Kevin Clancy fallout after Rangers loss to Celtic slammed by ex-Ibrox ace who backs referee’s performance at Parkhead
Abuse of Kevin Clancy after Rangers lost 3-2 at Celtic is “disturbing” says Neil Murray, after the referee was targeted for his performance.
The club denounced threats against the official following the game at Parkhead on Saturday (8 April) while stating they were “astonished” that the SFA had backed his decision to disallow a goal by Alfredo Morelos with the scoreline goalless, in a statement [Sky News, 11 April].
Murray has also slammed abuse of Clancy and doesn’t believe there is reason for the vitriol anyway because his showing in the Old Firm derby wasn’t particularly bad.
On The Football Show for PLZ Soccer the ex-Ibrox midfielder said: “Kevin Clancy, did he really have a particularly bad game? Probably not. There was one decision, it’s a big decision that he takes, which angers one half of the crowd and not the other.
“The referees, they referee the games in good faith, like everybody else they might make mistakes… it’s not malicious, they give the decisions they think are right.
“To mix that professional decision with private life [abuse] is pretty disturbing.”
Difficult
Not everything in the game came down to Clancy ruling out Morelos’ goal, as Rangers would probably have had enough for the points without Ben Davies and John Souttar both let their performances down with errors from the errors for Celtic’s second and third goals.
Whether the referee had an awful game or an acceptable one football fans should simply never be threatening officials and their families in their personal lives.
The Brighton apology from the PGMOL in England that Rangers cited shows that there is an issue with officiating outside of Scotland as well, and it ties together that increased abuse at all levels of the game will necessarily lead to a shortfall in good-quality, experienced options before long.
However, authorities categorically refusing to entertain the possibility that mistakes have been made doesn’t actually help them, and flies in the face of the ‘they’re only human’ argument.
It is impossible to know whether Clancy makes decisions completely free from influence, whether he is biased, or whether the crowd and circumstances affect his decision-making.
But it is, at best, not a good look for a tight game between two heated rivals, in front of only home fans, to contain a hugely contentious decision from a referee who fans were concerned about before hand.
Hounding people out of the game benefits nobody, but blind backing of poor or baffling decisions makes the situation worse as well.
The 30 April meeting now can’t come soon enough to try to right some of the wrongs from the previous game, and overcome what has become an unedifying situation all round.
In other Rangers news, Michael Beale tipped for £15million room for manoeuvre this summer.