Hoops fans threaten away-day boycott
Celtic fans have made a veiled threat to boycott away games in protest against the Scottish Football Association.
They are unhappy that the SFA dismissed calls – which were backed by Celtic - for an overhaul of their disciplinary appeals system.
The Scottish Professional Footballers’ Association want changes to the current system, which sees match officials review their original decision before deciding whether a claim for wrongful dismissal should go to a review panel.
SFA chief executive Gordon Smith claimed removing referees from the process would contravene FIFA rules – claims which were later questioned by the Scottish Premier League.
A group of Celtic fans, including the Celtic Supporters Association and Celtic Trust, have now demanded a change to the rules.
A statement read: “What chance do we have if the chief executive of Scottish football doesn’t know the rules? Or is it a case of Gordon Smith using his own form of interpretation?
“He informed us that the rules of FIFA state the referee’s word is final - absolute nonsense. Nowhere in FIFA rules does it state that, if it did then the English Premier League would be breaking the rules.
“What is needed in Scotland is a complete overhaul of the rules and regulations within the Scottish game.
“We are not asking for special treatment for Celtic, we are asking – no, we are demanding – rules that are transparent, rules that take away from the referee having the one and only say when reviewing any incident.
“Most importantly there must be accountability, like in any other walk of life. If someone continues to get it wrong they must be removed from their position.
“We are talking about decisions that have multi-million pound consequences for a team like Celtic and certainly were major contributing factors in Tony Mowbray and his assistants losing their jobs.”
The statement continued: “What are we doing about it? Today we have sent a proposal to Celtic’s chief executive Peter Lawwell.
“It gives 100% support to Celtic’s call for change in matters dealing with discipline. It also sends a message that the Celtic support has lost all confidence in the SFA to deal impartially and with total honesty.
“It also points out the financial input of the Celtic support, not only to Celtic Football Club, but indeed to all the clubs in Scotland.
“And, while we wouldn’t think of doing anything which would affect Celtic financially, the same cannot be said of the other clubs. So be warned.”
