HOW can I put this delicately? Included in the suite of bequeathed memories handed down through generations of our supporters is the one that says Celtic players are refereed according to an altered set of rules. I first became aware of this on reading the late Sir Robert Kelly’s important book, entitled simply ‘Celtic’ which was published in 1971 not long before his death.

This book, part memoir; part autobiography; part history had long been anticipated by Celtic fans and it didn’t disappoint them. Sir Robert had risen to become Chairman of the SFA and was a figure who had gained huge respect throughout the world of football as a legislator and administrator. He had tales to tell.

You might argue, as I have, that his unchallenged control of Celtic in the post-war era was unhealthy and contributed to a long barren period in its history. Between 1945 and 1965 we won a paltry five trophies. No one though, doubted Sir Robert’s integrity or his sense of fairness and respect for all of Celtic’s opponents.

When he protested about being drawn against Ferencvaros in the 1968-69 European Cup – a token of support for the Czechoslovakian people after their country had been invaded by Soviet forces – he was backed by all of Europe’s top clubs. When he spoke, people listened and his voice carried real authority.

And what he spoke about in his book made a lot of people in Scottish football deeply uncomfortable. For, stitched within the memories of great players and great occasions, was an unmistakable narrative. That, too often, Celtic had been treated shabbily by the Scottish football establishment and by the men they chose to referee their games.

From the first chapter, entitled ‘The First Disallowed Goal” the book laid bare what seemed like systematic discrimination against Celtic over the course of several decades. Another chapter called simply ‘Cox-Tully” described how Celtic’s legendary Irish winger was harshly treated for retaliating against what had clearly been a clear and vicious kick by his Rangers counterpart, Sammy Cox.

Yet another chapter dealt with the flag dispute when the SFA and the Glasgow civic authorities attempted to force Celtic not to fly the Irish flag on pain of being thrown out of the league. Sir Robert vigorously opposed this and won the day. It should be pointed out here that Rangers provided valuable support to the Celtic Chairman over this issue.

Sir Robert also outlined his reasons for resigning as SFA Chairman in 1970. This followed an incident in a League Cup tie against Rangers in 1970 when the referee, James Callaghan failed to send off John Hughes for what many believed should have been a second bookable offence in a clash with the Rangers winger, Willie Johnson. The SFA handed this FIFA-rated referee an eight-week ban following a letter of complaint by Rangers. It was a very public humiliation of a man considered to be Scotland’s top referee at the time. Sir Robert felt the SFA’s treatment of Mr Callaghan had been shameful and inconsistent with the way they had dealt with other perceived refereeing errors in that period.

READ MORE: Fans deserve to be heard on Bernard Higgins and Celtic's unwillingness to engage is unwise - Kevin McKenna

Following publication of the book, there were some murmurings of discontent from some who felt because Sir Robert had devoted too much space to such incidents, but it was subdued. He was, after all, a knight of the realm and his reputation for fairness was unimpeachable. A generation later a fresh outbreak of incidents where Celtic have suffered has occurred and these bear an uncanny resemblance to those chronicled by Sir Robert. Some might argue that such incidents have never really stopped. 

I remember watching Ryan Kent punching Scott Brown in the face at the end of a hard-fought league encounter with Rangers in 2019. This took place under the nose of the referee and I wondered then what the official thought he was watching. A couple of years before that there had been a brutal tackle by Steven Naismith against Brown at Tynecastle which somehow also escaped a red card.

The challenge by Jayden Stockley on Kieran Tierney early in the 2017 Scottish Cup final was particularly brutal and resulted in facial surgery for the Celtic player. Again, not much to see here.

This season we’ve witnessed Andy Halliday’s reckless challenge on Callum McGregor which had the potential to injure the midfielder. Chris Kane’s clear kick at Cameron Carter-Vickers in the St Johnstone home game as he lay on the ground was deemed only to be a yellow card offence.

None of these though, were as potentially catastrophic as last week’s brutal challenge by Calum Butcher on David Turnbull at Tannadice. Again, you’re left to wonder what the referee thought he had seen. There are several other examples and you could probably add your own top ten. These incidents are much more troubling than any claims of wrongly-disallowed goals and wrongly-awarded penalties. For, they are beginning to affect the way that some opposition players approach games against Celtic. Put simply, they know that they can deploy a far higher level of physical aggression towards Celtic players confident that there’s a decent chance they’ll be indulged by absurdly lenient officials.

Over the years you can learn to live with the phantom offsides and the dodgy penalties. But when it seems that some talented young players are having their physical wellbeing and their entire careers placed in jeopardy this is quite something else. It also means that any Celtic manager must alter his approach to the game and perhaps tweak his training methods and the physical conditioning of his players to deal with this. One of the primary obligations of the referee is to protect the players under his charge during a game so that they can give of their best in each match. He has a duty of care to these young men – of all teams – whose careers can come crashing down on a single mistimed tackle. On the evidence of what’s been happening to Celtic players this season there is – at the very least – a case for Celtic’s custodians to pursue the matter with the SFA. They also need to be seen to be doing this.

Men like Sir Robert Kelly and Fergus McCann would have defended Celtic’s interests if they felt their players were not being given proper protection by referees. It’s Celtic’s current misfortune that there is no one remotely of the calibre of either of these men in the Celtic boardroom.