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Rangers Exclusive: 'Willie Collum to hold talks' as SFA make announcement

Refereeing Consultant AUTHORITY Former FIFA Referee; Head of PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited). Focus: Laws of the Game, VAR implementation, officiating performance, and PGMOL policy. THE AUDIT Keith utilises Statscore’s Officiating Telemetry, including Deep-Data Metrics like Incident Accuracy Rates, VAR Intervention Latency, and Official Positional Efficiency. He provides technical refereeing analysis to reveal the regulatory reality behind match-defining decisions.

Published on:

28 Jan 2025, 12:34 pm

Willie Collum needs to hold talks with Scottish referees after Rangers star Mohamed Diomande saw his red card rescinded by the SFA on Tuesday.

Diomande, 23, was shown a straight red card in Rangers' 3-1 win at Dundee United on Sunday (26 January) after a coming together with defender Kevin Holt.

Nick Walsh awarded the Gers a free-kick just outside the box but it seemed like the referee sent off Diomande for what he deemed to be an aggressive act towards Holt.

Diomande's arms were raised but there didn't seem to be much in it other than the midfielder's body reacting to being pushed by the United man.

Even though VAR told Walsh to look at the incident again on the pitch-side monitor, he upheld his decision.

SFA fast-track Rangers appeal decision

However, the SFA have now confirmed that Diomande's ban for violent conduct has been struck off the record after a fast-track tribunal hearing on Tuesday (28 January).

Former Premier League and FIFA-listed referee Hackett is happy to see the right decision being made but he now believes Scottish head of refs Collum needs to act.

Willie Collum oversees refereeing in Scotland.

"This is the correct decision by the tribunal hearing," Hackett told Ibrox News.

"Referees are human and do make errors

"It is important for Head of Referees Willie Collum to discuss this with the team of officials to use this incident as a learning experience to ensure similar incidents in a game in the future are dealt with in the appropriate manner."

Diomande was due to be banned for Scottish Premiership fixtures against Ross County and Hearts but he'll now be available for Philippe Clement in those games.

In other Rangers news, the club is being tipped to agree a big-money sale after "astonishing" transfer news emerged.

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Rangers

Keith Hackett