Innocence has been found guilty

Published 29th Apr 2019

The sentimental old fool in me wishes to believe divine intervention brought Celtic's number five, Jozo Simunovic, the winning goal against Kilmarnock on Saturday.

Billy McNeill's shirt number. Billy McNeill's day of remembrance.

Pre-ordination is alive and well and living in the SPFL.

That fairytale aspect which Billy often said was attached to Celtic is still valid. He just wrote another chapter posthumously, that's all.

Those of an un-romantic, more pragmatic, frame of mind are perfectly at liberty to disagree and protest that a fine header simply dignified a distinctly scruffy performance from Celtic.

Sentimentality, innocence of any kind, really, isn't what's wanted today. The modern day game prefers guilt, recrimination and anything that can be squabbled over.

So, to satisfy the frenzy for malice and mis-trust, I present the following.

I thought neither of the penalties awarded against Aberdeen at Ibrox yesterday were worthy of the name.

I thought Andrew Considine was therefore unfortunate to be sent off for a second booking that never was, rendering him unavailable for Aberdeen's game against Celtic next weekend.

And I thought Kilmarnock were due a penalty when Celtic's captain, Scott Brown, pushed Stephen O'Donnell in the back when he was about to shoot at goal.

I would like to point out, however, that I can't award penalties or suspend players. That is the job of people who are involved in the game in a paid capacity.

But by all means feel free to send on your insults, insinuations and allegations and I will ignore them along with all the rest.

Back to divine intervention in the meantime.

As a general rule, football works to a more temporal set of rules. Big Billy will now look down on Celtic from above and understand they will need to get by without the help of divine providence.

And the amount of temporal work to be done there is on an industrial scale.

New full-time manager to be confirmed. Check.

Shoal of players to be off-loaded or returned to parent clubs at the end of loan agreements. Check.

New players to be signed to assist a side who have become one-paced, predictable and toothless. Check.

But all of that is for another day as the championship comes to within one point of its conclusion.

Neil Lennon's post-match assertion on Saturday that Celtic were due to give somebody a "Going over" was a positive sounding piece of managerial analysis.

Where he gets that idea from, however, might be another matter entirely.

But if Neil is correct then now would be the time to do it in style. Pittodrie next. Then Ibrox.

If Celtic can get a point at Aberdeen at the weekend, and you can now put the kettle on for this question being asked, will Rangers give them a guard of honour when Lennon's side emerge from the tunnel at Ibrox on May 12.

Old Firm rivalry means one set of supporters can not be truly happy unless they have made the other lot absolutely despondent, thunderstruck and crestfallen.

My answer in advance of the topic arising, thereby sparking moral indignation and moral high ground occupancy, is Rangers should do so if they want.

Or exercise the right to believe Celtic can revel in the glory of being champions without Rangers voluntarily rubbing their own supporters noses in their discomfort over that state of affairs.

If the boot was on the other foot Celtic would be perfectly entitled to take the same approach and wait until it was their turn to celebrate.

Just get on with the game. That, I can assure you, is what big Billy would have said.

There are other, more pressing matters at stake.

For instance, are Celtic, at a time when the championship trophy is a fingertip away but the team is treading water on the journey to get over the line, up to getting a point at Pttodrie or Ibrox? Never mind giving anyone a going over.

Or are we headed for a final day of the season with the championship issue still unresolved?

Denunciation, protestation and fulmination to the usual address if you please.

The old cynic in me tells me the season is headed for a deeply contentious end and sentimentality was only on offer for one weekend.

This is the place where innocence has been found guilty of time-wasting between rows.