As Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou earns Premier League plaudits for his take on VAR south of the border, Rangers will sense a tinge of hypocrisy.
The Australian manager suffered his first defeat of the league season at home to Chelsea in a 4-1 humbling against his nine-man Tottenham team.
In a frenetic match, ex-Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou has been praised for not only his insistence on a high line, but also for his response amid VAR drama.
Spurs maintained the same all-action style which won big with Celtic under Ange Postecoglou despite being seriously outnumbered in north London.
But the former Socceroos manager also turned heads when he defended referees and VAR amid a bubbling row south of the border.
Ange Postecoglou leaps to defence of referees amid VAR chaos
Appearing to take aim at north London rivals Arsenal and manager Mikel Arteta – who have reigned fury down on the system in the Premier League this week – the footballing purists have been fawning aplenty.
Claiming that at some point “we have to accept the referee’s decision” after a number went against his Spurs team v Chelsea, Ange Postecoglou has earned plaudits for challenging what he sees as “the constant erosion of referees’ authority” in the face of VAR and the “forensic” analysis of decisions.
A noble comment no doubt – and whilst we don’t aim to take anything away from Ange Postecoglou’s start at Spurs – the entire thing sounds little hypocritical from a Rangers POV.
Ange Postecoglou was himself, perhaps more than any other manager, guilty of heaping pressure on referees during his time at Celtic and in the adoption of VAR.
The anti-VAR soundbites started in October last year – after it was rolled out in Scotland – as Ange Postecoglou lambasted penalty decisions not going his side’s way.
Irresponsibly leaning into old stereotypes about referees in the process – as indirectly as that might’ve been – it kickstarted something a series of regular outburst which are not exactly becoming of the quotes above.
Rangers fans will note Postecoglou’s arm-bending in Scotland
You only have to go back to January to hear the then Celtic manager claim that there was “no way” that “pretty rough decisions” would even themselves out against his team.
This was after the Connor Goldson handball penalty shout in the Old Firm derby and Alexandro Bernabei and Matt O’Riley had given away spot kicks earlier in the campaign.
It’s an incident that completely eroded his credibility on the subject outside of Parkhead.
By March, the Celtic manager had adopted the siege mentality towards referees we’ve seen so often at Parkhead by claiming “VAR doesn’t miss anything by the looks of it – especially with us”.
If this isn’t heaping the pressure on referees, or calling the VAR system into disrepute, then we don’t exactly know what it is.
We’ll give Ange Postecoglou his dues when it comes to consistency over his dislike of VAR but the notion he’s a manager protecting referees amid the chaos is – in short – laughable.
Now we know that Celtic and Scottish football is a different animal – referee David Dickinson has just been hauled up into the court of public execution after the heinous crime of smirking in Rangers’ 3-1 League Cup win over Hearts – but these aren’t exactly the soundbites of a footballing purist whose love of the game is being eroded.
All football managers want to win, heck the best ones use the press to leverage advantage into their favour, but spare us the birthday card rubbish about VAR, referees and love of the game in the process Ange.
At Celtic, none of that really mattered as long as the decisions were going in your favour.
Speaking of Ange Postecoglou and Spurs, the Aussie coach has reportedly had one eye on Rangers’ games recently.
