It’s not often you’ll find Rangers fans nodding along in agreement with outspoken pundit Michael Stewart.
But the Ibrox support will certainly be singing from the same hymn sheet as the ex-Hibs and Hearts midfielder on the subject of the Premier Sports Cup penalty that never was.
Rangers fans have demanded action after VAR failed to intervene despite replays showing Vaclav Cerny had been in the box when he was hauled down by Liam Scales.
SFA chief Ian Maxwell has tried to palm the decision off as ‘human error’ but it’s not something Rangers fans are entertaining.
With the decision clearly very close on the park, like the rest of us Michael Stewart is bemused as to why VAR didn’t take its time and come to the correct decision.
Michael Stewart: Rangers penalty a ‘no-brainer’
”As soon as it happened I’m thinking ‘that’s a penalty or at least it’s incredibly close’,” Stewart told Premier Sports.
”So the fact is that it’s not like an incident that VAR could miss. The incident is there, it’s there for all to see, a free kick has been given.
”So all VAR has to really check here is, ‘is Cerny in the box at any point when Scales is pulling his shorts?’
”And the answer to that is yes. It’s a penalty kick.
”This is a perfect example of how when VAR or referees or TV or pundits or anything like that can frame a debate massively.
”That really sort of drifted by without a great deal of scrutiny until afterward and folk start talking about it then.
”At the time, it’s a no-brainer. It’s quite incredible that VAR missed that.
”This is a situation where the referee doesn’t need to come over to look at the screen.
”VAR just needs to tell him that’s not a foul, it’s not a free kick, it’s a penalty because Cerny is in the box.
”The law being if you pull a jersey or shorts, if it’s outside the box and continues into the box it’s a penalty kick, simple as that.”
Alan Hutton’s view from Hampden gantry
Former Rangers defender Alan Hutton has also been speaking about the incident to Premier Sports.
The ex-Ibrox right-back was working on co-commentary with Neil Lennon for the match and, like the VAR team, moved on quickly from the incident at the time.
Hutton has since explained that this was because there was not enough made about the incident, which meant a lack of replays or the opportunity to investigate.
It wasn’t until after the game that Hutton, like the rest of us, could make more sense of what had happened.
”I thought there would’ve been more made of it,” said Alan Hutton.
”Me and (Neil Lennon) were doing the co-comms and we didn’t see a lot of it. It happened quite quickly and the game moved on.
”It wasn’t until after when we were going down and we were talking about it and we had a real good chance to go over it.
”I’m with Michael. If you’re a defender and you’re pulling outside the box and it continues into the box then it’s a foul and it’s a penalty kick.
”I don’t understand why it wasn’t. Was there a nervousness to give it at such a big time within the game?
”I don’t know what it was but that’s why they are there to make the big decisions and for me it’s a penalty kick.”
