Rangers have responded to Willie Collum and the SFA admitting they got a crucial penalty call wrong against Celtic – and the Ibrox fans are not happy.
The Rangers support are furious after Willie Collum admitted VAR officials Alan Muir and Frank Connor failed to intervene when Vaclav Cerny was fouled inside the box by Liam Scales.
With incident occurring in the first half of extra time in the League Cup Final with Rangers and Celtic tied at 3-3, with the Parkhead side eventually going on to win the game on penalties.
The VAR audio has also incensed supporters, with someone in the background saying ‘that’s a penalty’ before Alan Muir says ‘it’s mostly outside’.
Rangers respond to SFA penalty admission
Rangers fans expected a furious response from their club, with Celtic routinely getting the VAR rub of the green in the Old Firm fixture in recent matches.
But the tepid response has drawn criticism from Ibrox fans even if some will churlishly admit that the club’s hands are pretty much tied when it comes to the situation.
Here’s a response that a Rangers spokesperson has sent to journalists:
”Rangers FC notes the Scottish FA’s admission of an officiating failure following the non-award of a penalty to Rangers in Sunday’s Premier Sports Cup final and welcomes the transparency from the Scottish FA.
“However, for such a failure to occur during one of Scotland’s showcase matches is not only hugely disappointing for the club and its supporters, but also damaging for the credibility of Scottish football more widely.
“We acknowledge the Scottish FA’s determination to use this and other decision-making failures as opportunities to drive improvements in officiating standards.
“As a club, we will continue to engage with the Scottish FA in an attempt to improve officiating standards for the benefit of all clubs in Scotland.”
Rangers fans furious at ‘pathetic response’
Whilst the statement acknowledges the SFA’s admittance of the error, Rangers fans perhaps expected a little more fire and fury from the bosses at Ibrox.
Most will accept that Rangers aren’t going to be able to undo the decision, but fans want the club to pile an increased level of scrutiny onto the situation to ensure it never happens again.
As part of this, Rangers expected more strongly worded or visible statements on the unacceptable nature of the decision-making but instead they feel they’ve been met with a weak response.
The overwhelming majority of supporters online have railed against the Rangers statement.
Plenty of fans suggest the statement should’ve been ‘stronger’ with the club’s support feeling it is not ‘bold’ enough to represent their emotions on the subject.
One fan has labelled the response ‘pathetic cowardice’ with the overriding suggestion this is a ‘weak’ response from Rangers and ‘not good enough’.
Given this is the first major incident of its kind that Patrick Stewart has had to deal with, it’s probably a missed opportunity with Rangers having the chance to strongly demand change in this department.
Instead, the club has taken a more calm approach and it’s not in keeping with the feelings of supporters.
Should this happen again, we suspect Stewart might regret not making a stand here. After all, the buck now stops with him.
There are some who appreciate the club can’t do much more than release a statement, with one fan suggesting it’s ‘exactly the correct way to address the SFA statement’.
But such views are without a doubt anomalies rather than the rule with one supporter summing up what most Rangers fans are thinking.
