Celtic fans must call this out every time as Cammy Devlin red-card excuses continue
Derek Clark’s shin-pad argument highlights a wider problem: dangerous challenges should not continually be softened into being described as merely fouls.
Phillip Cooney 
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The Cammy Devlin red card debate has produced some remarkable attempts to play down what happened against Jablonec.
This is exactly why these incidents need called out every single time.
Speaking on the Rangers Review podcast, Derek Clark discussed the tiny shin guards worn by many modern footballers.
Clark said:
“You’re as well just going with bare legs.”
He then added:
“If he was wearing proper shin guards, then he’s not rolling around like that.”
Cammy Devlin red card cannot simply become ‘a foul’
That argument turns the responsibility completely backwards.
Devlin made the challenge. He was off the ground and caught his opponent high on the shin.
Whether the Jablonec player had a large shin guard, a tiny one or anything in between does not change that.
The problem is bigger than this one comment.
Too often, dangerous challenges are discussed afterwards as though they were simply unfortunate fouls.
They are not always “just fouls”.
Some challenges cross the line into red-card territory because of where the contact is made, how the player enters the challenge and the danger presented to an opponent.
That distinction matters.
Celtic fans should call these arguments out
This is why the language surrounding incidents like this should be challenged every time.
If a player leaves the ground and catches an opponent high, the debate should be about the challenge.
It should not suddenly become a discussion about whether the opponent wore big enough shin pads or rolled around too much afterwards.
Clark can argue that modern shin guards offer inadequate protection. That is a completely separate debate.
What they cannot become is mitigation for the player making the challenge.
Otherwise, the conversation gradually changes from “was that dangerous?” to “could the player being tackled have protected himself better?”
That is backwards.
When a challenge warrants a red card, call it a red card.
Don’t downgrade it to “just a foul” because that makes the incident easier to defend.
And when that happens again, it deserves to be called out again.
