CoF

The rules are mental when you pick them apart.

Windass booked for diving in the Aberdeen game. Yellow card? Totally worth it. If denying a clear goalscoring opportunity is worth a red then surely cheating to create a clear goalscoring opportunity (penalty) should be worth a red as well? The only way to get rid of this is in our game is to have genuine consequences. All clear dives should carry a two match ban.

What about McDonald winning that penalty at parkhead in 2015? Moult scored to win 2-1. Contact. Yes. "Went to ground". Yep.

Absolutely. Sundays remains an absolute howler and Sinclair should be utterly ashamed. Astonished he's not been cited. Looking at footage from last night I don't think the injustice is what I first thought it was. Soft free kick. Soft penalty. Nothing more.

it's on the bbc highlights. Omitted from the club highlights for some reason....

Was it a foul on Moult for the free kick?

I've now seen the highlights and the penalty decision from another angle. I can see why the penalty was given. Soft, but I can see it. The foul on Moult looks soft. I'd be raging if that was given against us and the opposition scored. There. I said.

That wee bit at the end is a belter.

I recall that and personally thought it was a load of shite. Seeking clarity on going over the ball and studding a players shin was only going to have one answer. This is different all together when we have two identical incidents of players reacting severely disproportionately to the amount of contact they have received. It's a different level of gamesmanship which appears to have been accepted by the SFA. You are right though..... it'll do fuck all. Apart from maybe make me feel a wee bit better that we've done something.

This is it. I can accept honest mistakes, and that's what I believe most (if not all) refereeing errors are. The bigger issue here is the players and how their actions are assessed afterwards. Someone posted a link the other day to an English disciplinary hearing (bbc article I think) and they decided that while contact had been made by the defender, the fall of the attacker wasn't proportionate to the level of contact therefore it was deemed simulation. That's a sensible way to look at it and could easily be applied to both Sinclair and McGregor. Players would soon stop turning contact into a foul. When you have that freaky waxwork who manages the SPFL's biggest club actively promoting his players diving as an acceptable part of the game then we can see exactly where the problem is. The ref's are shite and always will be, but the bigger problem is the players, managers and a lack a robust and reasonable disciplinary process.

With many others, I'm genuinely sitting with that "What the fucks the point" feeling right now. Thought Robinson did well in his interview but as I've just pointed out, I don't think we as a club can be sitting in silence over this. As I've just posted in the other thread, the most diplomatic way to do it would be to publically seek clarification from the SFA about how refs are currently judging contact in the box.

I have no idea what constitutes a foul anymore. It seems the penalty box is some hyper-sensitive part of the field where any physical contact isn't allowed. Unless it's a corner of course where players are allowed to manhandle each other all they want - I assume for a set period of time counted down in the refs head before 'no touchy time' resumes. Baffling. After tonight, I don't think it would be unreasonable for the club to seek clarification from the SFA on how the rules are currently being interpreted.

Move on?!?!? It's been 3 days. When folk are still ragin' about ref's decisions from 1970-odd I think it might be a wee while before we've all moved on. Give it to the year 2055 at least.

Robinson said pretty much that about 6 weeks ago. He needed more physicality from him. Strange one - Robinson hailed him as a major coup when he arrived. I can see why. He had a decent amount of premiership game time a few years ago and just 6 months ago scored in the football league trophy in front of 75'000 folk. He made a comment in the last press conference about players who came in the summer getting right up to speed quickly - "some more so than others". I wondered if Bigi was who he was referring to.

I'm assuming if you've contacted the club directly and you haven't had a response? That's really surprising. Communication with fans is excellent these days.

My thoughts exactly. It's the Celtic way.

I think a punitive system for refs would be a step backward. It's not an easy job and adding another level of fear isn't going to improve standards. They already get bumped down the pecking order based on performance - (however I often suspect 50% of the time this is for their own protection). Unless we have a wealth of excellent young refs coming through the ranks then we are stuck with what we have. They need more assistance to get it right in the first place. That's the only way forward.

Even if it's chucked out, it's probably money well spent to keep it in the media another few days. For once, we do seem to have the backing of the whole of the media.

incompetent yep, but only one cheat in that scenario and it's Sinclair. Refs have it hard enough to judge honest challenges. 100% of the flack should be directed at Sinclair.

I dunno - I'm thinking the quickest way to get Sunday out of our system is to have a good go at them as soon as possible on a more even playing field. That said, even ending their run at Fir Park on Wednesday would in no way feel like retribution. That said (number 2), looking at the way Aberdeen celebrated 3 points against us after we pumped them out the cup makes me wonder if it's actually quite a decent feeling.

Yep. Robinson already shown far more class than Rodgers. Even right after the final whistle he refused to comment on Sinclair as he "doesn't comment on other teams players". Compare that to Rodgers wading in on Elbow-gate and we know we've got the better man in charge.

Carson.

Floodlit game against the cheats. Thoughts? Interested to see if we see a boost or decline in home gate after Sunday.

Was it a foul though? That level of contact happens minute after minute all over the pitch.

Fans display was excellent. Simple but looked great.