Record Sport’s voice of the Rangers claims that Scottish football is once again in the gutter, but his former team is not to blame.
When Scottish football starts kicking itself to pieces, it might be difficult to know where to begin. After all, we’ve been here before.
But in the context of this prolonged dispute between Rangers and the SFA, that isn’t the case for once. It’s clear. Everything starts when Alistair Johnston punches the ball inside Celtic’s penalty box without provocation, and the awful choice is taken to act as though it never happened. But what transpired over the following nearly thirty minutes has now pushed the game in this country back to a boiled-down state, with my old club calling for explanations from the Hampden men in control.
To be absolutely clear, I do not hold them at anyway responsible. When it comes to VAR, our nation needs less secrecy and more transparency. However, during those perplexing thirty minutes at Celtic Park, we received the exact opposite. I think it’s clear that in a big match, the process failed at a crucial point.
To start with, I don’t hold it against Nick Walsh for failing to see the hand-ball in the first place. These things occur during intense combat, particularly in a fast-paced, furious Old Firm match. It is nearly difficult for the man in the center to see everything as it happens and make accurate calls about it all. He’s only a human.
However, it is evident that he thought Abdallah Sima had lost possession of the ball because he gave Celtic a goal kick, which allowed Joe Hart to tie the score. Which was all incorrect. There are no ambiguities in it. It comes down to black and white.
The entire purpose of VAR, as well as the reason the teams are footing the bill, is that that’s when the process is meant to start. Replays showed Willie Collum that the referee had made a glaring mistake because Johnston’s hand made the winning touch.
I really don’t know why he didn’t ask Walsh to come over to the monitor at that moment so he could examine it again and base his decision on replays that weren’t available to him at the time. If everything goes according to plan, the men at Clydesdale House run checks to determine if there was any offside or pushing or tugging during the instant build-up while the referee is at the screen.
Because of this, they would have realized that, just as John Lundstram was clipping the ball back into the area, Sima had strayed into an offside position. And in a matter of minutes, the entire affair would have been concluded.
If it were only six days later, we wouldn’t be squabbling over it here. There would have been no discussion over whether or not Johnston’s arm was moving “unnaturally” since it would have been finished and done with. Which, incidentally, it very certainly was.
At the time, I was yelling at my TV for a penalty. During the halftime break, Neil Lennon himself acknowledged that he would have been boiling if it hadn’t been placed by his side. And we are speaking of the former Celtic manager and captain!
But whether the call was right or wrong, it’s hard to believe that, fifteen minutes into the second half, the broadcasters were informed that Sima had been in an offside position all along.
That does not demonstrate that the VAR procedure operated effectively. It’s evidence that everything had been handled improperly. As a result, Rangers have every right to inquire about what transpired, even though I find the demands that Collum not be let to officiate any of their games going forward a little unsettling.
Yes, I might think he made the incorrect choice. However, it’s difficult to determine with certainty why the screenshot took so long to display until everything is clear. Whatever happens, Philippe Clement and his team cannot allow it to divert them. That much is certain.
In the end, it doesn’t matter that they weren’t given a penalty because it never would have stood. Furthermore, they are unable to afford to waste any time on self-pity or believing that everyone is against them. I will not be dishonest. As a participant, you are aware of these problems. You cannot act as though it is unimportant. However things turn out, you cannot afford to get dragged into the sideshow.
In circumstances such as these, you defer all that to the higher authorities and concentrate on your own tasks on the training field. Therefore, I was pleased with their response on Tuesday afternoon as they concluded the first half of the season with a respectable win and performance against Kilmarnock.
Having watched that match at Ibrox, I was particularly keen to see new acquisition Fabio Silva, who had joined on loan from Wolves, come off the bench to make his debut. To be completely honest, I don’t think this guy will become an overnight sensation after his 15-minute bench stint. Naturally, it isn’t.
However, in the brief time I had with him, I saw enough of his movement and technical skill to believe he could end up being a key member of the squad in the second half of the season. There is undoubtedly a skilled striker in there because you don’t get acquired for £35 million if you can’t handle a football. But what will be important now is the time he gets away with the rest of the team during the winter break to get himself up to speed because he’s clearly not played enough football so far this season.
With Sima going to the African Cup of Nations and Danilo and Kemar Roofe out injured until the end of February or beginning of March, Clement will be hoping that Silva can hit the ground running as soon as the season re-starts in the Scottish Cup at Dumbarton.
Because, forget about all the backlash from last weekend, there’s a title race coming down the line which is going to go all the way down to the wire. And, on the pitch, Rangers have to use the next couple of weeks to get themselves ready for it.
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