SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell has bit back at suggestions of bias in Scottish football following the Rangers penalty that never was v Celtic.
The Rangers support are still reeling from the penalty incident in the first half of extra time in the Premier Sports Cup Final, where VAR failed to intervene after Liam Scales pulled Vaclav Cerny in the box.
The days since have been dominated by news coverage of the incident, with referees chief Willie Collum admitting the VAR team got it wrong at Hampden.
Ian Maxwell courted controversy from Rangers fans when he claimed that the mistake was down to ‘human error’.
Now, the SFA chief has also bit back at allegations of bias with Rangers fans raising eyebrows due to Celtic being bailed out by VAR on seven occasions in recent Old Firm matches.
Ian Maxwell: SFA bias ‘absolute nonsense’
”It’s absolute nonsense to insinuate any sort of bias at any level in Scottish football,” Maxwell told PLZ Soccer.
”Referees make decisions on what they think is right at the time and even entertaining it is nonsense.
”This is the first time I’ve been asked this year about a VAR decision. It’s not always been that way.
”I think Willie’s come in, the transparency, the way he’s dealt with things, it’s been a breath of fresh air and made a real difference on and off the pitch.
”We want to drive that forward.
”Since football began we’ve been talking about refereeing decisions and that will continue forevermore.”
Rangers should’ve had penalty v Celtic
The comments of Ian Maxwell come as Rangers fans vent following Willie Collum’s admission after the defeat to Celtic.
Speaking on the VAR Review Show, Collum admits that the refereeing team got it wrong and that Rangers should’ve had a penalty.
With the VAR audio also being released, the situation has generated more questions than answers with fans eagerly awaiting Rangers’ response.
”There’s a holding incident we need to assess here,” said Collum. “The holding is the key part of this decision.
”It’s really, really important. There’s been a lot said Gordon about the Rangers player has a foot on the penalty area line.
”The foot is actually irrelevant in this case, it’s about the holding and the holding only because that’s where the contact is.
”The holding begins outside the penalty area and then it continues on the line and even arguably beyond the line and fully into the penalty area.
”But regardless the fact it’s on the line, this should be considered as a penalty kick.
“So the referee has awarded a free kick on field because he sees the pulling, he’s correctly judged the incident in terms of the foul play.
”But then the VAR team need to go into a check and they need to decide whether this incident is inside or outside.
”And ultimately they failed to come to the correct conclusion which is this should’ve been a factual overturn – no need for the referee to go to the monitor – for a penalty kick to be awarded.”
