Journalist baffled by ‘soft’ Rangers incident in last-gasp draw v Aberdeen
Jordan Campbell doesn’t believe it was the right decision for the referee to award Rangers a late penalty against Aberdeen on Sunday (26 November).
Speaking on the Scottish Football Podcast on Monday (27 November), the Athletic journalist said it was “obviously stupidity” from Stefan Gartenmann to pull Connor Goldson’s shirt, but that it was a “little bit soft” for a spot-kick to be given.
He added that it should have been considered whether the 30-year-old centre-back was going to get to the ball because, otherwise, every single pull in the box will be a penalty as James Tavernier stepped up to claim a 1-1 draw for the Gers against the Dons.
“I personally don’t think that was enough to be a penalty,” said Campbell. “I know everyone says with VAR now, you can’t pull on a player’s jersey because you know that it’ll be given. And, you know, it is obviously stupidity to do that, but I think it was just an instinctive reaction when Goldson got away from him momentarily.
“I think you’ve got to take into account how long did he really tug him back for. To me, it was a split second, and I don’t think Goldson was getting to the ball either.
“I think you do need to take those things into consideration. Otherwise, you’re at the point where any single pull in the box is a penalty. I think the fans will then be complaining. I think it’s daft for a player to do that in the current climate, but it’s a little bit soft for me.”
Foul is a foul
It shouldn’t really matter whether or not Goldson is going to get to the ball because, at the end of the day, a foul is a foul no matter what the circumstances are around it.
The officials are usually quick to rule out a goal for any kind of infringement by an attacking player, so it needs to work the other way as well.
The Aberdeen defender can’t just be allowed to get away with what was an extremely poor piece of defending based on what might have happened if he hadn’t pulled the Gers centre-back’s shirt.
There now just needs to be more consistency applied across the board from the officials to ensure that these incidents aren’t allowed to happen every game.
It really was a get-out-of-jail moment for the Light Blues, though, as a defeat at Pittodrie would have provided a hammer blow to their efforts to challenge Celtic for the SPFL title this season.
In other Rangers news, one player has a decision to make after receiving a “major” offer from Clement at Ibrox.