Daizen Maeda’s offside Celtic goal vs Rangers called ‘farcical’ by ex-referees

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Former SFA referees Des Roache and Steve Conroy have blasted VAR and the decision to rule Daizen Maeda’s Celtic goal offside against Rangers.

Maeda thought he had opened the scoring in Celtic’s win at Ibrox, but his joy was short-lived as VAR intervened and ruled Liam Scales offside.

The call was so tight, Roache called the offside ‘barely recognisable’ as Conroy slammed the ‘farcical’ use of the video technology.

• READ MORE: Debunking Andy Halliday’s claim by video that Celtic fans ‘goaded’ Rangers supporters at Ibrox

Ex-SFA referee Des Roache slams VAR ‘standards’ in Rangers vs Celtic flashpoint

First up is Des Roache, who said that while he believes Scales was offside, the former SFA man said that VAR made it very difficult to make the call 100% correct.

Roache said on The Ref’s View “It’s barely recognisable. I mean, the angles aren’t great.

“But when you look at the way the play had progressed, Scales comes back from an offside position. Being offside isn’t an offense in itself. So you can be there.

“But the first thing that he does, he materially impacts the game, because it’s him that nods the head, nods the ball on to Maeda. So that’s it.

“The buck stops there. He’s came back from there. But the standard of lines that we’re getting drawn now, is that where we’re at now in Scottish football?”

Steve Conroy fumes at VAR call on Maeda’s Celtic goal

Steve Conroy was less forgiving in his critique of the VAR call as the ex-referee said he’s ‘given up’ trying to work out how the video referee is applied in Scotland.

Conroy replied, “An assumption is a guess. Let’s not beat about the bush. I’ve long since given up trying to fathom what the SFA do. One week, it’s two lines. One week, it’s not.

“We’re guessing, we can’t get the lines drawn anyway, so we’re just going to have a wee go at it. It is becoming farcical, and it’s making us look like country yokels.

“It’s an absolute joke, not taken away from the fact that I think Scales was offside. But just give us it the way it should be. We don’t want diet VAR. Just give us the full fat version.

“It’s an absolute nonsense.”

There are already debates by Celtic fans online suggesting that Djiga may well have played Scales onside, but without the real version of VAR, they will now never know.

Celtic supporters and football fans across Scotland are fed up with the technology still getting the big decisions wrong and many want to see VAR abolished now.