Richard Gordon

[sooth_stander]

I’ve noticed that our Richard has come in for some criticism lately; on here, podcasts and social media, for rubbishing Robson’s tactics on occasion (regularly) and folk nonsensically suggesting he’s been brow beaten by the Weegia media, and their narrative which is always to disrespect AFC at every opportunity.

Which I think is a load of shit because all he is doing is telling it like it is, using his eyes and his judgement.

Well, today in his regular P&J column, he’s put in print that there is only one reason why Sevco haven’t had a penalty awarded against them since fuck knows when; bias. No other reason to explain why, apparently, there has been no fouls in their box, even with the advent of VAR.

Good on you. Wish there were more journos like you.

Expect a grilling on Sportsound tomorrow, however. 

“Gers penalty facts defy explanation

Not for the first time, an Aberdeen v Rangers encounter ended in chaos and controversy last weekend, as the visitors were awarded a stoppage-time penalty and the Dons were left fuming.

I have on occasion this season been somewhat perplexed by Barry Robson’s post-match comments but last Sunday I could understand his frustration when he said: “It doesn’t look good” for the game that Rangers benefited from “another” late VAR call.

Taken in isolation, it was the correct decision. Stefan Gartenmann clearly pulled back Connor Goldson and the award was justified.

The argument, of course, is that similar offences are perpetrated at every corner and go unnoticed and unpunished.

On this occasion and with time very much running out for Rangers, the VAR official, Andrew Dallas, chose to get involved.

He also decided not to intervene soon after when Goldson flattened Dante Polvara with a flailing arm. That was a clear red card.

It was, however, the penalty which sparked most debate, and the award, the Ibrox side’s 10th of the season, caused more uproar and much angst among football fans generally.

Having gone back through my own stats for the past few seasons, the issue is not the number of spot-kicks Rangers are awarded.

Since the start of the 2021-22 campaign, they have been given 26 in the Premiership while Celtic have had 23.

You would expect the Glasgow sides to get more penalties, given how they dominate most games, and the pair have similar results. For comparison’s sake, the Dons have been awarded 18.

It is the decisions at the other end of the pitch which produce incomprehensible statistics.

In that same period, Aberdeen have conceded 23 and Celtic 10. Only three penalties have been awarded to teams playing Rangers. Jordan White scored for Ross County in August 2021 and Dundee’s Jason Cummings had his effort saved the following month.

When Lewis Ferguson stepped up to net from the spot on January 18 2022 for Aberdeen, that was the last time Rangers faced a top-flight penalty.

They have now played a staggering 68 matches without conceding one in the Premiership. In that time, it would appear not a single Rangers player has committed a foul in their own 18-yard box.

Not once has a referee deemed a challenge illegal; not once, since its introduction in October 2022, has a VAR official highlighted anything of note while the Ibrox side has been defending its area.

It would hardly be a stretch to suggest there is bias there. I am not suggesting it is intentional bias, that the referees are deliberately ignoring incidents, but for whatever reason, it clearly exists.

How else, unless those Rangers defenders are somehow infinitely more disciplined than all their opponents, can that remarkable statistic be explained?”

[Ramandu]

Sensible fella, hopefully gets a bit of discussion going.

I'm pretty sure that if our sports journalists weren't so numerically illiterate there would be a lot of interesting stats to dive into. 

[thurso]

What’s the bets st mirren get a penalty tomorrow if sevco are already winning by a couple of goals and the media say see they do get penalties against them it’s a myth there is a bias 

[Dynamo]

I expect Richard Gordon to raise these points on Radio Scotland tomorrow...maybe not. 

[Redtillimdead]

Fair play to him calling out the bias. Must be the first article in main stream print about it. 

Of course the weegie press will not want attention drawn to this so he will be a lone voice. 

[Arthur FN Shelby]

The Huns will have a token penalty awarded against them just to take the flak off them ( not that they give a shit what others think) Probably in a cup  game against the likes of Kelty or the like when 5-0 up.

[Don_Corleone]

Good lad. He'll probably get sued or assassinated as a result. 

Need to build this narrative ahead of the cup final though, because it's 100% guaranteed they'll get some dodgy decisions going their way in that game.

[sooth_stander]

He does try to caveat his bias claims by saying it’s unintentional. That’s rubbish. Bias is bias, how can it never be intentional?

[Frank Grimes]

39 minutes ago, Dynamo said:

I expect Richard Gordon to raise these points on Radio Scotland tomorrow...maybe not. 

Well this is it 

Fair enough raising it in the relative safety of a P&J column

Get those views fucking aired on Sportsound and let the likes of Kenny Miller splutter their way to any kind of explanation 

[Howard Marks]

Death threats incoming I'd imagine. How dare he.

[aberdeen1970]

They'll start a campaign to get him taken off Sunday sportsound.

He'll get the same treatment that Jim Spence got 

[Jigsaw666]

Well I doubt Rangers will demand an inquiry about those stats. 

[shut up meg]

1 hour ago, Dynamo said:

I expect Richard Gordon to raise these points on Radio Scotland tomorrow...maybe not. 

I expect him to get hounded out of Radio Scotland like Jim Spence

[milne_afc]

Tbf, it turns out that Spence was a total crackpot all along.

[WesthillWanderersFC]

1 hour ago, sooth_stander said:

He does try to caveat his bias claims by saying it’s unintentional. That’s rubbish. Bias is bias, how can it never be intentional?

When Beaton, Dallas, McLean, Aitken, Walsh etc are all known Huns, it’s pure bias.

None of the subconscious bias pish.  
That’s just skirting round the subject. 

The SFA facilitate it 

And it will never change until all the clubs hound those cunts at the SFA. 

[Ke1t]

3 minutes ago, WesthillWanderersFC said:

When Beaton, Dallas, McLean, Aitken, Walsh etc are all known Huns, it’s pure bias.

None of the subconscious bias pish.  
That’s just skirting round the subject. 

The SFA facilitate it 

And it will never change until all the clubs hound those cunts at the SFA. 

Correct. 

Unfortunately every cunt and their dog knows that when it comes down to it not a single club has the basic morals or courage to make a stand. Not a single fucking one of them. 

I had hoped Cormack would be the catalyst for greater change, but he's as subservient and nutless as his predecessor. 

We operate in a rigged game, and Celtic and Sevco are the House. 

 

[dj_bollocks]

2 hours ago, Dynamo said:

I expect Richard Gordon to raise these points on Radio Scotland tomorrow...maybe not. 

I expect a number of statements to be made and Rangers threatening a boycott unless the biased presenter is removed from their job a la Jim Spence...

[dj_bollocks]

1 hour ago, shut up meg said:

I expect him to get hounded out of Radio Scotland like Jim Spence

You beat me to it...

[dj_bollocks]

I mean if someone could be arsed going through every Hun game and produce a invariably lengthy smoking gun You Tube video with every decision in their box that should have been clear cut penalties, that's the smoking gun...

[shut up meg]

Celtic have had 8 pens from 7 games this season in the league, they scored 5 and missed 3.

Only 2 of their games they were ahead already, and they were never behind.

Rangers have had 7 penalties from 5 games, they scored 5 and missed 2.

They were ahead in 2 games when they got the pens, and behind in 2, Both of the games they were behind, they got 90+ minute pens from a VAR review.

The fact that they got 2 pens from VAR when they were behind backs up Gordon's statement.

[G man]

2 hours ago, Dynamo said:

I expect Richard Gordon to raise these points on Radio Scotland tomorrow...maybe not. 

I hope he raises them on BBC Scotland but l suspect he will follow his west coast masters line and not criticise the Govan mob. 

[Kincardine_Mearns_Red]

Cue the death-threats from the huns and probably the SFA. The mafia are amateurs compared to the Govan filth and its own personal football association.

[donswin1983]

3 hours ago, sooth_stander said:

He does try to caveat his bias claims by saying it’s unintentional. That’s rubbish. Bias is bias, how can it never be intentional?

It’s cleverly written and fair play to him, that takes balls! My interpretation of the article is; he’s already made the point about bias, landing the point brilliantly! Therefore, stating ‘unintentional’ is well crafted, subtle sarcasm! His final paragraph just personifies the sarcasm..superb! (I’m not Richard Gordon celebrating my own work)

How else, unless those Rangers defenders are somehow infinitely more disciplined than all their opponents, can that remarkable statistic be explained?”

[strachanmcgheegoal]

Decent discussion, prompted by a Tom English podcast apparently,  this afternoon on Shortbread basically on Why is the top league so shit.  Stopped short of the obvious, because a strong set of cheeks is only good for a strong set of cheeks, but decent none the less.  A start.  More of this please.

[sooth_stander]

2 minutes ago, strachanmcgheegoal said:

Decent discussion, prompted by a Tom English podcast apparently,  this afternoon on Shortbread basically on Why is the top league so shit.  Stopped short of the obvious, because a strong set of cheeks is only good for a strong set of cheeks, but decent none the less.  A start.  More of this please.

Yeah, heard that earlier. 

We can discuss having a minimum qty of homegrown players in starting 11s, larger top division, a more even distribution of revenues etc till the cows come home but the ridiculous 11-1 voting structure will prevent anything that the Cheeks deem disadvantages to them.

And we all know who could have binned that stupid rule…

[WesthillWanderersFC]

4 minutes ago, sooth_stander said:

Yeah, heard that earlier. 

We can discuss having a minimum qty of homegrown players in starting 11s, larger top division, a more even distribution of revenues etc till the cows come home but the ridiculous 11-1 voting structure will prevent anything that the Cheeks deem disadvantages to them.

And we all know who could have binned that stupid rule…

Aye, and he’s partly responsible for our selection of managers FFS 

[donswin1983]

It’s a shame that a petition on this can’t be created for parliamentary discussion. Westminster or jock parliament, as I would happily create one online. Can’t imagine getting over 100k supporters of ‘rangers penalty gate’ would be a problem. Sadly, it wouldn’t fall under the jurisdiction of petitions that would be debated though! 
would be fucking priceless if it could be or was though! 
I maintain that a genuine, independent audit/review would determine the bias RG describes! 

[strachanmcgheegoal]

14 minutes ago, sooth_stander said:

Yeah, heard that earlier. 

We can discuss having a minimum qty of homegrown players in starting 11s, larger top division, a more even distribution of revenues etc till the cows come home but the ridiculous 11-1 voting structure will prevent anything that the Cheeks deem disadvantages to them.

And we all know who could have binned that stupid rule…

John Robertson spoke well, albeit (with Inverness hat on) went a bit far re total league expansion and restructuring, including B teams etc.  It was interesting that his key message - taking a completely fresh approach - was met momentarily with a stunned silence, then the usual suspects kicked into nah they (meaning the cheeks and their support acts) would never buy it.

Whole discussion for me was let down by the parameter setting - How do we make 3rd place more interesting (and by extension worth spending mega bucks on).  

You sold the game out to recreate the cheek myth and now you have a problem that its still a myth.  Fuck right off.

[Dynamo]

The expanded league will no doubt rear its head but i've not heard anyone present an argument as to how that won't lower the quality further. 

Scottish football has two clubs who are far too big for the rest. It'll never change unless they leave. Most of the interest from TV/Media would likely go with them too, initially. 

We'd have a good league though.

[Ten Caat]

I've said it before. I think it's inevitable the arse cheeks will "leave", possibly into a new pan-European (or regional European) construct within 5-10 years. However the SFA and SPL/SPFL will pander to them completely and allow them to stick B teams into the Scottish league structure, at worst at Lowland League level and these teams WILL be allowed to gain promotion to higher leagues (and who will spend increasingly large sums on their squads each year to ensure they do get promoted). So within 5 to 6 years tops you'll end up with arse cheeks back in the SPL and outspending every other team, thus they'll win practically everything between them thereafter like they do right now