The Daniel Candeias decision continues to rumble on as the SFA finally explain why the Portuguese winger was sent off at St Mirren.
Just as we speculated lat week, the reason was down to gestures made towards St Mirren’s Anton Ferdinand. This, however, opens up a can of worms that’ll be difficult to reseal.
Watching the footage closely, Willie Collum doesn’t send Candeias off immediately after the incident. The altercation with Ferdinand is allowed to play out before the referee rushes over. It’s difficult, therefore, to see where Collum is coming from with his gestures explanation.
It all just feels as if the “Elite” graded referee is clutching at straws. Instead of simply apologising for what continues to be a shocking decision, he finds it easier to try and justify it. It’s more of an example of Collum’s stubbornness than anything.
So, unsurprisingly, Rangers aren’t happy with the explanation given. The club are now considering their options and figuring how best to tackle this issue.
Rangers, of course, had an unorthodox appeal ruled out before the Motherwell match. Candeias ultimately served his suspension, but this is more a matter of principle than anything regarding a simple suspension.
The controversial statement
The club also released a statement last week condemning Collum and calling for him to be punished. It’s difficult to argue against Rangers in this case considering the consistent blundering of the main man.
The Candeias incident isn’t exactly a first offence from the referee. It’s almost as if Collum has become a running joke in terms of giving bad decisions in matches – particularly high-profile ones.
This has nothing to do with trying to paint a picture of Rangers being victims. The club never released that kind of statement. This is just a rallying call from Rangers regarding a referee who gets let off for consistently poor decisions.
It’s difficult to see, however, where Rangers go from here. There’s not much else they could do outside of appealing the decision, and perhaps may need to get in contact with other clubs and try to get them on-side.
For now, the SFA will continue to bat away any criticism of their top-man. Head of Refereeing John Fleming certainly barely seems to care.
What Rangers do now will be interesting, but it’s difficult to see what that will be.
