David Edgar reacts as ‘Atrocious’ footage emerges of Rangers ace Diomande
Rangers have been on the receiving end of many controversial decisions this season despite the presence of VAR.
One such instance that even those who always speak against Gers found hard to defend was Mohamed Diomande’s sending off against Dundee United.
The SFA released footage of the incident on Friday, 7 February with the VAR panel unanimously disagreeing with Nick Walsh’s decision, but he still opted to stick with it.
Nick Walsh made a huge blunder sending off Mohamed Diomande
Heart and Hand’s David Edgar was left enraged at it as this clearly was Walsh choosing to go against what the rules were.
The other VAR officials pretty much made it clear that this was not an incident that was worthy of a red card as it wasn’t violent conduct.
However, Walsh surprisingly saw it as a slap from Diomande and stuck with his original decision to send the Gers midfielder off.
What was even more surprising was that none of the Dundee United players were even enraged or asking the referee to send him off.
This was a woeful error which looks 10 times worse once the audio has been released as well.
Edgar wrote on X: “That’s just atrocious.”
Rangers have every right to feel aggrieved by this call
Gers have a legitimate grievance over the red card shown to Diomande
The incident, involving a supposed “slap” by Diomande on Kevin Holt, was reviewed by VAR, leading to referee Walsh’s on-field decision.
However, Willie Collum, the Head of Referee Operations, admitted in the VAR Review that the action didn’t meet the criteria for a red card.
Collum explained that for a red card to be justified, there should be evidence of excessive force, brutality, or significant contact to the face, none of which were sufficiently demonstrated.
He stated, “We prefer a yellow card here; the contact is negligible if any,” highlighting that the VAR discussion focused on whether the action was violent or brutal, concluding it was not.
This discrepancy between the on-field decision and the VAR analysis justifies Gers’ frustration, especially since Diomande’s red card was later overturned on appeal.