Chris Sutton laughs at ‘conspiracy theorists’ amid Rangers and Celtic VAR claims
Chris Sutton and Ian Ladyman have laughed off claims from “conspiracy theorists” that Celtic and Rangers are continuously punished wrongly by Scottish Premiership referee officials.
The Old Firm rivals are the main two sides to beat in the league, with either Rangers or Celtic winning the title since the 1984/85 season.
Despite their dominance, Hoops and Gers fans have consistently claimed that referees are against them when it comes to title-changing decisions, such as red cards, penalties and disallowed goals using VAR.
Speaking via the It’s All Kicking Off podcast on Monday (4 March), Sutton said: “There are these conspiracy theorists that believe Celtic and Rangers are always on the wrong end of certain decisions.”
Sutton then raised the possible concerns over a number of officials potentially supporting the Old Firm sides, with Ladyman responding: “I do not care. I think it’s a load of old nonsense. Referees are professionals who are trained to make decisions.
“If they continue to make poor decisions, they won’t be top-class referees anymore. It is not in their best interest to make decisions based on ineptitude, a lack of fitness or bias.”
Are Rangers treated fairly by Scottish Premiership referees?
Rangers fans were extremely critical of referee Alan James Muir during their 2-1 loss to Motherwell on Saturday 2 March, having failed to send Dan Casey off for a controversial challenge on Ross McCausland.
The match before that, beating Kilmarnock 2-1 at Rugby Park, David Dickinson was slammed for awarding a penalty to Killie after John Lundstram blocked a cross with his arm but failed to give Rangers a penalty for a handball at the other end.
Human error is always bound to play its part during a game of football, but it does seem that Rangers are hit with the brunt of poor decisions on more occasions than others. This could be down to fans just being more vocal, though.
Conspiracy theorists could turn to the fact that the Gers have been punished with the most red cards in the division this season, with Scott Wright, Jose Cifuentes, Leon Balogun and Dujon Sterling sent off so far.
The decision against the latter in that list was extremely controversial, with many expecting the decision to be overturned after an appeal, though the appeal was unsuccessful.
It is likely that the number of fans making such accusations against the officials is a very small majority, though. Mistakes are always bound to happen, however frustrating they can be.
In other Rangers news, a BBC Sportscene pundit was spot on with his “calamitous” verdict after what he saw at the weekend.
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