The Scottish Premiership witnessed yet another controversial moment this afternoon at Ibrox, as The Rangers were awarded a penalty against Dundee following a VAR decision that many are calling questionable at best.
This incident adds to a growing narrative around The Rangers’ matches, where seemingly every nudge or tug in the box is scrutinized and often results in a penalty for the Gers.
Why Should This Concern Celtic?
Fast-forward to December 30th, the day marked in every Celtic fan’s calendar – the derby day against the Ibrox club. If the pattern of penalties continues, Celtic could find themselves in a precarious situation. It appears we may be ‘sleepwalking’ into a scenario where The Rangers will seek to exploit this trend, and any decision in their favour will be justified under the guise of consistency. The penalty awarded today at Ibrox could be seen as a forewarning for Celtic, suggesting that referees might be overly eager to point to the spot.
In a season where the title race could run close, every decision carries weight. The pattern observed in The Rangers’ games is not just a matter of concern for the officials’ consistency, but also for the integrity of the competition. As Saturday’s match illustrated, if the same standard were applied across the board, we might as well brace ourselves for a penalty fest – five per team per game, anyone?
5th November 2023; Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland: Scottish Viaplay Cup Football Semi Final, Heart of Midlothian versus Rangers; Referee Nick Walsh points to the penalty spot after a VAR check
In this context, it’s almost admirable how The Rangers seem to have this uncanny knack for winning penalties. One might say they are incredibly ‘fortunate’, or perhaps there’s more to it than just luck. Their ability to find themselves on the right side of VAR decisions, especially in the penalty area, is nothing short of a marvel – or an art form, depending on your view.
As we inch closer to the December 30th showdown, it’s crucial for Celtic to remain vigilant and adapt to this evolving landscape of refereeing in Scottish football. The last thing they’d want is to be caught off guard by a ‘phantom penalty’ – a scenario that’s not in the realm of improbability.
The question remains: will the referees take a step back to reassess their approach, or will the trend of dubious penalties continue? Only time will tell.
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5 COMMENTS
Come on that’s a stonewaller just like the 71 spl games in a row without conceding 1
Don’t even bother now taking any heed upon it nowadays, with its expected within every game the scum play within the SPFL?
Concerned?
Not overly, but do agree that it needs to be called out, for what it stands for within Scottish football?
We still remain miles ahead of the scum in quality terms, and this with ourselves fairly inconsistent performance wise so far this season, and still without having our strongest available match day squad so far?
We have 3 games left against the scum this season, and would expect ourselves to create far more goal scoring opportunities, than cheating officials could find to try and help the scum out within these games?
Just because the gulf in class remains massive, it doesn’t always work out that way in football, but remain confident enough that we will be way to good for the scum to handle, as they remain just shite.
So shite in fact, that they have to depend upon the cheating to try and remain relevant to ourselves, and the obligation of the cheating officials is to keep that agenda intact?
Will that still be enough for the scum to catch ourselves?
Not a chance of it happening imo.
No idea what a the penalty was awarded for!? …be good if the ref could clarify!
Dundee should’ve had a penalty later in the game, VAR didn’t even look at it!
Video Assisting *Rangers, right enough!
It’s pathetic they need to cheat to win second place, the other clubs in the league should boycott playing them over it, it’s blatant cheating and we all have to sit back and watch it happening every week and pretend its normal, all to suit one club!
Come on that’s a stonewaller just like the 71 spl games in a row without conceding 1
Don’t even bother now taking any heed upon it nowadays, with its expected within every game the scum play within the SPFL?
Concerned?
Not overly, but do agree that it needs to be called out, for what it stands for within Scottish football?
We still remain miles ahead of the scum in quality terms, and this with ourselves fairly inconsistent performance wise so far this season, and still without having our strongest available match day squad so far?
We have 3 games left against the scum this season, and would expect ourselves to create far more goal scoring opportunities, than cheating officials could find to try and help the scum out within these games?
Just because the gulf in class remains massive, it doesn’t always work out that way in football, but remain confident enough that we will be way to good for the scum to handle, as they remain just shite.
So shite in fact, that they have to depend upon the cheating to try and remain relevant to ourselves, and the obligation of the cheating officials is to keep that agenda intact?
Will that still be enough for the scum to catch ourselves?
Not a chance of it happening imo.
We are not sleepwalking into anything! Our club has had plenty of time to take issue with this but refuse.
It’s simple.. Brendon just needs to drum it into the players heads.. No pulling of sevco jerseys in or! near the box.. No tackling in or near the box!
No idea what a the penalty was awarded for!? …be good if the ref could clarify!
Dundee should’ve had a penalty later in the game, VAR didn’t even look at it!
Video Assisting *Rangers, right enough!
It’s pathetic they need to cheat to win second place, the other clubs in the league should boycott playing them over it, it’s blatant cheating and we all have to sit back and watch it happening every week and pretend its normal, all to suit one club!