Kenny Dalglish urges Rangers man to seek legal advice after decision that left him ‘taken aback’
Sir Kenny Dalglish has claimed that Rangers manager Steven Gerrard should seek legal advice after being hit with a Notice of Complaint by the SFA.
The Ibrox boss was reprimanded after making comments in the wake of Ryan Edwards’ challenge on Alfredo Morelos during the Gers’ 4-0 win over Dundee United.
The tackle left the Colombian with a nasty gash that meant he had to receive extensive treatment, but the challenge itself went unpunished at the time.
Speaking after the incident, Gerrard said: “He’s a lucky boy that it’s only a gash. I was impressed with United today so I don’t want to make headlines and say a kid should have got this or that.
“I don’t want to be that type of manager.
“But what I would say is that I’d be very interested to see what the decision would have been from the officials had the shoe been on the other foot and Alfredo had made that tackle.”
The Light Blues gaffer was subsequently charged with allegedly breaching Disciplinary Rule 72, which states that any suggestion that a referee has acted with bias or incompetence is a punishable offence.
But Dalglish has admitted that he is perplexed by the decision.
Writing in a column for The Sunday Post, he said: “When I heard about the Notice of Complaint served to Steven Gerrard by the SFA on Wednesday night, I was absolutely taken aback.
“The comments he made in the post-match media conference after Rangers’ game with Dundee United earlier this month seemed to me perfectly reasonable and, in my opinion, he didn’t accuse the match referee, Kevin Clancy, of bias or incompetence.
“Had Steven been out of order, then he would deserve to be punished, fair and square. But his comments are far from derogatory.
“If I were in his shoes, I’d defend myself vigorously and would be giving my lawyer a ring as well. The SFA have reached for the rule-book but I’d be checking the law books and, in particular, the legality of being publicly accused unfairly.”
Does Dalglish have a point here?
Personally, we couldn’t agree more with him.
The fact that Alfredo Morelos has had to be stretchered off after a blatantly reckless piece of play – the fact that said piece of play has gone unpunished for whatever reason – and yet somehow Gerrard is the one who has ended up in bother; it’s utterly perplexing.
Given the circumstances, you could actually argue that the Gers boss was incredibly diplomatic in his response.
Not once does he directly criticise the referee, despite the fact that his player has been left with a literal hole in his leg.
He could have said a whole lot more that would have actually warranted action from the relevant governing bodies, and all of it would have been more than justified.
It’s no wonder the SFA get such a bad rap when they insist on making decisions like this.
In other Rangers news, ‘Focus on Rangers’ – Steven Gerrard urges attacker to ignore latest headlines.