dougie mcdonald......

[Guest asfrc]

..........retired

 

thats celtic won that 1 then 

[BobbyBiscuit]

Good. He made a bad situation worse by putting himself first and lying.  People will (eventually) forget and forgive these things if you're honest, they won't when you've lied. Same with us with McCurry and Rowbottham, we never trusted them again and they both should have retired or been sacked after those games which brought their infamy.

 

Celtic have been fannies, no doubt, but McDonald has acted horrendously for someone whose position demands integrity.

[TENEMENTFUNSTER]

Good. He made a bad situation worse by putting himself first and lying.  People will (eventually) forget and forgive these things if you're honest, they won't when you've lied. Same with us with McCurry and Rowbottham, we never trusted them again and they both should have retired or been sacked after those games which brought their infamy.

 

Celtic have been fannies, no doubt, but McDonald has acted horrendously for someone whose position demands integrity.

 

Pretty much this.

[tom_widdows]

wonder if any others will be 'retiring' now that Dallas has gone?

Not that Im suggesting he has some sort of protective influence over all the refs

[manc_don]

Can't say i'm too surprised or sad about this. As you say, he set himself up by lying in the first place. Just sack all the refs and get the foreigners in! At least they know what they're doing!

 

Still, fuck the tims.

[Labirinth7]

To say he acted horrendously seems a bit harsh. Im sure he just wanted a solid story before facing the spanish inquisition from that horrendous wee ginger prick.  Isreali ref was fucking ganting yesterday.

[Azteca1903]

His position had become untennable and, as he points out himself, the fact he didn't do this earlier undermined the point in the referee strike. For this he can only blame himself.

 

However, I have sympathy over the way the circumstances escalated from that incident to the point we are now at. Frankly, I would find it nigh-on impossible to work with some fucking neanderthal like Lennon continually being confrontational, aggressive and critically assessing a job which I imagine he has absolutely no understanding of.

[BobbyBiscuit]

To say he acted horrendously seems a bit harsh. Im sure he just wanted a solid story before facing the spanish inquisition from that horrendous wee ginger prick.

 

Bollocks. If that horrendous wee ginger prick was our manager and we'd been lied to there isn't a chance you'd be this understanding.  He lied and he got found out. Tough shit.

[Labirinth7]

Bollocks? So you dont think cfc ave gone over the top on this one? They Are bloody hypocrits.2 lies i can think of already:1) I listened to Neil Lennon  rather sheepishly deny the refs strike had anything to' do with celtic in his pre-match intvw. 2) John reid is an ex politician therefore has manipulating the truth down to a fine art.

 

Cfc have managed to' make his position untennable rather than the mistake itself.  If this wasnt the case the sfa would have sacked him already

[dave_min]

I'm still confused why he thought he needed to lie?

 

If he'd told the truth from the off I don't think there'd be any problem. Got a second opinion from the linesman (isn't that the point in them anyway) and decided it wasn't a pen. Good refereeing in my eyes.

 

Celtic have made a complete arse of the whole thing though. Don't they understand that outside West/Central Scotland nobody really gives a flying fuck about religion, never mind have an anti-kaflik agenda (or whatever the fuck they are complaining about, I stopped listening about 25 years ago)

[BobbyBiscuit]

Bollocks? So you dont think cfc ave gone over the top on this one?

 

I've already said they've acted like fannies. Doesn't make McDonald any more right though, does it?

[mizer]

His statement:

 

It is with regret that I have decided, with immediate effect, to retire from my role as a Category 1 referee.

 

My Category 1 colleagues decided rightly to withdraw their services from matches this weekend in response to the outrageous way they have been treated by sections within Scottish football and, in my opinion, the lack of support they have received from the SFA General Purposes Committee in recent years.

 

However, their united stand, and the position of strength they have established this weekend, has been clouded by one issue, namely the aftermath of the Dundee United v Celtic match on 17 October. I apologised for my role in that and wanted my previously unblemished 29 year career to move on.  Now is the time for all of Scottish football to move on.

 

My decision will therefore remove that issue from the debate and ensure that the next day of action – which, in my opinion, will undoubtedly come if the football community does not have a massive change of heart – will result in media coverage being concentrated on those who engage in referee bashing and those who condone it.

 

It is also important to make clear that just as this issue is not about Dougie McDonald alone, nor is it about Celtic Football Club alone.

 

I have read comments this week from Craig Brown, whom I admire hugely in the way he deals with referees, saying his club doesn’t engage in questioning referees publicly.  They maybe haven’t under his reign, but the previous manager did and I don’t recall the club apologising or dealing with their employee.

 

The truth is, since I became a class one referee, managers or players – and sometimes directors – at almost every club, at one time or another, have been guilty of such behaviour.  The only difference being the degree and tenor of the criticism and the inferences from it.  The constant has been the unwillingness of the SFA General Purposes Committee to deal with it.  I suggest they check the meaning of phrases such as “wasn’t impartial” used by Aiden McGeady and “conspires to” used by Peter Houston and consider whether we want those used in Scottish football.

 

If things are to change for the better, clubs need to ensure their employees leave referees to do their job and the SFA has to deal strongly with those clubs who find it impossible to focus on the football.  The current leniency of the SFA and the system of paltry fines and ineffective bans are proven to have zero impact.

 

If the clubs are genuinely concerned about relationships with referees – and hopefully they are after this momentous weekend – and they want to make changes, they should have no fear in signing up to a disciplinary system that will see more stringent penalties and ones that have more direct impact on clubs, rather than their errant employees.

 

If, on the other hand, they wish simply to pay lip service to referees then the status quo should prevail.  But make no mistake, in my opinion, the withdrawal of referees’ availability will happen again and perhaps for a longer period than one weekend.

 

The intolerable media pressure that has seen television news crews at my place of work and journalists and photographers at my front door, together with the appalling treatment of Hugh Dallas by the SFA, has convinced me that I no longer wish to be a part of Scottish football.

 

This statement is my last comment on the matter and on Scottish football. I ask for peace, privacy and respect for my family and I implore those who have the authority to make a difference to do so now and allow my good friends and colleagues to once again enjoy refereeing the game they love.

[capitalsharpie]

its all fineand well demanding that everybody leaves refs alone to to thier job, but therd has to be a method of challenging dodgy decions otherwise standards never improve. Refefees should nevef bd untouchable.

[TENEMENTFUNSTER]

Refs have had some shocking criticisms recently and it has become more of a "bias" issue, rather than "just being shite" issue and in that respect he has some right on his side.

 

But he should just fuck off and be quiet as he has no credibility. I don't reckon he was biased either, just stupid.

 

But Celtic have thier own agendas, especially when they are playing as erratically as they are and have a manager who is rapidly beginning to lose his initial veneer of calm, he's turning into the snarling cunt he was on the pitch.

 

It as long been said that a ref having a good game is largely anonymous, it seems the refs are keen to shed this and have more of the focus given McDonald's "position of strength" remark. That would not be a good thing.

 

Equally, any respect for the game has to begin with the managers, players and clubs. If players are to be continually lauded by managers and fans for outright cheating and trying to hoodwink refs, what fucking chance have the refs got? The managers hammer refs for getting decisions wrong but players conning refs into making the decisions are immune to that hammering. The system and the way clubs and managers and players conduct themselves in it is skewed against the refs however good bad indifferent or awful or biased or bigotted they are. 

[Labirinth7]

"together with the appalling treatment of Hugh Dallas by the SFA"

 

Another storm in a teacup stirred up by cellik?  Arguably harsh but he prob did deserve to be punted?  Im not sure why a senior religious figure felt the need to comment on this however whatevr happened to football and religion being kept apart!

 

I do think CFC have an agenda.  Im just not sure what it is.  Are they just shit stirring? Are they trying to bully refs into giving them decisions?-This certainly seemed the case when we were at Parkhead.  Maybe they do feel discrimminated against.  I sincerely hope they do as it is a pretty low hand to play just to get an edge on the competition.   

 

Its really annoying that our club is on its knees and they whinging bastards are still complaining about not getting a penalty that definately wasnt a pen 

[Madbadteacher]

CFC are more guilty of perverting religious belief than any individual. They have turned Catholicism into a persecution complex.