No Celtic conspiracy - McAvennie

Frank McAvennie feels Celtic have been on the end of too many bad decisions lately - but he does not believe there is any bias against them.

Celtic striker Gary Hooper intensified the ongoing debate about refereeing standards in Scotland when he claimed a disproportionate amount of decisions had gone against his team this season.

The 22-year-old summer signing from Scunthorpe argued that referees might give awards against Celtic because they can tell people they gave a bad decision against one of the biggest clubs in the world.

But McAvennie says he endured much more frustration with referees while playing for St Mirren than he did with Celtic.

Hooper was at the centre of a penalty drama against Dundee United that sparked a Scottish Football Association probe, which discovered that referee Dougie McDonald had lied to Lennon about the circumstances of his decision to rescind a Celtic spot-kick.

Celtic wrote to the SFA for clarification on that incident and a penalty awarded against them by Willie Collum during their 3-1 defeat by Rangers.

McAvennie said: "I'm not going to call people cheats and say refs are against Celtic but there an awful lot of mistakes being made against Celtic and they have got to look into it.

"But they are highlighted. When you're playing against the big teams, you don't get the decisions.

"When I was at St Mirren we didn't get some of the decisions we should have got. It used to all work itself out, but we never got any against the Old Firm.

"There are a lot of mistakes being made but it's just being highlighted with Celtic at the moment.

"Because of what happened last week, all of these conspiracy theories that everyone laughed at, it's giving them fuel for their fire. I just think people make mistakes."

McAvennie also urged leniency towards Hooper, whose comments did not go down well inside the SFA, although the governing body have not yet responded.

"He is new to Scottish football and he has come out and said something," the former West Ham forward said.

"He is an honest lad, I've seen him a few times down at Scunthorpe and he just wants to score goals and play football.

"If he has said that, he obviously feels that, and that's they way it has gone in the first quarter of the season.

"Celtic writing to the SFA looking for inquiries doesn't help the fact."

However, McAvennie agrees with Hooper on the subject of McDonald's future.

The referee has insisted he will not resign and expects to referee an Old Firm match again. But he has been left off the SPL list for the next two sets of fixtures.

McAvennie said: "I don't think there's any way back for Dougie.

"Referees are going to make mistakes but when you try to cover up, I don't think there is any way back.

"He wants to referee an Old Firm game again. He's having a laugh, he's delusional. It will never happen.

"Somebody has told lies there and they are blaming each other.

"Because of that I don't think Dougie can referee again.

"And apart from that I don't think he was very good anyway."

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I like Macca but he seems to have went awful Uncle Tim with this.

 

its quite shocking the amount of ex players willing to come out and say thats it's some kind of paranoid delusion.

 

Macca must be going for another job needs to show his worth.

 

Aye it's pretty bad craic. Especially seeing as in the case the ex-player in question is "Celtic minded" - he should know the score regarding bias in Scotland.

 

I think Celtic are quite happy to let Gary Hooper to be the stalking horse to draw the fire of the SFA and the red tops.It's all building up quite nicely to the Hampden protest.

And Macca grow a pair and stop talking rubbish. You know everybody up here is biased against Celtic. Celtic = Catholic. And they don't like us.

 

reckon that he was on the auld *cough*??

 

wonder who macca climbed off of to give such a lengthy and profound insightful statement.

 

what is it with sections of the celtic support that have to ridicule ex-players for not agreeing with everything they say??????

i don't see anything wrong with what mcavennie has said, i really don't. it's his * opinion.

i've heard that bertie auld does not believe there's a conspiracy against celtic. this is a man that lives and breathes celtic and comes across as a man that speaks so passionately about the hoops.

so should be have a go at bertie now for not agreeing with the conspiracists???

i stopped reading mark hateley's column in the daily record as he was too biased in favour of rangers. i want a person that will give their honest opinion, not that of a deluded, biased muppet that only spouts praise for their old side.

the likes of craig burley are muppets as they've absolutely nothing good to say about the club, but the likes of hartson are great in my opinion as i feel i'm getting an honest opinion when listening, whether it's praise or criticism.

 

Not sure what to make of this story. If it is true then he must be skint and after money again. I have met macca a few times as my family knew his ex (the one he used to beat). He must have a split personality or something as this latest article is far from the stuff he used to go on about.

If it is true then it'll be the usual with him.He'll be skint and need money. He'd sell his soul for a few quid so i would take that article with a pinch of salt tbh

 

So if an ex Celtic player comes out and says ' There IS a conspiracy against Celtic', it's 'well in big man, what a true celt'

But * forbid an ex celtic player come out and voice his opinion and it happens to be contrary to that of the the majority of the fans. Then it's accusations of hunnery, greed and got knows what.

Fairly shameful, imo.

 

Not true. Celtic does not = Catholic. Celtic are a club for all.

 

Macca on the drink as usual! Still love him!

 

I think he may have meant the perception of the club.

 

+1 good post mate

 

IM not para ,im not para im not para ........

 

Well said mate.

Thinking that any ex-player or person associated with the club who doesn't believe in a refereeing bias is working some sort of angle is a bit paranoid in my opinion.

 

Will always have a huge soft spot for Frank. Brilliant all round striker of the sort Scotland does not produce these days. I think people need to accept that fans are just that, fanatics. Players are often a lot more cool headed and less partizan. People need to recognise that fans tend to be OTT about things while players are more balanced. There is clearly a pattern of ex-players believing in a conspiracy less than fans and we just have to accept this and respect it.