Scottish FA chief executive Ian Maxwell dismissed Rangers’ accusations of foul play after their League Cup final defeat to Celtic on Sunday by insisting that refereeing “decisions will be wrong”.
Gers winger Vaclav Cerny robbed Liam Scales of the ball on the edge of Celtic’s box in extra time and was hacked down by the defender desperately trying to rectify his own error. With the showpiece fixture at Hampden Park delicately poised at 3-3, referee John Beaton awarded a free-kick, rather than a penalty.
After further inspection from the video assistant referee, the on-pitch decision was upheld – much to the fury of all those associated with Rangers. Manager Philippe Clement called it a “cruel” defeat and labelled the challenge “a clear penalty”.
Rangers CEO Patrick Stewart reportedly contacted the Scottish FA to complain about the decision. Maxwell has delivered a public and forceful rebuttal.
“What a final this is!!” 😱😱@RangersFC respond through Danilo and we’re level AGAIN! 🔵#PremierSportsCup |@spfl pic.twitter.com/d6w6hhRgDK
— Premier Sports (@PremSportsTV) December 15, 2024
“Decisions will be wrong, that’s a given,” Maxwell shrugged. “We’ll eradicate them as much as we can.
“VAR has done that in a vast majority of cases. There are always going to be one or two that will fall out with that, because there’s people involved and in anything that involves a person, there will be decisions that are incorrect. That’s human nature.”
Maxwell continued: “Since football began, people have been talking about refereeing decisions, and we will talk about them forever more. And that’s part of the game.
“There will never be a point where there isn’t a contentious decision because people disagree on decisions.”
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