Hamilton Academical manager Brian Rice admitted that he didn’t want Celtic’s Leigh Griffiths to get suspended today.
The Glasgow Times reported earlier that Griffiths’ tangle with Hamilton’s Sam Woods on Sunday was deemed not to be worthy of a red card by all members of an expert panel.
The decision won’t go down well with plenty. This is down to the idea that Griffiths had perhaps stamped on Woods. However, replays haven’t managed to make everyone agree on it.
Rice, being the Hamilton manager, unsurprisingly thought it was a red card offence. Yet, speaking in the Scottish Sun, the Accies boss didn’t want Griffiths to receive retrospective action taken against him.
“I don’t think there is any debate. It’s a red card for Leigh Griffiths. End of story. But my opinion doesn’t matter. The only person whose opinion matters is the referee.
“He may look at it and say he made a mistake, or he may look at it and say he got that right. But in my opinion, I don’t think there is any debate. A big decision by the ref changed the game.
“We had it last season when Darian was upgraded to a red from a yellow. But I hope that doesn’t happen this time. It doesn’t do us any favours. The game is finished, so let’s move on.”
Would’ve been easy for Rice to be spiteful
Like any of us, the Hamilton boss is entitled to his own opinion. You can see why he would be angry too if he chose to be. It’s a decision that, had it been the other way around, plenty of us wouldn’t have been too happy with.
It would’ve been easy for Rice to let his emotions get the better of him so soon after the game. However, instead, he shows a bit of class to say that Griffiths shouldn’t be pulled up. There isn’t much spite from Rice in these comments at all, and that’s refreshing to see.
The more I see it, the more I struggle to make my own mind up. There didn’t look to be much malice in it, however, and that’s what maybe just sways it for me.
Griffiths also looks genuinely annoyed when he’s pushed by Alex Gogic. His reaction at that point suggested that he has no idea what he was being pushed for. It’s also extremely uncharacteristic of the Celtic striker to get involved in something like that.
Fair play to Rice, who took some of the sting out of the situation with his comments on it. The last thing we needed was more pressure on the panel to give Griffiths a ban. If Rice had come out all guns blazing and moaning about how retrospective action must be taken, it would’ve been a pain.
Fortunately, it’s one that isn’t going to bite us, and Griffiths will be free to face Motherwell at Fir Park tomorrow night…..perhaps that’s why Rice wanted him available!
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