Keith Hackett hits back at Rangers penalty critics, warns against VAR in Scotland
We’re delighted to welcome former Premier League referee Keith Hackett as our exclusive Rangers columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Ibrox…
Keith Hackett has hit back at arguments that Rangers are given too many penalties in the Scottish Premiership.
The ex-FIFA official insisted it only happens because of how much the Bears dominate games, also warning against VAR in Scotland.
Hackett backed officials in the Scottish Premiership, warning that the technology creates lazy referees.
“I think that the bottom of the league are not going to get as many penalties because they’re not in the opponents’ box as much,” he exclusively told Ibrox News.
“The tactics that are being played and the amount of time spent in the penalty area, the one thing I’ve seen this season, I’ve seen some really fit, mobile officials in the Scottish Premiership, I know they get criticised, but there are few occasions when looking at big incidents, they’ve got them wrong.
“I think they’re taking up good positions, this is the only fear I have with VAR. The one thing VAR does is promote lazy refereeing – I don’t want that to happen in Scotland.
“If Rangers get a lot of penalty kicks, it’s because they’re in the penalty box a lot.”
All of these arguments are simply nonsense.
Clubs complaining about Rangers getting ‘too many’ penalties should possibly try and not get dominated, although that would be hard against the Light Blue machine.
The usual brigade such as Chris Sutton always come out when a spot-kick is given, and they just embarrass themselves.
This argument will continue to rage on regardless, and eve if VAR does get introduced, that won’t stop it.
In other Rangers news, Michael Stewart has shared his reaction to a ‘huge’ development at Ibrox in the past month