Keevins falls short in his assessment of Celtic boss’s upcoming witch trial at Hampden, no shocks there, right?

I’ve often wondered when the cream of Scotland’s mainstream sports media were applying for their respective roles if there was one particular criteria they all had to meet…

The one which said, “those with testicular fortitude need not apply”.

Because sadly for the Scottish mainstream sports media, there are no individuals within it’s realm with that particular skill set.

In reality, you would have to go back to the heady days of Ian Archer to find someone who had the ability, without fear, to tell it like it is in the Scottish game.

I wrote an article on that subject in my old blog a couple of years ago.

It’s worth a look if you really want to know when and how Scottish sports journalism died.

This morning, I read Hugh Keevins’ latest offering in the Sunday Mail, first with increasing levels of incredulity, which were then followed by the usual levels of apathetic resignation.

The incredulity was coming from the fleeting belief that he might actually be about to speak the truth about refereeing in the Scottish game.

Fleeting being the operative word.

Keevins reminds me of that guy who’s about to step up to the plate and challenge the school bully, but chickens out at the last second.

Saying, “I’ll get him the next time”, but he never does.

You see, with Keevins over the years, he has dug himself too many holes when it comes to certain aspects of Scottish football.

Holes that he now cannot dig himself out of without looking like a complete idiot.

The subject of Scottish refereeing is one of those particular holes.

And it’s that very hole that he was attempting to clamber out of today before the realisation hit him that to do so would be a very foolish endeavour indeed.

More to the point, to attempt to do so would make him look like a complete and utter hypocrite.

Because for years now, Keevins has been telling us Celtic fans that we are paranoid when it comes to biased refereeing in Scotland.

That there is no bias, conscious, unconscious, or otherwise in the Scottish game.

That our game is squeaky clean, and that we’re nothing but a bunch of conspiracy theorists running riot.

But when you realise, as Keevins seems to today, that you’ve been lying to your readership, it strips away your ability to tell the truth when it really matters.

You see, journalism is about shining a light on the truth.

The day you choose to stop telling the truth as a journalist, is the day you forfeit the right to tell the truth thereafter.

The day you become a hypocrite if you even attempt to.

Where you are sentenced to hover around the periphery of the truth in a sort of journalistic limbo for the rest of your career.

Which is where Keevins finds himself today.

If he had not tried desperately to convince us all that we were delusional, paranoid conspiracy theorists, then he could have waded righteously into today’s story.

Instead, what started out almost promisingly, becomes the usual toothless puff piece we’re subjected to every Sunday morning.

It tells us nothing we didn’t already know.

We know the SFA are circling the wagons when it comes to Brendan Rodgers’ upcoming hearing.

We know that it’s farcical that despite his resignation, Crawford Allan remains in situ until the end of the season.

Keevins seems to know it too, he says as much:

And Crawford Allan’s decision to stand down as the head of Scotland’s referees, but retain the title until the end of the season on a nominal basis, raises serious questions.

Indeed, it does raise serious questions, but Keevins fails to ask them.

Here’s his take on the situation:

That, to my way of thinking, makes Rodgers’ appearance before the authorities a show trial conducted by the members of a closed shop who have circled the wagons in an act of self-protection. Rodgers’ alleged offence was to use the word “incompetent” in relation to a series of controversial decisions during the match lost to Hearts at Tynecastle on March 3.

Fair comment, yes?

Show trial is a pretty accurate assessment of what’s coming on the 28th of this month.

It all looks like good, hard hitting journalism to the untrained reader.

Or, more to the point, to someone who has no prior knowledge of Hugh Keevins.

Here’s where it all falls apart though:

The decision now taken by Allan to “pursue new opportunities” comes after several other managers had found him to be overseeing an operation that was, in their opinion, seriously flawed. Deficient to the point where there are entitled to be concerns over the decision-making process at every game for the rest of the season.

Now, a real journalist, someone worth his salt, would add meat to the bones of the above statement.

Although I’ve been posted missing for the last fortnight or so due to shoulder surgery, I have been following what’s going on in relation to this story.

Journalists, well, real journalists, tend to look very closely at coincidences.

The very definition of a coincidence is, an occasion when two or more things happen at the same time.

The big question, the real question here, has nothing to do with several other managers finding Crawford Allan to be overseeing a seriously flawed operation.

No, the real question is the timing of Crawford Allan’s resignation.

That’s where the real story lies.

Followed closely by the fact that Celtic still do not have their hands on the audio from the farcical decisions made at Tynecastle on March 3rd.

A real journalist would want to know why Crawford Allan decided to resign in the aftermath of Celtic’s reaction to Brendan Rodgers’ upcoming trial by kangaroo court.

Was that a coincidence, or not?

Whether Celtic are entering into this “lawyered up” and armed with “numbers crunched by an outside agency” remains to be seen.

I touched on this subject in my last article.

But one thing is for sure, the people in Mount Florida are all shook up.

They’re running scared from something, and none more so than Crawford Allan.

Is his resignation a coincidence, or is it not?

Real questions, for real journalists, none of which there are in Scotland.

Keevins goes on to present a very diligent, well thought out piece, but which ultimately fails to hit the mark.

He questions the validity of allowing Crawford Allan to remain in situ as head of refereeing until the end of the season.

But once again, to put meat on the bones of that particular point, he should be asking why somebody like Crawford Allan should be allowed to remain in place, when he could maliciously influence the outcome of this season’s title?

Let’s just say Allan is made to look like the inept fool that he is next Thursday.

Because let’s get real here, that’s what he is, and it’s why he resigned.

He is the very essence of the reason Brendan Rodgers is facing a hearing.

Brendan Rodgers said his referees were incompetent, therefore that makes the head of refereeing incompetent, does it not?

If Crawford Allan wasn’t incompetent, then there would be no need for him to resign, would there?

So, let’s just say he is made to look like a fool next Thursday.

Whether Rodgers receives a touchline ban or not, Allan will be smarting, indignant, at the end of it all.

Remaining in his position until the end of the season will afford him the ability to weaponise his referees against Celtic, will it not?

He will have the ability to ensure the Ibrox side winning the title is his legacy.

Because he will have nothing to lose by doing so.

Surely, on that basis alone, his position is compromised?

These are the questions a real journalist would ask.

Keevins says, Clubs have no faith in the way games are being refereed and believe decisions are, in some cases, being arrived at after obvious mistakes.

How can Celtic, or any other club for that matter, possibly have any faith in how games will be refereed between now and the end of the season?

Especially in light of Thursday’s upcoming hearing and the possible fallout from that.

Fallout that will effect Celtic more than any other club, simply because a man who’s position is now compromised is allowed to remain in place.

Any professional body would recognise that fact, even before what’s to take place next Thursday.

But this is the SFA we’re talking about.

An association which is now circling the wagons out of fear of what Celtic will present to them next Thursday.

An association which is intent on turning Brendan Rodgers’ hearing into a farcical witch trial.

When the person who should really be on trial here has already been found guilty.

Because his guilt, and his incompetence, is the reason he has resigned his position.

The irony in all of this is that he will still be in place when the SFA attempt to find Brendan Rodgers guilty of bringing the game into disrepute.

Simply because he questioned the competence of Crawford Allan’s referees.

You couldn’t make this up.

But that’s the real story here.

With much more to follow after next Thursday.

Will Hugh Keevins tell it like it is next Sunday?

Nope, because he can’t.

He has created his very own journalistic purgatory, and he has to live in it for the rest of his journalistic days.

If only he’d had the testicular fortitude of Ian Archer.

Then things could have been so much different…