Rangers vs Celtic ‘punishment’: ‘Huge’ Neil Lennon claim
Neil Lennon says the VAR team who did not award Rangers a penalty against Celtic in the Scottish League Cup final are likely to be punished.
A thrilling encounter at Hampden Park on Sunday (15 December) between the two ended 3-3 after 90 minutes, and with no goals being scored in extra time, it was Brendan Rodgers side who won 4-3 on penalties.
Head of Referee Operations at the Scottish FA, Willie Collum has since admitted that Philippe Clement’s side should have been awarded a penalty in extra time (Sky Sports).
Gers fans though have been left furious after their side were not awarded a spot kick when Vaclav Cerny was brought down in the area by Liam Scales.
Referee John Beaton then awarded a free-kick, but the VAR officiating duo Alan Muir and Frank Connor did not intervene to overturn the decision and award Rangers a penalty.
Reacting to that admission from Collum on PLZ Soccer, former Celtic player and manager Lennon dismissed claims of bias, instead suggesting the mistake was a result of incompetency.
He did however also suggest that Muir and Connor will likely face consequences for not getting involved, as when asked if there is anything else Collum needs to say on the issue, Lennon added: “It’s a good question. I just think it’s put Willie in a difficult position and to be fair I admire him for coming out and calling it as it is so there is that transparency there.
“There is that accountability there and unfortunately for the people who made that decision there’s going to be a suspension or a punishment but that’s the rules you’ve got to get these decisions right.
“There’s so much riding on it for everyone involved and it would have had a bearing on the game. It’s a huge decision that’s gone against Rangers and for me there’s no excuse now to get these decisions wrong.”
Rangers will take little consolation from Collum and Lennon comments
Football Insider Opinion
While they will feel that there needs to be some recriminations for those involved here it is unlikely this will help to lift the mood around Ibrox over what happened.
Despite what some Rangers fans may hope for there is not going to be a replay despite the fact that they missed out on a penalty everybody seems to feel they should have had.
Throughout the history have football there have been many examples of sides feeling they should have been given replays they did not get as a result of officiating decisions.
As a result, this decision to not to award the ‘Gers a penalty may well have cost them the joy of winning a trophy.
It is understood that Clement will not be sacked as a result of losing the cup final. That could have been rather different given the underwhelming start to the season Rangers had.
So with what is at stake here there can be no excuse for getting these decisions wrong, especially with the help of VAR, so the consequences for incidents such as this that Muir and Connor now face are unavoidable.
In other news, Rangers have been criticised following a recent Connor Barron update.
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