Last night was a win that not many enjoyed; it was certainly tougher than I had predicted, and yet I can’t complain. I did say that these games should be a foregone conclusion and should be used to rotate the squad and try out different formations. That’s what happened, and the lack of cohesion could no doubt be partly blamed on the change in personnel. Not to mention another unacceptable officiating error.

Clubs like St Mirren and St Johnstone barely even qualify as minnows when you compare our relative financial fortunes, and these should be routine victories we can use to prepare and fine-tune the team for bigger games. If they’re not, then that is down to our mismanagement of resources. I have said repeatedly that this league is only as competitive as we allow it to be.

I’m aware of how arrogant that might sound, but that’s because we’ve been conditioned to be happy with domestic supremacy. Yes, we should expect tough games from dogged opponents, who deserve our respect. Rightly so. They definitely have my respect, because they really shouldn’t even be in the same league. Literally.

Let’s take these two examples for a bit of a financial reality check. We have approximately 20.5 times the turnover of St Johnstone, and they have 1% of our net profit after tax. St Mirren have approximately 6% of our turnover and 2% of net profit after tax. And both of those teams had exceptional financial results. Normally they’d have negative numbers.

I know we hate it when certain pundits point out this financial imbalance in an attempt to diminish our achievements, and it certainly irritates me. However, these are facts we certainly need to be honest about between Celtic fans, because it brings to the fore the discussion about benchmarking in Europe and not domestically, and why our goals must be far more ambitious than domestic dominance which should be a by-product of our European readiness.

It simply won’t do to just stay ahead of the dead. A phrase that I’m determined should find its way into the vocabulary of Celtic fans, as it perfectly illustrates the neurotic, paranoid risk aversion of the current board.

Anyway, another valuable three points and further confirmation of our strengths and weaknesses. Plus, three big games to come, which I’ll cover in my next blog.

Officially Awful

During my most recent appearance on a Celtic State of Mind, I discussed my prediction for the game against St Mirren and why it would have been bang on the money, if not for some genuinely shocking officiating.

Officiating, which I believe should be sanctioned with lengthy suspensions for the referee and VAR team in particular. We can accept that marginal or bad calls happen. As much as we don’t like it, human error is inevitable. What we cannot accept is that, when presented with no evidence and having time to consider your options, an offence is concocted regardless, based on nothing but a fevered imagination.

Imagine the line of questioning.

What evidence do you have that an offside offence was committed?

The accused was seen in the vicinity, moving suspiciously fast!

Anything conclusive?

No, but we decided that was enough to convict!

Be assured, the ‘fevered imagination’ description is doing a lot of heavy lifting to give the benefit of the doubt by assuming incompetence rather than bias. In fairness, Scottish officials have proven to be relentless in their butchering of the rules and idiotic in their interpretation of the guidelines.

As evidenced by the utter embarrassment to the SFA that is the exclusion of our referees from every World Cup since 2002 and every Euros since 2016. An embarrassment that remains determinedly unaddressed.

And that’s before you factor in the bias, unconscious or otherwise, that the guardians of our game insist doesn’t exist in Scotland, yet exists in every other country and individual.

The SFA are so adamant about this, that we’re one of the few national holdouts who do not question our group of refs about historic support of club teams. These seemingly special men, uniquely unprejudiced, unimpeachable bastions of virtue and impartiality, who surely don’t need to declare club allegiances, because our refs are as pure as the driven snow.

They are apparently so professionally detached from human emotion that they’re indifferent to any impure thought of bias, and dispense justice dispassionately with the wisdom of Solomon.

It’s a wonder they aren’t all full-time judges in a utopian court where human nature doesn’t influence human behaviour!

Sarcasm aside, I hope the club is actively and aggressively pursuing answers and resolution behind the scenes. Even the most generous interpretation of events highlights multiple issues that must be addressed before they cost us something more valuable than a goal-difference advantage.