No winners, just cheats, hypocrites and a man who should know better
THE Jamie Walker incident at Tynecastle simultaneously stoked memories and fuelled some new fires.
Scotland were the first country in the world to introduce retrospective legislation, and I was the man who pushed for its introduction.
I did so because I felt then, as I do now, that simulation should have no part in the game. Cheats should never be allowed to prosper.
Now, people may argue it hasn’t been entirely successful because we still see examples, such as that of Walker winning Hearts a penalty against Celtic last Sunday when there had plainly been no contact from the defender.
The evidence of our eyes told us as much, and as soon as Brendan Rodgers revealed the referee, John Beaton, had apologised to him for giving the award, it was clear that was definitely the case.
Officials get the opportunity to review the television footage postmatch, and no one is going to put himself through the experience of saying sorry to a manager unless he knows he was in the wrong.
However, had the legislation not been in place, Walker would have got off scot-free.
As it was, he picked up a retrospective two- match ban and now knows referees will now look very carefully at every incident he is involved in.
Hearts, of course, chose to appeal the decision, possibly as they were aware the damage to the midfielder’s reputation could end up costing them points in future games.
I don’t know how much money that cost them but it was wasted.
They lost the argument and, I would add, some respect from their peers along the way.
We all know it will be every manager’s initial instinct to defend his player. He is leader of the group.
But I can’t understand why Robbie Neilson would not have modified his view after studying the footage.
It won’t be that long before the Edinburgh club are on the receiving end of a similar decision.
We have, in fact, only to look back to 2014 and another game against Celtic when Hoops striker John Guidetti flung himself to the ground to win a penalty.
The Swede later claimed to have “fallen” but you just need to see how high his arms were up to know he dived.
Other managers will not be impressed to see one of their numbers arguing black is white in face of contrary evidence.
Likewise, having seen Tynecastle owner Ann Budge lead an impressive campaign against misbehaviour among fans, it is surely remiss to ignore misbehaviour – for that is what it was – from one of her players.
Overall, respect has gone right out the window.
I was surprised to hear Celtic skipper Scott Brown label Walker, who could be a future Scotland team-mate, a cheat when all he had to do was say: ‘ Watch the incident and make up your own mind’.
Still worse was hearing a former professional turned TV pundit – no names but you can guess who – condone the dive.
That was astonishing and did no one any favours.