Rangers told to pay fine within 30 days as SFA make Jose Cifuentes announcement
Rangers have been told by the Scottish Football Association (SFA) to pay £500 within the next 30 days after losing their appeal against the red card issued to Jose Cifuentes.
The SFA announced on Tuesday (12 December) that Rangers were unsuccessful in their attempt to get Cifuentes’ dismissal against Dundee overturned.
The Ecuador international will now miss next weekend’s Viaplay Cup final clash with Aberdeen, as well as the Scottish Premiership meeting with St Johnstone.
An update on the disciplinary section of the SFA’s official website read: “The original sanction is re-imposed with immediate effect. £500 fee forfeited to be paid within 30 days.”
Never going to happen
Cifuentes was shown a red card against Dundee for a stamp on Amadou Bakayoko, but many – Kenny Miller among them – questioned if that was really the right choice.
It was hardly the most violent of challenges you will ever see, but at the same time, Rangers were never going to be successful in their bid to overturn the dismissal.
For that to happen, the SFA would have had to admit that referee Kevin Clancy made a clear and obvious error, and he technically didn’t. His decision therefore stands.
It is a major blow for Philippe Clement at a time when Ryan Jack, Nico Raskin and makeshift holding midfielder Tom Lawrence are all on the sidelines.
Cifuentes has to take some of the blame, too, for effectively ruling himself out of the biggest game of Clement’s tenure to date.
As for the £500 fine, you’d imagine that will hardly have an impact on any January transfer business, but it is no doubt the SFA’s way of warning clubs to be careful about what decisions they appeal.
In other Rangers news, an opposition player has taken a swipe at the Gers over something that happened at the weekend.