Heart and Hand react as Rangers vs Celtic fallout ramps up amid inadequate SFA response to Kevin Clancy decision
Heart & Hand have called the SFA response to Rangers following the loss at Celtic “depressing” after they backed Kevin Clancy disallowing Alfredo Morelos’ goal.
The Light Blues wrote to the authorities for an explanation as to why the referee had ruled out the Colombian’s first-half strike at Parkhead on Saturday (8 April), only to receive a reply that it was the right decision, leaving the club “astonished”.
Rangers condemned subsequent threats to Clancy but cited the PGMOL in England apologising to Brighton for mistakes made in their loss to Tottenham in a statement, saying, as per Football Scotland: “While an apology does not alter the outcome of a match, such responsibility and openness would be welcome in Scotland.”
Taking to Twitter on Monday night Heart & Hand wrote: “The SFA response is basically ‘it doesn’t matter if our officials are bad, there are no consequences for it’.
“Depressing, really.”
Total mess
Judgment calls in football will always draw differing opinions but ruling out Morelos’ goal because of a push on Alistair Johnston was an incredibly soft decision, and to all intents and purposes was the wrong decision.
It is exactly the sort of call that enrages fans, especially where it comes to VAR, because any objective observer can see that both players were wrestling with each other and nothing the Gers forward did was any worse than what the Hoops man did.
But because it is technically possible to spot a foul by Morelos, if you fall for Johnston’s flop and completely ignore his part in the jockeying for position, the official will always be backed, both by the video assistant and the authorities, with nothing to incentivise it not happening again.
So as soon as Clancy decided to blow his whistle plausible deniability dictated that the necessary parties were all going to close ranks, even though every team under the sun would be furious to have that ruled out if they had scored it.
That it was at Parkhead in front of 60,000 home fans and zero away supporters, in a game which turned out to be extremely close and ultimately decided on some crucial errors by the Rangers defence, makes it all the worse.
That said, nobody should ever be threatening the safety of officials, so going after Clancy as has been alleged is inexcusable.
In other Rangers news, one man who appears to be headed for the Ibrox exit has revealed the club he wants to go back to.