Alan Brazil wound up Ally McCoist over Celtic’s handball penalty against Motherwell on his return to talkSPORT.
The famous Celtic-supporting host of the radio station’s breakfast show has been absent since March 11th due to serious health issues, which he has only recently started discussing.
Whilst he remains absent from his role as host, Brazil made his first talkSPORT appearance in 85 days on Thursday morning, revealing that he had undergone a life-saving emergency liver transplant.
It didn’t take him long to get into Celtic’s handball call against Motherwell, given that he was speaking to Ally McCoist. The one question on Gabby Agbonlahor’s lips was simple: was it a handball?
The VAR audio confirms what we already knew… but hysterical reactions continue 👀
Ally McCoist: Celtic vs Motherwell handball was a penalty ‘all day long’
Brazil’s reply was: “All day long.
“I’ve seen so many different [angles]. I’ve got a friend in print over there, and he worked it out and showed me a brilliant still.
READ MORE: Clubs to ‘watch’ Alistair Johnston at World Cup as Celtic stance considered
“It’s clearly handball, so stop whinging, okay!?’
“What I will say is — and I’ve said it all along — stick VAR in the bin. I’ve had enough of it. Get rid! Don’t give them any more rules, VAR has got to be binned.
“We don’t need it. If the referee makes a mistake — fine. We get on with it, we move on. VAR is garbage.”
He continued on his surgery: “I didn’t want to do it, but my kids and Jill [his wife] made me do it, and amazingly, I’d gone through loads of appointments and serious questions that you wouldn’t normally talk to anyone about.
“But they decided to have a go at it, or I would have been in trouble.
“I finished at quarter to ten and got a shout at 10am to phone the hospital and they told me to get in right now.
“I jumped in a cab and went down to Cambridge, and at 2:30 that afternoon, I was on the slab and they opened me up and they transplanted my liver.
“I was there for eight hours and my heart did stop for a bit, but it came back on its own, so I am very, very lucky.
“I swear, I thought my days were numbered, but this guy [Dr Gibbs] has been a legend.
“I had week in intensive care, and the staff are so overworked, but I have really got them to thank. I had four weeks in there, and it got me down. I am feeling really good.”
Should Celtic comment on the selective outrage after VAR’s reviews of the run-in decision?
The relevant rules Celtic’s penalty call against Motherwell
The handball was ruled punishable due to “touch[ing] the ball with their hand/arm when it has made their body unnaturally bigger. “
As per the rules “A player is considered to have made their body unnaturally bigger when the position of their hand/arm is not a consequence of, or justifiable by, the player’s body movement for that specific situation.
“By having their hand/arm in such a position, the player takes a risk of their hand/arm being hit by the ball and being penalised.”
Additionally, despite talk of the call being ruled as a “clear and obvious error”, referees are also sent to the monitor in the case of a “serious missed incident” relating to the penalty.
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