Another weekend of Scottish Premiership football, another weekend of predictable soundbites about Rangers from Michael Stewart.
The ex-midfielder turned pundit turned CelticTV employee regularly takes aim at the Ibrox club in his analysis and he did so again regarding the two penalties given to Rangers against Motherwell in the Ibrox club’s 5-1 win at Fir Park.
Speaking on Sunday’s BBC Sportscene, an infuriated Stewart also took aim at the new rules about handball – even if he still didn’t agree with Madden’s decisions.
“For a start, the law is a nonsense, for me,” said Stewart.
“What is Bevis Mugabi meant to do? When you look at the reverse angle, he’s standing right behind Scott Arfield, touch tight to him.
“He’s moving his arm down to bring it in towards his body and it strikes his arm. It’s not a penalty.
“What’s ‘unnatural’? This is the thing. Bevis Mugabi’s movement there is completely natural.
“He’s tried to move his arm back in towards his body, the ball strikes it and he’s given a penalty against it.
“Park all that to one side, Rangers deserved to win this game, there’s no question about that.
“But these incidents that we’re looking at, for me, were wrong from Bobby Madden even with the new law, which I think is absolute nonsense.
“You could still argue these are not penalties.”
Stewart also claimed Motherwell should’ve had a penalty for a Glen Kamara challenge on Alan Campbell in the first half, a decision Rangers could certainly have seen go against them.
By the rules both Rangers penalty incidents were handballs, both were penalties, and predictably, both have seen this neurotic, tragic, conspiracy-laden reaction from rival fans and pundits.
Whilst there was none of this directly from Stewart, and whilst the pundit was complimentary towards the Rangers performance, he once again takes a stance on the other side of the fence.
For someone who has no prior connection to Rangers, the ex-Hibs and Hearts man seems to get very frustrated with any decisions given in the club’s favour.
Stewart often conveniently disagrees with any decisions which go for Rangers and vehemently defends those that don’t.
It often feels like this is for reasons which go beyond the footballing and Rangers fans have raised doubts over whether Stewart can fairly and accurately analyse the Ibrox club.
Once again members of the Ibrox support have taken to Twitter to laugh off the pundit as these predictable comments draw an apathetic reaction from bluenoses everywhere:
https://twitter.com/Beatthatbeat/status/1310345570540761089
https://twitter.com/54Beats44/status/1310292256574902272
https://twitter.com/RFCRodger/status/1310301732338110465
https://twitter.com/cw1873/status/1310183531428052992
https://twitter.com/FergieGal18/status/1310289590838800384
Stewart isn’t the only one who’s drawn the ire of Rangers fans either, with Motherwell director Andrew Wilson also being goaded by fans for his outburst about the penalties on Twitter.
