Philippe Clement held crunch talks with Rangers board after 'atrocious' Ibrox incident
Rangers manager Philippe Clement spoke to the Ibrox board after their “atrocious” handling of the VAR incident in the most recent Old Firm clash.
That is according to journalist Gary Keown, who shared the verdict after the Gers requested that Willie Collum did not officiate their matches after they felt a decision did not go their way against Celtic in December.
The official was the VAR in that 2-1 defeat, with Rangers angered that he did not ask referee Nick Walsh to review a possible Alistair Johnston handball.
Collum was the referee as the Ibrox outfit defeated Ayr United 2-0 in the Scottish Cup fifth round on Saturday (10 February).
“He was happy Collum was in charge for the visit of Ayr,” Keown wrote for the Scottish Mail on Sunday (page 96, 11 February). “He’d spoken to the board about the atrocious handling of the Old Firm fallout that they hadn’t consulted him over.”
Rangers boss happy with Collum
The Rangers board can have very few complaints about Clement, with the Belgian doing a superb job since taking over from Michael Beale earlier in the season.
He has helped them catch up with Celtic in the Scottish Premiership, as well as driving them to League Cup success.
Moreover, the boss has guided the Gers into the knockout stages of the Europa League and now the latter stages of the Scottish Cup.
But perhaps the powers that be at the Glasgow outfit are not happy that Clement has come out and said that he is happy with Collum officiating their games [Sky Sports, 9 February), which is in stark contrast to the club’s view.
Clement has clearly moved on from the decision against Celtic, when it emerged that a penalty was not given due to Abdallah Sima being offside in the build-up. The board now need to put the past behind them as well.
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