Jackson calls Celtic supporters conspiracy theorists – again. This is why refereeing in Scotland will NEVER improve

Since all and sundry had to get their opinion in on the appointment of John Beaton for next Sunday’s derby, it was inevitable Keith Jackson would have to have his say too.

Low and behold, there it was in this morning’s Daily Record.

Jackson set outs his stall pretty early, and while he doesn’t namecheck Celtic fans in his conspiracy theorists reference, it’s pretty clear it wasn’t aimed at anyone else.

Not only does he reference it, he blames Brendan Rodgers for, and I quote: stoking the flames of a thousand whorey old conspiracy theories.

So before I go any further, I need to get this straight.

A professional football manager gives his professional opinion on a poor performance by two referees, and all he’s doing is, stoking the flames of a thousand whorey old conspiracy theories?

That line there is at the very heart of everything that’s wrong in Scottish football.

Someone like Keith Jackson, who has a position of power in the media (I know, try not to laugh), has the ability to shine a light on the truth when it comes to what is wrong with the game in Scotland.

Instead, all he does is stoke the flames of an already sore subject by reverting to the old tried and tested conspiracy theory reference.

He and Keevins live and breathe off it at times.

It’s the very reason nothing will ever improve in our game when it comes to this subject.

Make the public in general believe that the likes of us, the bloggers, are all peddling conspiracy theories, and that there’s really nothing wrong with the game in Scotland.

Nothing at all.

I somehow doubt Jackson has the intellect to read a website like Celtic by numbers.

Or to even analyse it.

In Alan Morrison’s latest article, his title picture has a statement, it goes like this:

I don’t trust words,

I question actions.

But I never doubt patterns.

I never doubt patterns.

Alan goes to serious lengths to show us exactly what these patterns lead to.

And believe me, they do not lead to a thousand whorey old conspiracy theories.

However, for the likes of Jackson to educate himself on something like this, it would take time and effort.

Something he’s clearly not willing to apply to his journalism.

Instead, he would have us believe that John Beaton is some sort of paragon of virtue.

He is at pains to paint Beaton as just another human being going about his job, while being subject to extreme amounts of pressure in the process.

In fact, we should all be be grateful that he willingly accepted the “hot potato” that is the Glasgow Derby.

Jackson decided to get the opinion of former Scottish top flight referee Stuart Dougal.

I’m beginning to wonder if Jackson watched the movie The Zone of Interest recently.

A movie in which the director, Jonathon Glazer wished to make a film that demystifies the perpetrators of the Holocaust, which he noted are often portrayed as “almost mythologically evil”.

You’d almost believe that Jackson was trying to demystify Scottish referees, who are often portrayed as fanatically supporting one specific side, which leads to a pattern of assistance that only Celtic supporters seem to see.

I somehow doubt that Jackson would be that deep a thinker, though.

The sycophantic ramblings in this article, through the lens of former referee Stuart Dougal, are hard to swallow at times, have a look at this:

They have their own support network and that’s who John will be speaking to – other top referees, his referees’ association and obviously his family. John is an experienced official and this is not the first time he’ll have gone into an O** F*** game with people questioning him – whether it’s his impartiality or his ability.

His impartiality or his ability?

Don’t get me started on that particular subject.

It’s clear that this article is aimed at one specific demographic, and it isn’t Celtic supporters.

Although, it’s clearly designed to antagonise the Celtic support, including the Celtic manager.

Who apparently peddles whorey old conspiracy theories.

This next statement really amused me, have a look:

But he wouldn’t be getting an Old Firm game if the Scottish FA didn’t believe in him. Referees are monitored every week by the referees’ observer or supervisor. So you don’t get these top games if you are not performing.

Of course the SFA believe in John Beaton.

He subserviently does exactly what they want him to do.

You don’t get top games if you are not performing??

Piss off Celtic – tick.

Piss off the Celtic manager – tick.

Make ridiculous calls against Celtic at every opportunity – tick.

Make calls that benefit one side – tick.

Get the Celtic manager banned for a critical fixture – half a tick.

Yes indeed, Beaton is performing at the very top level required by the SFA in order to be selected to referee a fixture like next Sunday’s.

This next statement made me howl with derision:

People say, ‘Referees can have a bad game and nothing happens to them,’ but that’s simply not the case. Trust me, you don’t get games of this magnitude if you are not performing week in, week out.

That’s simply not the case??

Beaton had a shocker as VAR at Tynecastle last month.

The Celtic manager, who has rarely called out referees in both his stints at Celtic, labelled it incompetent.

Beaton had a bad game, nothing happened to him.

He was awarded the Glasgow Derby by Crawford Allan, a man who should not be in a position to make calls like that.

A man who should be on gardening leave.

Of course John will be delighted, it’s a seal of approval based on the fact he’s the man who can do the most damage to Celtic’s title ambitions.

Celtic have voiced their concerns about this referee many times over the years.

The Ibrox side throw a tantrum about Willie Collum, and he has never refereed a League fixture involving them since.

We speak the truth about John Beaton, and he is rewarded with the most important fixture of the season.

Stuart Dougal then goes on to be a total hypocrite, making sure that the readership, well any Celtic minded readers, are acutely aware of what he’s saying:

And it’s also a wee message to the clubs in general that clubs will not dictate to the SFA or to the referees’ department who is put in charge of their games. Or who is not.

Any journalist worth his salt would meet that statement with the following questions:

If that’s the case, can you therefore explain to me why Willie Collum has not refereed a League game involving the Ibrox side since December 2023?

Would the fact he has not done so indicate that their request regarding who, or who shouldn’t referee their games, has been granted?

That’s the kind of question a real journalist would posit.

But let’s call a spade, a spade here, Dougal is blatantly saying that Celtic will never call the shots when it comes to who referees our games.

No matter how incompetent he is.

It’s actually an insult to our intelligence.

He’s been given a message to get across, and he’s making no bones about getting it across.

I could spend the rest of the morning dissecting the article, but the rest of it tells us nothing we don’t already know.

Nothing we haven’t heard many times before.

Dougal says Beaton will have been criticsed by many more people than just Brendan Rodgers, but I can guarantee you one thing, nobody at Ibrox has criticised him this season.

Of course, Jackson had to drop it in there that Willie Collum was Beaton’s wingman for this fixture.

As if that actually made an iota of difference.

If Collum was the man on the field, and Beaton his wingman, then maybe we’d believe the SFA had an ounce of integrity.

That they are a fair, and balanced institution.

But they’re not.

They run a rigged game here, and they do not even attempt to hide it.

Then to add insult to injury, the likes of Stuart Dougal is wheeled out to make it clear to everyone that that’s the way it is.

There are no subliminal messages in this article.

There’s no need to read between the lines.

You can understand the language in it very clearly.

This is how the SFA rolls.

And as long as they can get away with it, they will.

It was ever thus.

Click here for – CELTIC’S PLAYERS SHOULD BE “INSTRUCTED TO WALK OFF THE PITCH AT IBROX” IF BEATON TURNS SUNDAY’S DERBY INTO A FARCE

Click here for – KRIS BOYD, TOM ENGLISH, ANOTHER ‘HONEST MISTAKE’ INVOLVING CELTIC, AND A ‘PENALTY TO RANJURZ”. JUST YOUR REGULAR RUN OF THE MILL WEEKEND IN SCOTTISH FOOTBALL