We have had Celtic crashing out of Europe's elite competition to Liga ZON Sagres runners up S.C Braga, 4-2 on aggregate.
We then had the finest footballing outfit in the Republic of Scotland bowing out of the Europa League after beating serial Eredivise 9th place outfit FC Utrecht in the first leg at Parkhead, 2-0, only to follow up that glorious performance with an absolutely comical display in Utrecht losing 4-0 to the Dutch minnows. A hat-trick from Ricky van Wolfswinkel and a solo strike from the conveniently named Barry Maguire ended their European hopes.
That was the end of their European capitulation so onto more pressing matters, the destruction of the domestic game; the entry into perdition of the game that has caused them so much heartache and pain; the emasculation of the Masonic SPL...
The 'Dougie, Dougie' incident where Mr. Dougie McDonald told a porkie pie to the Lurgan Bigot in the referee's changing room at Tannadice, agreed by himself and the assistant, Steven Craven.
The 'anti-Catholic e-mail' Hugh Dallas heinously forwarded on which has thankfully (aye, right) brought to our attention the 'vicious anti-Catholic hostility in Scotland'.
Celtic's Annual General Meeting then featured the King of Spin and nonsense himself, 'Dr.' John Reid.
John took great delight in telling the Parkhead faithful that Celtic, and I quote:
"weren't looking for special treatment for Celtic, and never claimed to be better than anyone else, we won't be treated as less than anyone else. Those days are gone."
This, as many would have guessed elicited the loudest cheer of the afternoon from the shareholders in attendance, the paranoid bandwagon was gathering followers, like it needed any more, the wheels were about to come off...
The S.F.A reacted accordingly by allowing all and sundry to have their tuppence-worth without saying so much as boo to a goose in return. They also allowed the assistant from the Dundee United game, Steven Craven to resign under the pressure from the oppressed masses.
The growing witch hunt against officials from not only Celtic officials; from Lennon to Reid to Lawwell but also from players; Gary Hooper.
Hooper felt it necessary to open his mouth and let his gums flap, after all, that would be the only sensible thing to do after being in Scotland for circa 110 days.
Hooper's insight:
"We are one of the biggest teams in the world and everyone wants to beat us, all the teams," said Hooper.
"The referee wants to give a decision against us so he can say something after the game."
After being probed why this was the case, Hooper delved deeper into his poisoned little mind:
"Maybe because referees want to give decisions against Celtic, I don't know," he said.
"Maybe because he can tell someone he gave a decision against one of the biggest clubs in the world."
Following this onto the scene came a noble Catholic warrior by the name of Peter Kearney, a former SNP candidate as well as being the Director of the Scottish Catholic Media Office. Peter felt it only apt he put his opinions forward, after all, this is a game based and affected by religion. Celtic, the 'all inclusive Club' surely didn't need someone from a particular religion to come to the forefront and fight a battle they were losing, badly.
Peter came up with a series of riveting, sensible suggestions and a few insights into Scottish culture.
Here are the two key points Kearney treated us to:
- Referee's to state who they supported/support
- The e-mail that Hugh Dallas sent from his SFA e-mail inbox exemplified the 'vicious anti-Catholic hostility in Scotland'.
The question that must be asked is did Kearney make this observation/suggestion as an official of the Catholic Church and devout Roman Catholic or did the "nasty little weasel" base it on his experiences as a Celtic season ticket holder?
After the untold pressure placed upon the S.F.A and the referee's by not only people in a footballing capacity but also by the Catholic Church themselves the refs said enough is enough.
They took action and motioned to strike which they carried out on the weekend 27th/28th of November allowing 4 of the 6 scheduled SPL games to be refereed by foreign officials.
This was not before Hugh Dallas resigned/was asked to leave his post on the Friday prior to the strike, the 26th of November. Dallas left the S.F.A with immediate effect.
Victory must have tasted sweet for the paranoid hordes, at least sweet whilst it lasted.
The following day, the 27th of November, Celtic played host to recently promoted and 'away day' specialists, Inverness Caledonian Thistle. The match was presided over by Luxembourg Officials Alain Hamer, Francois Mangen and Christian Holtgen.
Celtic had got what they wished for: two out of three ain't bad, as they say. However, the irony of this whole episode was summed up perfectly as Daryll Murphy's strike hit the back of the net only for the perfectly legitimate goal to be ruled offside by the Luxembourg officials.
Celtic then contrived to let a two goal lead slip, allowing the men from Inverness to pull the game back to 2-2 and that is how the game ended.
We might have expected more post-match comment from the in-control freshman manager, as he is usually fierce in his assessment of the officials. In truth, he was about as rowdy as a prayer meeting claiming he "didn't see" the Daryll Murphy incident.
Celtic have contrived and engineered this whole episode to work in their favour.
Unfortunately, it has conspired against them.
From their lack of input into our country's dwindling co-efficient to the attempted brick by brick destruction of our national football organisation, they have made more enemies than they have allies.
They themselves are an enemy to our game.
Celtic F.C - Never defeated, always cheated since 1888.