BBC pundits write their own narrative of Rangers win v Hearts in clear act of bias
We’re never very far away from a complete meltdown among the staff at BBC Scotland when it comes to Rangers.
In the last year, we’ve seen blatantly biased match reports, weird reactions to red cards, biased match commentary and controversial moments being swept under the rug as though they didn’t happen.
We could go on and on about the clear anti-Rangers agenda at BBC Scotland but by the time we finish writing the list, there’ll be something new to write about.
On Sunday, Rangers beat Hearts 2-0 at Tynecastle with Alfredo Morelos and Joe Aribo both scoring in the first half.
Josh Ginnelly was also booked in the opening 45 minutes. Why? For essentially squaring up to referee Nick Walsh when he claimed a shot of his took a deflection and should’ve been a corner – not a goal kick.
Despite Ginnelly clearly showing dissent towards Walsh, everyone’s favourite BBC Sportscene pundit Michael Stewart argued that just because he didn’t touch the referee, there wasn’t enough for a booking.
Stewart said: “There’s a shot that should have been a Hearts corner kick and he gives a bye kick.
“Yes, Ginnelly is remonstrating. But he’s not screaming in his (Walsh’s) face.
“He’s not touched the referee. It was clearly a corner kick.
“Have a quiet word with him. I don’t think he needs to book him.
“And by booking him, he makes it difficult for himself, the referee.”
It’s quite clear that Ginnelly over-stepped the mark. But don’t let Stewart believe otherwise in his own personal cloud cuckoo land.
Ginnelly was sent off in the second half after he was booked again by Walsh.
Initially, he wasn’t involved in the incident that led to the red card as Cammy Devlin went in hard on Borna Barisic, angering the Gers left-back.
Before going onto what Stewart had to say about that incident (stick around if you’re after a laugh), BBC Sportsound pundit John Robertson accused Barisic of grabbing Devlin by the throat.
Speaking on BBC Sportsound on Sunday, as quoted on the BBC Sport website, the ex-Hearts manager said: “I think Barisic is extremely, extremely, lucky,”
“The moment he grabs Devlin by the throat, for me he’s got to go.”
Let’s analyse that accusation.
Pictures speak a thousand words, don’t they?
Barisic was hacked down, started to get angry with Devlin, who held his hands up and that seemed to calm the Croatia international down.
At not one point did Barisic touch Devlin’s throat or do anything towards him to get sent off.
But who’s that charging in from the left? It’s Ginnelly, of course.
As that happened, here’s what Stewart said on BBC Sportscene: “Ginnelly, you see him coming in here and he’s going in to break it up initially.
“He’s not aggressive but it sparks into something.
“If Nick Walsh just calms himself down…look, he’s already wanting to send someone off.”
Ginnelly charged into an incident that was already cooling down. He needlessly put his hands on Barisic and then the pair of them got angry with one another and both were rightly booked.
Walsh wasn’t waiting to send someone off, Michael. Ginnelly has charged into an incident and caused an angry altercation.
Former Premier League referee and Ibrox News‘ refereeing expert Keith Hackett has agreed with both yellow cards and praised Walsh’s bookings.
Hackett even said he’d like to see referees in England take a leaf out of Walsh’s book.
But don’t let BBC Scotland know that. Don’t let them stop their pundits from fabricating events or showing a complete disregard for the rules.
In other Rangers news, Tom English shares what he found was “incredible” in the win against Hearts.