Rangers v Celtic: Michael Stewart continues crusade against VAR review of Ibrox incident
Michael Stewart is continuing to bang the drum against the award of a Rangers penalty in the draw with Celtic.
The BBC Sport pundit took to Twitter on 9 April, two days after John Beaton overturned his initial ruling of a dive by Fabio Silva after VAR review in the dramatic 3-3 at Ibrox, to suggest video assistant Nick Walsh had missed Alistair Johnston’s touch on the ball which he deems pivotal.
Stewart had previously branded the officiating “disgraceful” and “embarrassing” via Twitter on matchday (7 April), having ranted live on BBC punditry duty during the review that it was “beyond belief” the decision was going to be overturned, since the Celtic defender had touched the ball before catching Silva [Football Scotland, 7 April].
He was particularly upset that the touch on the ball wasn’t shown to Beaton on the replays, and now believes Walsh hadn’t seen it himself, as Stewart has since realised others hadn’t.
He wrote: “I do wonder if Nick Walsh didn’t see the initial touch of the ball, hence why he never showed it. He wouldn’t be alone.
“After the game I had to show the touch to someone who was completely unaware of it.”
BBC pundit caught up on Rangers penalty award by John Beaton
Leaving aside how Alan Partridge it must have been for Stewart to have been running through the penalty after the game while highlighting the touch, if it was small enough for numerous people to miss it then it surely weakens his argument against the penalty.
Bobby Madden has clearly ruled since the game that Johnston touching the ball doesn’t negate subsequent foul on Silva when the Rangers man was still set to retain possession.
The Hoops man was falling backwards to the turf away from the ball while the Gers forward was still on his feet running towards it when he was caught so, allowing for the fact the Wolves-loanee’s theatrics didn’t help anyone on the day, it was some stretch for Stewart to repeatedly claim Johnston had “won” the ball.
His fury with VAR is pretty consistent, and he is right that the on-field referee should be shown the whole sequence, but in this case it has arguably clouded his judgement.
If Johnston’s slight touch on the ball had diverted it away from Silva and another player then picked up possession then it might be a valid claim to have “won” the challenge, but that just wasn’t the case at Ibrox.
Perhaps if the various factors involved – Silva throwing himself around prior, the forward being carded for a dive in real time, the fact it was Beaton awarding a penalty, to Rangers, at Ibrox, against Celtic, to give them a route back into the game – hadn’t been included then Stewart and others may not have been so upset.
But while it wasn’t the most appalling foul that has ever been made it was a foul and it was a penalty.
In other Rangers news, Chris Sutton has issued a verdict on the Dundee game being switched to Ibrox to a shocked BBC host.
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