Rangers expert backs drastic rule change after what he spotted against Celtic
Former Rangers man Alan Hutton has backed a change to the offside rules to allow officials to raise their flag earlier.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the former Gers right-back said assistant referees should be allowed to raise their flag earlier for an obvious offside to avoid potential injuries.
In the second half of the Rangers game against Celtic on Monday (2 January), Liel Abada received the ball in the Gers’ half and was clearly in an offside position but the official waited to raise the flag for offside.
Football fans have got used to seeing late offside flags after referees were told at the beginning of the 2020/21 campaign that they must keep their flags down during an immediate goal-scoring opportunity even if they think it is offside.
The officials were instructed to only raise their flag once the passage of play has come to an end, at which point the incident can be reviewed by VAR.
But Hutton insisted the rules need to be re-evaluated to avoid potential injuries.
“I have said this for a long time about this rule,” he told Football Insider.
“I think when it is really tight and you are unsure in such a big occasion, you let it play. But when it is obvious and we can all see it is just silly.
“All that happens is that you are then into a chase with another player, you are desperate to get the ball because you do not know. You could pull a hamstring, it could be a bad tackle, anything could happen.
“I think a little bit of common sense comes into it. If it is well offside, put the flag up or it is too tight to do that. Then we all understand it.“
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