“We agree” – Referee chief Willie Collum sends message to Rangers and Celtic for “madness”
Scottish Premiership teams including Rangers and Celtic are expected to be red-carded for blocking clear goalscoring opportunities this summer, said SFA head of referees Willie Collum.
Premiership clubs will be contacted after the “crazy” claim.
Collum has backed referee John Beaton’s red card for Motherwell defender Liam Gordon at Aberdeen and said Livingston’s Cammy Kerr should have been sent off for a foul on Rangers winger Mike Moore.
Motherwell captain Paul McGinn described the situation as “crazy” after Gordon was sent off for bringing down Toyosi Olusanya two meters inside his own half with two defenders running out wide.
Collum backed his officials following the VAR review but admitted there were doubts about Olusanya’s speed as he was not fully fit after winning the ball.
The red card followed similar incidents involving Celtic defender Auston Trusty, Falkirk defender Liam Henderson and Dundee United’s Iurie Iovu in quick succession.
Speaking about Pittodrie’s incident on the VAR Review programme, Collum said: “We agree with this decision because we have been consistent and people are asking us to stick with the referee.
“We want to be consistent from now until the end of the season because if we don’t do that, the clubs will question that.
“We would like to review the dogso (scoring disqualification) situation with the clubs.”
Collum admitted that Rangers should not have been awarded a free-kick for Kerr’s foul on Moore. Most of the VAR check focused on whether it was a penalty and Collum said it was “100 per cent clear” that the foul happened outside the box.
But he added that VAR officials are “probably so focused on the penalty that they don’t look at enough details about the dog”.
The SFA will investigate the Rangers v Celtic John Beaton penalty, says a former PMGOL official.
There has been a lot of controversy behind the Old Firm…
Collum backed up his officials with another VAR-assisted red card shown to Trusty, for punching Jamie McGrath’s arm as he tried to shake the Hibernian midfielder into a corner.
“It is clear to us that this is excessive force and we cannot allow this type of action on the field,” he said.
However, Collum argued that Celtic should have had a penalty later on when Liam Scales was sent off.
VAR officials concluded there was “not enough” in the tackle but Collum disagreed, saying there were “too many catches, too much impact” and that it was “extended”.
He added: “It’s not enough, we have to stop using that because it doesn’t mean it’s not enough? We need to use the conditions.”
Collum is satisfied the right decision was made not to review Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s foul on Motherwell midfielder Elijah Just at Celtic Park last weekend.
Well manager Jens Berthel Askou said it looked like he had been in a fight after he was left with several marks on his back.
VAR officials initially said the contact was “walking in the boot” before referee John Beaton asked if they were sure, noting the New Zealander had a “wee shin mark”. He was told it was a “sharp blow”.
Collum admitted he could see how some referees would give a red card but described it as a “high yellow/orange card”.
Rangers legend McCoist was furious with Moore’s decision
Ally McCoist was left furious with the decision to call off Rangers’ draw at Livingston, calling it a “disgrace”.
“Forget the bias and nonsense you’ll get, that’s why you need people who know the game, who play, or have played the game at a good level and have some degree of when to use common sense to participate. It’s frankly embarrassing.”
Rangers welcome Aberdeen to Ibrox on Saturday and will not be able to make up for the lost points in the title race, while Celtic will have to wait until Sunday to play their part this weekend as they travel to Dundee United.
