Willie Collum shares what ‘everybody knows’ about Rangers v Celtic controversy
Willie Collum believes “everybody in refereeing knows” that the Rangers penalty decision against Celtic was unacceptable.
The controversy has rumbled on after the Gers’ defeat at Hampden after Vaclav Cerny was fouled on the line of the penalty area by Liam Scales.
This should have been awarded as a spot-kick but was missed by VAR duo Alan Muir and Frank O’Connor who have since been dropped for upcoming fixtures.
Head of Refereeing Collum has hit out at this decision on the SFA’s VAR Review (19 December), deeming it “unacceptable”.
He said: “It’s a really, really poor decision. It’s an unacceptable decision. The VAR team know that. Everybody in refereeing knows that it’s unacceptable.”
Willie Collum slams Rangers penalty decision v Celtic
It is safe to say that the Ibrox faithful aren’t going to forget this decision any time soon given how different the result could have been.
If a penalty had been awarded in extra time there is every chance that Philippe Clement’s side could have secured a win and another League Cup title.
The frustration is that the VAR should have spotted the error from John Beaton and awarded a penalty from Clydesdale House, but this wasn’t the case.
This ultimately resulted in Brenden Rodgers’ side winning on penalties and taking the trophy back home to Parkhead.
It is clear that this decision is regretful on the part of the SFA and Collum but that won’t change the result and add another trophy to the cabinet in Govan.
There isn’t much to be done now, the decision has been made and the Light Blues have to move on and look forward to an Old Firm clash coming up on 2 January.
In other Rangers news, Philippe Clement has an obvious flaw to fix in January after an “erratic” moment against Celtic.
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