Rangers: Derek Ferguson reacts to officials’ SFA demand in ‘bit lazy’ verdict
Derek Ferguson was unable to hide his laughter that officials in Scotland had requested a pay rise from the SFA following talks with the governing body after the controversy in the last Rangers v Celtic Old Firm derby.
Rangers were beaten 2-0 by their fierce rivals on 30 December in a match filled with controversy when Adballah Sima was denied a penalty following a challenge by Alistair Johnston.
It turns out that the decision would not have stood anyway as Sima was offside in the build-up but VAR Willie Collum was criticised for not asking the on-field referee to check the incident.
It was reported by BBC Sport on January 15 that officials had met with the SFA and requested a pay rise if a new rule were to come in whereby audio from VAR conversations can made public, like they can in the English Premier League.
Former Rangers man Ferguson, speaking to Ibrox News, was unable to hide his exasperation at that request.
“You can see I’m chuckling, I thought they were paid very well,” he said.
“I’ve got a kind of idea how much the guys are paid. You’ve got to remember they’re part-time as well, they’re not full-time.
“I think it might be different if they were full time then you could maybe question their pay should be a lot higher than it is.
“But no these guys are part-timers, I think they get looked after very well as well with all the expenses and everything that goes with it.
“On the VAR issue, obviously a lot of discussion, they feel they’ve not been protected enough, I think they’ve probably got a bit lazy themselves in terms of relying on VAR.
“I think they know that they’ve got to show improvement, got to be better in the job they’re doing, to say there have been so many mistakes, and it’s not difficult decisions they’ve been getting wrong so they need to step up to the mark.
“I’m maybe one of those guys who’s in agreement that up here they should be full time and then they should go to different grounds to create relationships with players because often when you watch a game of football there’s a lot of friction between players and referees.
“I think if they were full time then they could go to training, speak tp players collectively, individually and just get a little bit of a bond.
“Then there becomes a little bit more respect between the two but that’s a new one to me, a wage rise, I think they need to up their game as well then.”
Rangers won’t back referee wage wise
Who would be a referee really? You could have the game of your life and still not get any credit but all your mistakes are talked about for weeks.
To ask for a pay rise after what occurred in that Old Firm derby, though, seems a little…ambitious. They do make a good point that if they are going to be opened up to more scrutiny they should be paid a little more.
Just at the moment there needs to be a raise in standards across the board. If that happens then maybe there will be a raise in the pay slips.
Ferguson is right, though, it might be time to think about making officiating a full-time role like it is south of the border in the Premier League.
In other Rangers news, there is still some red tape for Jose Cifuentes to overcome ahead of his Ibrox exit.
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