In the aftermath of this week’s penalty wailing from Ibrox, Celtic fans can no longer be labelled conspiracy theorists, they all reside in Govan now

Well, it’s finally time to stop calling Celtic fans paranoid conspiracy theorists.

Right in line with calling us fans of the most successful team in Scottish football.

What is a conspiracy?

Technically, it’s a plan by an individual or a group to do something unlawful.

One of the biggest conspiracy theories out there is that 9/11 was planned.

There are things about 9/11 that question your grasp on those events.

Whether you like it or not, there are questions about the events of that day which have never been clearly answered.

When firemen discussed the collapse of the towers, they all concurred that they heard multiple explosions as they came down.

In the footage of the collapse, small explosions can be seen happening the whole way down as the towers collapse in on themselves, similar to those seen during the demolition of a building.

In the aftermath of the collapse, in fact months after, still smouldering thermite was found in the wreckage.

Why was thermite even at the site?

If you don’t know what thermite is, then google it.

Do I think the that Twin Towers were brought down by the airplanes that hit them, or by more sinister means?

Let’s just say I’m an open minded individual and that I will draw my own conclusions.

I do not believe everything I read in the media, no more than I believe history happened exactly as it’s written.

History, especially in times of war, is always written by the victors.

But here’s the thing about conspiracy theories, they are perpetuated by people who either firmly believe what they are talking about, or they are perpetuated to deceive you.

What you cannot argue against are cold, hard facts.

Cold hard facts are not conspiracies.

We live in a world, where sometimes, cold, hard facts are just ignored, simply because it suits the agenda of those who are ignoring them to do exactly that.

Ignore them, and hope that they’ll go away.

They will call the people who present these facts conspiracy theorists.

They’ll try and convince you that they are nut jobs, peddling lunacy.

They will lie and discredit the people who present the facts.

In the hopes that their lies will eventually make the cold, hard facts go away.

But they don’t.

They don’t go away.

Celtic fans continuously present cold, hard facts when it comes to Scottish referees, and the fact that they are biased towards one team.

Yet Celtic fans are always labelled conspiracy theorists.

Nut jobs, who believe everyone is out to get them.

So I guess that makes Alan Stubbs a conspiracy theorist as well?

A man who once told us that Jim McCluskey told him back in the nineties that while he was refereeing, he would NEVER get a penalty against Rangers 1872.

Now, this kind of talk is far different to the conspiracy theories that emanate from Ibrox.

We, instead, get lunatic fringe conspiracy theories from there.

Theories like the unseen Fenian Hand, and the laughable idea that we have Scottish referees in our pockets.

Or the likes of Kris Boyd telling us that Celtic chairman Peter Lawwell controls Scottish football.

This, ultimately, is what happens when the Ibrox side are actually treated like any other footballing side by referees.

Just as they were on last Sunday in the League Cup final.

But I’m digressing slightly, I was discussing the subject of us being labelled conspiracy theorists.

Cold, hard facts.

So, let me give you some of them.

These facts cannot be disputed.

In 2024, in a supposed modern European footballing nation, Scottish referees do not have to declare their allegiances, something myself Joe, and James discussed in depth in this week’s podcast.

YouTube: Joyful and Triumphant – Trinity Tims Podcast

I don’t need to explain the ramifications of that, you’re all well aware of them already.

It is highly unlikely that this situation will change any time soon, if at all.

Not unless the SFA changes radically, which is highly doubtful.

As Celtic fans, we are expected to believe that Scottish referees enter games where they referee their favourite team, as amateurs, because they are not professionals, showing no bias whatsoever in their decision making.

To not believe this, is to be considered a conspiracy theorist.

So what kind of conspiracy is it when one club did not concede a penalty in the league from January 2022 until February 2024?

That was 74 games in total, the 5th longest streak in the history of the European game.

Prior to that, they had not conceded a penalty since January 2020.

That’s a cold, hard fact.

No conspiracies at play here.

Neither is it a conspiracy that John Beaton was seen mixing it with Ibrox fans at a bar in December 2018.

After he had done everything that afternoon at Ibrox to ensure his favourite side won.

I could go on all day long about this.

We’ve been over the course on this many times before.

In reality, everybody knows the issues surrounding referees in Scotland, and unless there is serious reform in the near future, these issues won’t go away.

Willie Collum, as expected, has changed little or nothing.

Other than introducing his monthly VAR show, which has now turned into a “Let’s apologise to the Ibrox side” monthly show.

Since they’re the only side that falls foul of refereeing mistakes.

To mitigate for the state of Scottish refereeing, many in the SMSM refer to the condition Scottish referees suffer from as “unconscious bias”.

As in they are not “conscious” that the decisions they make are in favour of one team.

Indeed.

Celtic fans are not conspiracy theorists.

As a club, the odds have always been stacked against us, but we have always, and continue to defy the odds.

Because of our heritage, our club has always been treated “differently”.

And I don’t mean “differently” in a good way.

The discussion topic regarding referees is always lurking around the corner.

We at Celtic talk about it more than most, because we have been subjected to some horrendous refereeing decisions down through the years.

It’s the elephant in the room that just won’t go away.

It only ever takes a game against the Ibrox side for it to rear it’s ugly head once again.

Alan Stubbs’ comments on his experiences at Ibrox all those years ago set are a timely reminder to us of what has really gone on in, and continues to go on in the Scottish game.

It makes you wonder if Wille Collum was instructed to throw Frank Conner and Alan Muir under the bus?

Nodding dog and all that, you know?

They called the incident as they saw it.

Call it incompetence, call it what you want, but I’ll tell you one thing for nothing, Willie Collum better be willing to do the same for us if we’re on the end of any shit decisions in the future.

Did Ibrox pressure force the SFA, and then Collum to come begging them for forgiveness?

Here’s the thing, we’ll never know for sure.

Because uncertainty has forever surrounded refereeing standards in Scotland when it comes to Celtic and the Ibrox side.

It’s just ironic that the shoe was on the other foot for the Ibrox side this time around.

There is no “level playing field”.

Therefore, you never know what you’re going to get from game to game in the Scottish Football.

Simple governance would change all that.

Start by having to declare your allegiances, so that you cannot be in charge of a game involving your favourite team.

The rest will fall into place after that.

The “conspiracy theorists” will go away.

Not that there are any of them out there.

No, there are just people who present cold, hard facts.

Which are always ignored, and will continue to be until change is brought about.

Our club could drive that if they really wanted to.

However, as long as the “grey men” are in charge at Celtic, and “all picture, no sound Nicholson” is CEO, the status quo will remain.

Because that’s just the way everybody likes it.

But hey, I guess things would be very boring if we had the level playing field we so badly want, wouldn’t they?

I wouldn’t be writing articles like this, would I?

And we wouldn’t be reveling in the, and laughing, at the wailing out of Ibrox this past week.

Maybe we’re all helplessly addicted to the drama in the Scottish game?

From the top to the bottom.

Like a drug habit we just cannot seem to kick.

It won’t be very long before I’m writing about this particular subject again.

That’s just the way it is.

Sad, but true.