a sixth. We need to shake things up a bit and be stronger for this one. Will JBA make such changes?

We should 100% stick with the footballing principles we’ve developed this season, but it’s now clear we need to introduce a bit more pragmatism to that approach in order to improve our overall performance and results against stronger opposition.

Collum will, of course, contort to defend the penalty decision, which only serves to perpetuate the problem and normalise poor officiating. That’s to be expected when you’ve got a renowned incompetent as the chief clown.

With the standard of officiating we’ve got, and these clown officials again deemed not good enough by FIFA for the World Cup, another controversial red card feels inevitable in this game. You could put money on it.

When you repeatedly open replies with exclamative pish like “Aw boo-hoo, BOO-HOO,” you’ve only got yourself to blame when people accuse you of trolling them. It’s a consistent pattern with you. Your posting style is needlessly confrontational, and it ends up undermining whatever legitimate points you’re trying to make. And for clarity, the often used “Penalty to Rangers” line is a sarcastic reference to them often getting the rub of the green against the likes of us. It’s not meant literally, though I appreciate that nuance may be lost on a Rangers fan.

Like clockwork, the troll crawls out from under their bridge again.

Putting aside our recent inability to take our chances and the blatantly poor officiating, my other big concern is the complete lack of aggression. It showed again today against an aggressive Hearts side. We can’t defend set pieces into our own box, and at the other end our set pieces and most of our crosses are basically pointless because we’ve no real presence or aggression in the box, with defenders often winning everything. Also. For all the decent football we play in the middle of the park, we’re far too powderpuff across the pitch. We need to be stronger and more aggressive if we want to be winners, and it’s a glaring issue that has to be addressed in the summer.

Penalty to Rangers.

Two things can be true at once. We haven’t been good enough against the top six this season, and the officials have cost us on multiple occasions.

We’ve only got ourselves to blame for not taking the lead today, but the officials are the reason we’re not coming away with at least a draw.

We’re playing against 12 men these days. It’ll be a miracle if we retain fourth spot.

Maswanhise and the ref cost us today.

I’m done. Until these clown refs and VAR are gone, I’ll be thinking twice before renewing my season ticket, and I’ll be making that clear to the board. At the very least, the board need to grow a pair and call this out. It’s utterly ridiculous.

And it’s more often than not given as a foul in rugby because the referees aren’t incompetent clowns.

Certain players need to be a lot better today, or they’ll deserve to spend the rest of the season trying to win their place back from the bench. This is a huge game.

Yes. Agents will be very alive to us and we should have plenty of players knocking on our door.

These fixtures are appalling. Two home games out of five is fine in theory, but neither is at 3pm on a Saturday, and one’s midweek. As a season ticket holder with commitments beyond Saturday afternoons, it’s shite. But fairness isn’t a word the SFA or SPFL seem to understand unless it involves Celtic or Rangers.

In the context of how good we’ve been in the league this season, one point from the last 12 is garbage.