Andy Halliday makes accusation of Philippe Clement after controversial Rangers incident at Hampden Park
Andy Halliday has made an accusation about Philippe Clement following a controversial incident in the Rangers game against Hearts on Sunday (5 November).
Speaking on Clyde 1 Superscoreboard on Monday (6 November, via the Daily Record), the Jambos defender admitted he didn’t know what fourth official David Dickinson was smiling to the Gers boss about after Scott Wright scored in the 3-1 victory in the Viaplay Cup semi-final at Hampden Park.
The 32-year-old said the “very animated” Belgian was “badgering the life” out of the official for at least 35 minutes during the game, but the Scotsman added that he wasn’t reading too much into the smile towards the Light Blues manager.
“I can’t actually tell you why he is smiling,” said Halliday. “But let me tell you, up until what had been the 60th minute, I’m saying for at least 35 minutes Philippe Clement was badgering the life out of the fourth official.
“Over decisions – the decisions to book Cantwell, the decision for free kicks. Let’s just say the back-and-forth between them was ongoing and pretty frosty at the time.
“I’m not reading into it too much, but was it a case of ‘right, you can calm down now, your team is 2-0 or 3-0 up?’. That is the beauty of bench cam. You can sort of analyse the full situation. He was very animated. It was certainly an ongoing theme that first half, that is for sure.”
Nothing in it
It probably wasn’t the best look for Dickinson to be smiling at Clement when Wright’s goal went in, but far too much has been made out of the situation.
As former Gers left-back Halliday pointed out, the official was probably just acknowledging that it was a moment for the Ibrox manager to calm down with his side fairly comfortable in the game.
The Belgian is clearly an animated person on the bench and the Light Blues fans will be pleased to see that passion from him as he looks to help the club move forward.
It was an excellent victory that has put the club in with a great chance of claiming some much-needed silverware and their first Viaplay Cup success since 2011.
The manager has had a strong start to life in Glasgow so far and he’ll be hoping to keep the momentum going over the course of the next few weeks before the final against Aberdeen on 17 December.
In other Rangers news, a Gers youngster could be heading out of Ibrox after a development has emerged.