Rangers boss Michael Beale has landed a dig on bleating Celtic and Ange Postecoglou amid draining VAR hysteria which has dominated the back pages in recent weeks.
The Parkhead side have been playing to the gallery by leaning on absolutely bonkers Masonic refereeing conspiracies to try and tear down VAR following the 2-2 draw with Rangers.
The pressure appears to have paid off too with Kilmarnock denied a clear penalty in their 2-0 Viaplay Cup semi-final victory at Hampden over the weekend.
Giorgos Giakoumakis clearly fouls Kilmarnock star Joe Wright in the box and despite the incident being a clear penalty to anyone with eyes both the referee and VAR refused to blow up.
Ange Postecoglou – who’d earlier been irresponsibly demanding a penalty should’ve been given to his side against Rangers despite the IFAB rules saying otherwise – then brushed over the incident with a quip about being lucky.
This comes after Michael Beale had claimed the Celtic manager was lucky to have had such resources available to him over his Parkhead tenure.
Michael Beale lands dig on Celtic and Ange Postecoglou
Rangers boss Michael Beale would then nod to the incident following the Ibrox side’s 2-1 win over Aberdeen to reach the Viaplay Cup Final amid yet more VAR controversy at Hampden.
The system suffered communication issues heading into extra time and for an undefined period wasn’t in action at Hampden before returning.
However, Michael Beale insists that it appears VAR wasn’t in action for the Celtic game too after the Parkhead side were let off with a glaring penalty call as the referees took the path of least resistance.
Beale claimed that whilst VAR wasn’t in operation for a moment in Rangers’ clash with Aberdeen, it didn’t appear to be in use at all in Celtic’s victory over Kilmarnock.
”That’s a bit of a gray area, we didn’t use VAR last night and it kept breaking down again today,” said Michael Beale.
The conspiracy nonsense coming out of Parkhead is all fun and games but it’s clear this pressure has a tangible impact, as evidenced by VAR failing to give Kilmarnock a clear penalty.
Whilst there will still be errors with VAR, no one can objectively look at the Killie call and come to the conclusion it wasn’t a penalty with the benefit of replays.
Celtic are bringing the game in Scotland into disrepute and their cantankerous manager has lost all credibility in the weeks since Rangers brought them down a peg or two at Ibrox.
Now it’s up to Michael Beale to send the Celtic boss packing and we look forward to the day their increasingly miserable coach is sent packing from Parkhead.
Meanwhile, one Euro talent has been talking up a potential switch to Rangers.