Former striker Frank McAvennie feels Celtic have been on the end of too many bad decisions lately - but he does not believe there is any particular bias against them. McAvennie was speaking on the back of Gary Hooper claim that a disproportionate amount of decisions had gone against his team this season. However, McAvennie says he suffered much more frustration with officials while playing for St Mirren than he did with Celtic. McAvennie said: "I'm not going to call people cheats and say refs are against Celtic but there an awful lot of mistakes being made against Celtic and they have got to look into it. But they are highlighted. When you're playing against the big teams, you don't get the decisions. When I was at St Mirren we didn't get some of the decisions we should have got. It used to all work itself out, but we never got any against the Old Firm. There are a lot of mistakes being made but it's just being highlighted with Celtic at the moment. Because of what happened last week, all of these conspiracy theories that everyone laughed at, it's giving them fuel for their fire. I just think people make mistakes."
McAvennie also urged leniency towards Hooper, whose comments did not go down well inside the SFA, although the governing body have not yet officially reacted. McAvennie went on: "He is new to Scottish football and he has come out and said something. He is an honest lad, I've seen him a few times down at Scunthorpe and he just wants to score goals and play football. If he has said that, he obviously feels that, and that's they way it has gone in the first quarter of the season. Celtic writing to the SFA looking for inquiries doesn't help the fact."
However, McAvennie agrees with Hooper on the subject of McDonald's future. The referee has insisted he will not resign and expects to referee an Old Firm match again. But he has been left off the SPL list for the next two sets of games. McAvennie said: "I don't think there's any way back for Dougie. Referees are going to make mistakes but when you try to cover up, I don't think there is any way back. He wants to referee an Old Firm game again. He's having a laugh, he's delusional. It will never happen. Somebody has told lies there and they are blaming each other. Because of that I don't think Dougie can referee again. And apart from that I don't think he was very good anyway."
Former striker Frank McAvennie feels Celtic have been on the end of too many bad decisions lately - but he does not believe there is any particular bias against them. McAvennie was speaking on the back of Gary Hooper claim that a disproportionate amount of decisions had gone against his team this season. However, McAvennie says he suffered much more frustration with officials while playing for St Mirren than he did with Celtic. McAvennie said: "