Willie Collum; good guy? complete dick? corrupt? / ..and should (Old Firm) clubs "have the power to ban him"?

[Insert Amusing Pseudonym]

44 minutes ago, GeorgiosSamaras said:

The "Old Firm" are not trying to pick referees, Rangers are. Collum is a dreadful referee, he didn't check the only real penalty decision at the weekend - the foul on Turnbull wrongly ruled offside and he didn't send Walsh to the VAR monitor for the straight red card Goldson should have been given for the knee high challenge on Bernardo. 

Rangers issue with Collum is that he is a catholic and they despise catholics. Baldemort and his band of losers needed an excuse for yet another derby day walloping and the catholic watching from the van was a convenient scapegoat. It is patently ridiculous that a club who have had one penalty against them in 70 odd games think they are hard done to, I doubt they believe it themselves, but they have to placate the hoards who know little other than their team being battered by Celtic. So, they are playing up to and encouraging the worst elements of their fanbase who see this as the culmination of a wider Papal plot, started by Pope John Paul II's visit to Scotland in 1982. If it leads to violence against Collum, which those at Ibrox must surely know they are encouraging - that is a price worth paying to buy Clement's losers more time in their eyes. 

What an absolute load this is.  Feel stupider for reading it

[Munoz]

I reckon at least 80% of referees in this country grow up supporting one of the 2 arse cheeks. Surely this will have a bearing on decisions, even the subtle ones. 

[velo army]

As said above, it's no surprise Collum affects an arrogant persona. It's a protection against all the shite he'll take from fans and players alike. The fact that he comes across as a bit of a nyaff will make them a bit more memorable.

Our refs, I think, are fine. Their mistakes are flagged up by arsehole managers and fans covering for their team's inadequacies. 

The currants should be roundly ridiculed for this, or censured for what amounts to referee intimidation.

 

[diegomarahenry]

Collum is bad and probably not in the bottom 5 in Scotland. 

There is a difference between incompetence and bias. VAR should have fixed the first issue and that should remove the second accusation. 

In this case, was it a hand ball? yes, I don't think there is an angle with conclusive angle who's hand it hit but he momentum looks like it came off the Celtic player. Is that enough to give it? is there a rule on these grey areas? That is all something that the on field officials couldn't have spotted.  

Was it a penalty? no, the offside would have been spotted had Collum awarded the penalty. 

The hand ball rule for penalties aside, some of the VAR decisions have been bizarre and it goes to show how referees were seeing the game before the introduction. 

If you were to give an example of any bad refereeing decision to a fan of another club in Scotland, the reply would always be - Oh you think that is bad, wait till you hear this. The thought that Collum is bias, when he makes these clangers every single week is a non-starter. 

Basically, if we have to put up with him, Rangers have to put up with him. 

[GAD]

I actually think one of the reasons Collum gets so much stick is because he's been around for so long, so everyone has been Collum'd at some point. Some of the incidents being talked about here, like Boruc on Dargo, or the no look penalty were 10-15 years ago. Any ref around as long as Wullie is going to have a list of mistakes behind him.

[DukDukGoose]

10 minutes ago, Munoz said:

I reckon at least 80% of referees in this country grow up supporting one of the 2 arse cheeks. Surely this will have a bearing on decisions, even the subtle ones. 

It probably causes them to overthink it which is why there is so many wild 50/50 decisions in their games.

I can only remember Alan Freeland (who St Mirren fans obviously love) refereeing us once. Gave us nothing in the first half against Dundee to the extent you would think he was on the take. He must have been told he was having a shocker as he came out second half and gave us everything. I think this included a late penalty for the winner. Don't think he refereed us again.

[Insert Amusing Pseudonym]

1 minute ago, GAD said:

I actually think one of the reasons Collum gets so much stick is because he's been around for so long, so everyone has been Collum'd at some point. Some of the incidents being talked about here, like Boruc on Dargo, or the no look penalty were 10-15 years ago. Any ref around as long as Wullie is going to have a list of mistakes behind him.

He tends to make absolute howlers, and his manner is awful, but most of his decisions are right.

Compare that to say Alan Muir  who you've no idea what he's actually watching and I've come to not fear Collum getting a game as much as i used to

[Comrie]

He's a complete fud who is out to make it all about him. The fact he's likely one of our better refs shows just how awful the others are. I dread to think how bad officiating in the lower tiers is now with VAR needing two extra officials a game.

[kingjoey]

I remember a match years ago that I was at which was televised by Sky, Hamilton v Aberdeen. It must have been very early in Collum's career, and between him and his linesmen they disallowed three valid Aberdeen goals although we still won 3-0. My kids were texting me during the game saying that's yet another good goal chalked off. Having said that, personally I think he's definitely improved since then and is ok now.

[Leith Green]

Collum makes every match about him.

An oddball.

But, no - the rangers have no right to ask for him to be removed from their games, have clearly brought the game into disrepute and require a substantial points deduction - perhaps 100?

[GAD]

1 minute ago, DukDukGoose said:

It probably causes them to overthink it which is why there is so many wild 50/50 decisions in their games.

I can only remember Alan Freeland (who St Mirren fans obviously love) refereeing us once. Gave us nothing in the first half against Dundee to the extent you would think he was on the take. He must have been told he was having a shocker as he came out second half and gave us everything. I think this included a late penalty for the winner. Don't think he refereed us again.

Yeah, Freeland got quietly banned from St Mirren games as well for a while. It definitely used to happen that certain refs were not given certain teams, Freeland I think only refereed two Aberdeen and 5 St Mirren games in his whole career if transfermarket is correct. He did 24 and 22 Dundee/Dundee United games for comparison.

[Sortmeout]

Rangers are dicks of course and just trying to get themselves beneficial treatment moving forward but almost everyone on this shite has agreed that Willie Collum is a terrible referee so you need to agree with them on that front.

[DukDukGoose]

2 minutes ago, GAD said:

Yeah, Freeland got quietly banned from St Mirren games as well for a while. It definitely used to happen that certain refs were not given certain teams, Freeland I think only refereed two Aberdeen and 5 St Mirren games in his whole career if transfermarket is correct. He did 24 and 22 Dundee/Dundee United games for comparison.

As far as I am aware, he's a Dons fan from Aberdeen which explains the high quantity of games in Dundee.

Makes sense that a Dons fan can't ref our games but due to almost all refs coming from the west coast, hard to police it for the two uglies.

[RuMoore]

55 minutes ago, Lurkst said:

It's already happened...

 

 

It didn't hit his arm though, would've been checked, nothing contentious really albeit at first viewing I thought it might have hit his arm. 

Here's a classic of the Collum genre.

 

 

[VincentGuerin]

53 minutes ago, DukDukGoose said:

One of my pals took up refereeing when we were at school. They gave him lower age 11 a side games. He gave up after three games because he couldn't be arsed taking the abuse from players, coaches and the parents over such trivial fouls or decisions.

 

Boy that I used to go on a supporter's bus with was on the refereeing path when we were in our late-teens/early twenties.

He got to the point of doing adult matches, not sure what level. Eventually binned it off for similar reasons to your mate. He just couldn't justify driving miles every weekend to take abuse in the pishing rain. He's a very laid-back lad, but I think even for someone like him there's a tipping point where you just get fed up. Some of the stories of folk offering him out (players and coaches) with nobody to back him up were quite frightening.

Football in general has an issue with arseholery. Players are encouraged to cheat, and it's the ref's fault if he falls for it. Players are encouraged to scream at refs, swear in their faces etc. All joking aside, that is no way for an adult to behave and it's shameful that the sport has allowed it to go on so long. Referees on the telly have police around, and the sort of protection of cameras etc. Refs in a public park have f**k all, so I think there's probably a heavy bias in certain personality types making it to the top of refereeing. You'd need thick as f**k skin, and I don't see why we all just accept that.

Behaviour in football is a disgrace.

[Alan_G]

Teams should absolutely be allowed to decide who the referee is for all their matches. And so United should be commended for giving some much needed work to Bob Valentine.

[Shuggie_Murray7]

3 minutes ago, GAD said:

Yeah, Freeland got quietly banned from St Mirren games as well for a while. It definitely used to happen that certain refs were not given certain teams, Freeland I think only refereed two Aberdeen and 5 St Mirren games in his whole career if transfermarket is correct. He did 24 and 22 Dundee/Dundee United games for comparison.

Eddie Smith was essentially phased out of refereeing after multiple run-ins with Gus MacPherson.

In early  2008, he gave Celtic a free kick at Love Street despite the fact it was Nakamura who had actually fouled Gary Mason. This was in the 87th minute at 0-0 and Nakamura went on to score the winner directly  from the freekick.

The first match of the following season, he sent Will Haining off at Celtic Park after Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink took a dive AFTER he sent a shot wide of the target. It was pulled back and Celtic were awarded the penalty and MacPherson claimed Smith winked at him from the pitch. This was around the hour mark. Celtic scored the penalty and won the game 1-0.

There have certainly been instances of referees being moved away from certain team's games. Has a club ever successfully called for a ref to be banned from reffing their games though?

[GAD]

11 minutes ago, DukDukGoose said:

As far as I am aware, he's a Dons fan from Aberdeen which explains the high quantity of games in Dundee.

Makes sense that a Dons fan can't ref our games but due to almost all refs coming from the west coast, hard to police it for the two uglies.

Yeah, he also refereed plenty of other teams in Scotland to be fair, just used them as an example as they were at the top of the list. It might be Freeland requested not to get Aberdeen games, as Craig Thomson got lots of St Mirren games.

[coprolite]

1 hour ago, GeorgiosSamaras said:

The "Old Firm" are not trying to pick referees, Rangers are. Collum is a dreadful referee, he didn't check the only real penalty decision at the weekend - the foul on Turnbull wrongly ruled offside and he didn't send Walsh to the VAR monitor for the straight red card Goldson should have been given for the knee high challenge on Bernardo. 

Rangers issue with Collum is that he is a catholic and they despise catholics. Baldemort and his band of losers needed an excuse for yet another derby day walloping and the catholic watching from the van was a convenient scapegoat. It is patently ridiculous that a club who have had one penalty against them in 70 odd games think they are hard done to, I doubt they believe it themselves, but they have to placate the hoards who know little other than their team being battered by Celtic. So, they are playing up to and encouraging the worst elements of their fanbase who see this as the culmination of a wider Papal plot, started by Pope John Paul II's visit to Scotland in 1982. If it leads to violence against Collum, which those at Ibrox must surely know they are encouraging - that is a price worth paying to buy Clement's losers more time in their eyes. 

Celtic might not put out the same tear drenched statements but are very quick to apply pressure when they feel aggrieved.

I believe your lot like to call it “seeking clarification”.

[GAD]

6 minutes ago, Shuggie_Murray7 said:

Eddie Smith was essentially phased out of refereeing after multiple run-ins with Gus MacPherson.

In early  2008, he gave Celtic a free kick at Love Street despite the fact it was Nakamura who had actually fouled Gary Mason. This was in the 87th minute at 0-0 and Nakamura went on to score the winner directly  from the freekick.

The first match of the following season, he sent Will Haining off at Celtic Park after Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink took a dive AFTER he sent a shot wide of the target. It was pulled back and Celtic were awarded the penalty and MacPherson claimed Smith winked at him from the pitch. This was around the hour mark. Celtic scored the penalty and won the game 1-0.

There have certainly been instances of referees being moved away from certain team's games. Has a club ever successfully called for a ref to be banned from reffing their games though?

I don't think it was just St Mirren that had issues with Eddie Smith, it was any diddy team he happened to ref against Celtic. The pattern was a bit obvious. I'm pretty sure the Haining incident, at least in part, led to an overhaul of the appeals system to take it out of the original refs hands after Eddie refused to admit he'd made a mistake, so the red card had to stand.