BBC Sportsound pundits react to Willie Collum controversy in Rangers win v Hearts
Craig Levein and Kenny Miller both believe Rangers should’ve been awarded a penalty in the first half of their win over Hearts on Sunday.
Although the Gers went on to hammer Hearts 5-0 at Ibrox, they should have had the chance to double their lead earlier in the game when Nathaniel Atkinson grabbed a handful of Ryan Kent’s shirt while inside the penalty box.
Levein admits that if Kent had gone down, it should’ve been a penalty as he discussed Willie Collum’s controversial decision to ignore the incident with Miller.
Speaking on BBC Sportsound on Sunday [6 February, 04:36pm], Levein said: “If Kent goes down, it’s a penalty isn’t it?”
Miller replied to say: “I think so, yes.
“When he went past Atkinson I thought, ‘just keep going to the byline and you might get a shot off or a cut-back to someone closer’.
“But yes, he’s obviously been tugged and it’s hampered his run in.”
Poor display
Rangers did brilliantly to win that game 5-0 when Collum did everything he could to favour Hearts.
Firstly, there was that penalty shout.
As Levein says, if Kent went down, it’s a penalty. But why are referees still encouraging players dropping to the ground to give fouls? A shirt pull is an instant foul no matter where it is on the pitch. It’s against the laws of the game and is very easy to spot.
Hearts got away with one thee but there were also other incidents.
Collum might not have been criticised for booking Leon Balogun and Calvin Bassey if he was consistent in booking Hearts players for almost carbon copies of their tackles.
Ryan Jack took a sore one and there was no yellow card. There was then a challenge on Liam Boyle by Balogun that was almost exactly the same and he was booked.
Collum had a shocker and anti-SFA songs were sung out by the Ibrox faithful in response to that Balogun yellow card.
Scottish referees might actually benefit from VAR but we have absolutely no faith in them using the technology correctly and fairly.
In other Rangers news, Aston Villa’s John McGinn lost his mind over what happened with the Gers this week.