Ally McCoist rages at ‘scandalous’ officials live on air after Rangers controversy in loss v Celtic
Rangers fan and pundit Ally McCoist has been left in a rage over the “scandalous” officiating in the Gers’ Scottish Cup loss to Celtic.
Philippe Clement’s side were hard done by in their 1-0 loss at Hampden on Saturday (25 May) as Abdallah Sima saw a second-half strike ruled out after Nico Raskin was adjudged to have fouled Joe Hart.
Although McCoist was willing to accept that the Belgian midfielder may have fouled the Hoops’ stopper, he couldn’t believe that the Gers weren’t awarded a spot-kick for a similar foul earlier in the phase of play.
Speaking on talkSPORT on Tuesday (28 May, 7:05) he said: “Scandalous. Absolutely scandalous but I’ve come to expect it. The incompetence of our officials is nothing short of ridiculous.
“It’s bordering on embarrassing to tell you the truth. They disallow the goal for a shove, there might have been a little shove you can understand that, but if they go back two seconds they’ve got to give a penalty.
“The boy has got his arms wrapped around the guy that does the little shove. It’s just total incompetence, but we’ve come to expect it and that’s the way it goes.”
Should Rangers have had a penalty in Old Firm loss v Celtic at Hampden Park?
Supporters will be divided over whether or not Raskin did enough to foul Hart, but they will all agree that the referee well and truly lost control of proceedings at Hampden for much of the game.
From the first minute, the officials were handing out cards like there was no tomorrow and that only added to the stop-start feel of the match as play was interrupted every few minutes for a foul that killed the spectacle.
Throughout the entirety of the season in both the cups and the Premiership, the standard of officiating north of the border has been nothing short of ridiculous, with inconsistencies and errors emerging week after week.
Something needs to change as the Premiership will never be viewed as a genuine top league while these sorts of errors are being made regularly. While labelling it a conspiracy would be a step too far, it is clear that the current officials are making far too many major mistakes.
In other Rangers news, Sima has made a new transfer admission following the Light Blues’ Old Firm defeat against Celtic at Hampden
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