“I think they have to speak up now” – Podcast Journalist urges Celtic to take action in incredible rant

Wow.

It certainly has been a day for this.

Journalist’s ranting about refereeing performances about Celtic? Nah, it will never catch on.

But it has, and it seems the David Turnbull tackle has lit a fire under the belly of  the media as all main stream journalists have condemned Callum Butcher’s tackle on the Hoops midfielder.

This was about as passionate as I have ever heard a Celtic journalist as he went on a glorious rant about referee standards and about the club’s silence on the weekend’s developments.

Speaking on A Celtic State of Mind, journalist Anthony Haggerty, was speaking about the Butcher tackle and he was not holding back as he made an impassioned plea for the club to act on the refereeing standards not just for Celtic, but for the whole of Scottish football, “I think they have to speak up now, because it’s too frequent isn’t it?

“And I’m not just talking about Celtic. Someone from any team is going to end up missing their star player because of a broken leg. That was the very definition of a red card. It was reckless, it was as high, it’s endangering an opponent.

“And you know what I want to know? I want to know why he’s given a yellow card. Because that’s a red card all day long.

“So a yellow card, to me, says that he didn’t see that and neither his assistant can bail him out. So if they two guys aren’t seeing a major flashpoint in the football match, what are they doing in that position?

“They are unfit for purpose because that is the only controversial incident in that game. It’s a straight red all day long.

“And I’d say if it was committed to any footballer in the league.  But someday from some team, not Celtic, is going to end up with a leg breaker this season.

“And I don’t wish it on anybody but it’s going to be due the ineptitude of the officials.

“He has not seen that. How as a referee have you not seen that and give a yellow card?

“And I think the rules are that in extreme circumstances, you can get a retrospective red. He’s going to get a citation from Hampden for that. He has to.

“And see if he doesn’t, then Celtic are entitled to wade into the SFA beaks and say, ‘Hey, what’s going on here?‘

“And it’s happening far too often every week. We have a ten minute segment where we’re having a blast at referees and I hate it.

“Because I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but I want them to open their eyes and referee a game.

“I’m not asking for favours. I’m asking for fairness. I’m asking them to referee of football much. That’s a shocker, the very definition of a shocker.”

It really was a passionate and damning verdict on the refereeing standards from that game and you can watch it in all it’s glory here:

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