Charlie Nicholas tried his best here.
He tried his best to disprove that all the big decisions in Scottish football do not just benefit our main rivals.
He tried to deflect all the attention away from Rangers benefitting from the big ‘honest mistakes‘ but all he did was further compound the argument that Celtic, over the years, have been fighting a losing battle when it comes to refereeing decisions.
Nicholas can never just be up front and call it how it is, except when it is negativity surrounding Celtic.
But as he tried to claim that the Hoops benefit from big decisions just as much as their Glasgow rivals, he incredibly dropped two bombs on past experiences he has had with referees as a Celtic player.
The club certainly don’t seem to thinks that’s the case as I had written about this yesterday here.
Speaking in his Daily Express column, Nicholas said, “We’ve had some terrible days. I remember doing the game when Hugh Dallas got hit by the coins.
“That was a dark, dark day for Scottish football. I have played for Celtic and against Rangers, and against Celtic. I have seen both sides when it comes to referees.
“I remember the Hope brothers, Kenny and Dougie.
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“We all knew they were Rangers fans but they were also pretty good referees. You could have a conversation with them and you could wind each other up.
“I also remember the Celtic manager Billy McNeill had a ding-dong with Andrew Waddell.
“We, at Celtic, always felt he had an agenda against us after that as Billy had challenged him during a game.”
Take what you will from this but what Nicholas has just proven is that there needs to be better screening when it comes to how referee’s are chosen to officiate games.
I accept that referees are professional but the rule needs to be adopted, like they do in the English Premier League, that you must disclose any affiliation with regards to which football team you support before you can be cleared to officiate any matches.
Because for all the will in the world, you cannot tell me that anyone would not be swayed to give a big decision if it meant the team you support are going to be disadvantaged?
I’m not saying that’s cheating. I am saying it’s only a natural human reaction to have.
Like I said, Nicholas tried to deflect the issue away and back the referees but I’ afraid in this instance, he has only made it worse.