BBC pundit rages over VAR ‘incompetence’ live on air after ‘ridiculous’ Rangers incident v Kilmarnock
Peter Grant has been left in a rage by the incompetent and “ridiculous” officiating in Rangers’ Scottish Premiership win over Kilmarnock.
Philippe Clement’s side kept their slim title hopes alive with a 4-1 at Ibrox on Sunday (5 May) as they were forced to come from behind to claim all three points following James Tavernier’s early own goal.
However, the Gers felt they should have had a penalty in the opening exchanges when the ball struck Corrie Ndaba’s arm but after a lengthy VAR check, the referee stuck with his original decision and didn’t award the spot-kick.
While BBC Sport pundit Grant admits that the officials reached the right decision in the end, he was left incensed by the sheer amount of time the check took and slammed the officials for their “incompetence”.
Speaking on The Go Radio Football Show (6 May, 6:40) he said: “If Philippe Clement thinks that was a penalty kick we may as well pack our bags and go home to be perfectly honest with you.
“The other side of it is, if they’re all getting told at the start of the season what the rules are, the referees are sitting in that room together and they’re all nodding their heads agreeing with it so everybody knows what’s a penalty.
“Then they’re calling someone over to look at that and then calling the referee who’s made the decision correctly over to say you better come and check, it’s ridiculous.
“This is the reason that VAR doesn’t work. It doesn’t work because it means there’s incompetence there for the guys sitting up there who don’t understand it. To shout somebody over and then take as long as that, it’s absolutely ridiculous.”
Will Rangers and Philippe Clement manage to beat Celtic to the Scottish Premiership title?
While it would have been incredibly harsh to have awarded the Gers a penalty for that incident early in the first half, those sorts of calls have been made previously in the Premiership and it only further highlights the inconsistency.
It has already been revealed just how many errors VAR and the officials have already made so far this season and it just goes to show that the general standard of refereeing north of the border is nowhere near good enough.
There was an argument that the decision to send off Joe Wright was slightly harsh as the ball struck him from such a close range that it couldn’t have been considered a genuine deliberate handball.
Hopefully, the Gers will make the most of their luck in the coming weeks and boost their chances of winning the Premiership. A win against Celtic at Parkhead is a must and stranger things have happened in this league.
In other Rangers news, Andy Halliday has torn into Fabio Silva for a “laughable” moment in the Gers’ win over Kilmarnock
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