Rangers are fuming after the failure to award the club a potentially pivotal penalty kick in the Old Firm Premier Sports Cup Final defeat to Celtic.
Incoming Rangers CEO Patrick Stewart has contacted the SFA for answers as the Ibrox club are left reeling by VAR’s failure to intervene at Hampden.
With Rangers awarded a free kick for a pull by Liam Scales on Czech winger Vaclav Cerny, replays prove the incident was actually inside the box.
VAR should’ve urged John Beaton to point to the spot but for some reason hurriedly moved on from the incident and allowed James Tavernier to fire a free kick over the bar.
As Rangers fans eagerly await an official response from the SFA, one report claims that Scottish football’s governing body is getting ready to hold up its hands.
SFA to admit VAR mistake in Old Firm Final
The Scotsman is claiming that the SFA have already admitted to Rangers that they made a grave error in not awarding the penalty kick at Hampden.
There is swelling pressure on the governing body amid a run of high profile VAR interventions which have benefitted Celtic in recent Old Firm derbies.
With officials reviewing Rangers goals or penalty shouts with a fine tooth comb, this time the officials glazed over the incident with the scores tied at 3-3 in extra time.
The incident has been publicly criticised by several ex-referees, including the likes of Bobby Madden and Mike McCurry.
Celtic would go on to win the match on penalties and the decision had a potentially pivotal outcome on the game, which has allowed the Parkhead side to overtake Rangers’ official trophy record.
The Scotsman believe that the SFA have now ‘admitted’ the mistake to Rangers with the situation to be addressed publicly by Willie Collum in the SFA’s own VAR Review Show this week.
Acknowledgment of the mistake will be published on Friday after a five-person committee reviewed the decision-making via the Key Match Incident Panel.
Simply, the report says that the SFA have been unable to offer any other explanation to Rangers other than the fact the officials ‘erred’ in their decision making.
Rangers must push for action against officials
It’s not clear if this will be enough to satiate Rangers or the club’s supporters, who’ve been left reeling by the incompetence of the SFA’s decision-making in the Old Firm fixture.
VAR has been used almost exclusively in the Old Firm derby to find faults in Rangers goals or to defend Celtic when things have not gone their way.
It comes against the backdrop of immense referee pressure from Parkhead, the club’s board, management staff and fans all nodding to conspiracy theories in recent seasons.
For such a grave mistake to be made in a national cup final is unacceptable in the extreme and Rangers must push for sanctions which quite simply must lead to dismissals.
There is no alternative and the VAR officials involved unfortunately must feel the gravity of their failure to correctly referee the match.
Rangers CEO Patrick Stewart told supporters in his first interview at Ibrox that he is awaiting an official response from the SFA over the incident.
“The match with Spurs really showed Rangers going head-to-head with a top Premier League side and it was a match we all felt we should have won,” Stewart said when asked about the current performance of Clement’s squad.
“The performances in the SPFL have been really positive, we are scoring, not conceding, of course the Cup Final – I don’t want to dwell on it again, but it could have been such a memorable day.
“We have a lot to be positive about. The manner in which we lost was hard to take, and as I think people will know, I have spoken with the SFA to ask for an explanation about the non-awarding of a penalty in extra-time, so I will wait to hear what the SFA have to say about that.”
