Rangers: Michael Stewart and Bobby Madden clash live on BBC Sportsound over Ibrox incident
Michael Stewart was left outraged by Bobby Madden’s interpretation of the incident between Rangers and Motherwell which left Ross McCausland injured.
The BBC Sport pundit disputed the former SPFL referee’s view live on Sportsound on 9 March, during a debate about VAR, over the challenge by Dan Casey at Ibrox on 2 March, which wasn’t given as a foul but saw the Gers winger substituted and leave the ground on crutches.
Madden said it was a red card offence by the Well defender due to the speed he went into it “endangering the safety” of McCausland, which an exasperated Stewart claimed was trying to eliminate all risk from the game, which isn’t “football as any of us know it”.
Stewart reacted: “That’s an interesting one because I’ve not heard anybody else that’s actually said that. I’ve got a bit of sympathy for John Lundstram with it. I can understand why the penalty’s been given because his arm is propelled up in a split second so it looks like it’s away from his body, so I’m with Bobby on that.”
Madden said (25m 25s): “I’ve watched this so many times and I’ve jumped between yellow and red. Eventually I landed on red for serious foul play because [of] the pace he entered that challenge.”
As Stewart was said to be making a face and shaking his head in the background the ex-ref continued: “Playing the ball’s not an excuse. When you enter a challenge at that pace, for me, it’s endangering the safety.”
Stewart replied: “Effectively you’re saying football’s going to be a non-contact sport… what else is Dan Casey meant to do?”
Madden said: “You see when Casey makes the challenge, the foot, that extension of the sole of his boot, it comes up. For me that’s not a natural movement. I know that doesn’t make contact. That would have been an absolute red card.”
“So if we deal with what actually happened then,” shot back Stewart.
Madden continued: “The pace on the left foot in that challenge, contacting the shin of the opponent, is dangerous.”
An exasperated Stewart responded: “Ross McCausland got injured there for everything you’re told as a player. ‘Don’t dangle a leg. If you dangle a leg you’ll hurt yourself’. If you actually take a still of the incident Ross McCausland’s leg is higher than Dan Casey’s at any point.
“McCausland shouldn’t be punished for that either. He’s apprehensive about the challenge. It’s a 70-30 tackle for Dan Casey. There’s nothing else that Casey could do other than what he did. He’s running into a tackle, it’s his natural momentum, he doesn’t speed up, he doesn’t lift his leg, he kicks the ball.
“His leg makes contact with Ross McCausland. If you’re playing football you have to accept that there’s an element of risk that there’s going to be contact with the opponent. If you want to eliminate risk then that is not a game of football as any of us know it, and I don’t think any of us want to know that. That is not a red card in my opinion.
“I could be persuaded that potentially it’s a foul and maybe a yellow card, but even then I would think it’s a bit harsh because I’m saying to myself, ‘what else can Dan Casey do there?'”
Madden accepted: “There’s a lot of people who are all or nothing. It’s either no foul or it’s all the way up to a red card. That’s the difficulty. I really did fluctuate between both.”
Ross McCausland injury in Rangers loss to Motherwell disputed
Philippe Clement was unhappy with his young winger being “kicked off the pitch” following the 2-1 defeat, with the fact that Casey scored the winner likely adding to the frustration.
Some pundits were convinced it was a bad challenge, while others have claimed there was nothing to the tackle and it was just a matter of physical play in Scotland, showing the difficulty officials have in never being able to please everyone.
They don’t help themselves by sometimes making decisions that virtually nobody understands, but even Madden and Stewart both admitted that their position was not steadfast if the former had flipped between cards and the latter could be convinced it was worth a booking after all.
Had McCausland not been hurt it’s possible that it would have been forgotten, but the fact that he was arguably proves that Casey had endangered his opponent in itself.
Not every injury automatically has to see someone punished but he certainly flew into the challenge in a way that would have once been praised but these days tends to be deemed out of control.
Thankfully McCausland looks to have escaped anything serious as he was able to come off the bench late in the 2-2 Rangers draw in Benfica in midweek, and the home loss in the league was a frustrating day all round with the Light Blues second best, but they would perhaps have escaped with a point at least if the incident had been penalised.
In other Rangers news, the Light Blues have been tipped for a £5million windfall as a starter could leave with a replacement already lined up.
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