Ex-SFA referee’s X-rated rant over Willie Collum’s verdict on Auston Trusty Celtic row

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Almost three weeks later, and Auston Trusty’s ‘red card’ row in Celtic’s win against Rangers in the Premier Sports Cup is still rumbling on.

To be fair, Willie Collum’s The VAR Review stirred the hornet’s nest again after he gave his verdict on whether or not Celtic defender Auston Trusty should have been sent off for the challenge on Rangers’ Jack Butland.

Collum backed his on-field officials and his VAR team after he said the contact from Trusty’s boot on Butland was ‘negligible’ after the Celtic defender was cautioned for the tackle.

And now, former SFA referee Des Roache has delivered his X-rated verdict after he fumed about Collum’s reasoning for the Hampden officials not taking the step to order off Trusty in Celtic’s win over Rangers.

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Ex-SFA referee’s X-rated response to Willie Collum’s Celtic row verdict

Roache was seriously unhappy after hearing Collum’s take on the Trusty tackle and immediately launched into an X-rated response to the SFA Head of Referees.

Roache told The Ref’s View, “Bulls—t. That might have to be edited, but no. Absolute, absolute nonsense.

“How can you take part of laws of the game that suits your narrative to go around it? Now, I’m going to be honest. When I first saw it, I thought it was a yellow card and I’ve said that. I’ve openly said it.

“But then on review, which is why VAR is there, you’ve looked at it and went, ‘Oh no he’s actually made a motion to put his foot out to strike the player on the head’.

“Now he’s saying that we can support it. That’s a guarded way of saying we could also support if he did give a red card. So he’s hedging his bets there.”

Willie Collum branded ‘ extremely foolish’ over Auston Trusty Celtic row

The former SFA referee’s blistering retort didn’t stop there as he warned Collum that his stance on the Celtic controversy has made him look ‘foolish’.

Roache continued, “He’s covering his backside. How can Willie Collum be judge and jury on the amount of force, brutality that impacts a contact on someone’s head?

“That’s where it ends. That’s where it starts. That’s where it stops. That’s where it ends. If you make contact with someone’s head with your foot, it’s a red card.

“I think he made himself look extremely foolish there.”

Hopefully, this is the last Celtic fans will hear of this as the continued rehashing of this incident is getting to be a bit boring now.

Celtic face St Mirren as the Scottish Premiership season resumes after the international break where Martin O’Neill will be hoping to bring some sanity back to a week that has been dominated by the recent AGM shambles.