The SFA’S KMI (key match incident) panel has done little to alleviate Celtic’s concerns about refereeing.
On the panel are three independent members with “established careers within Scottish football” – such as coaches, former players and members of the Scottish football media – one representative from the SFA another from SPFL clubs.
They vote on whether decisions were correct or incorrect, disagreeing with Martin O’Neill on multiple occasions this season.
We examined the calls they have made on decisions relating to Celtic, and the occasions on which they have disagreed.
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Review of SFA KMI panel’s Celtic decisions
Auston Trusty incident vs Rangers
In the Premier Sports Cup semi-final in November, which Celtic won in O’Neill’s second game in interim charge, there was quite the hullabaloo over Auston Trusty.
In the first half, a trailing leg near Rangers goalkeeper Jack Butland was highlighted, with the keeper and his teammates calling for a VAR review for a red card.
The panel voted two-to-one in opposition to the decision, ruling that Trusty should’ve seen red.
This aided the Rangers narrative, leading to O’Neill accusing them of “making excuses” after deservedly losing the game to a threadbare Celtic side.
Auston Trusty red card vs Hibs
In O’Neill’s only domestic defeat in either of his interim spells, Trusty again was the centre of attention, seeing red after a VAR decision which completely changed the game.
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Celtic appealed the decision, with O’Neill strongly critical of it. Regardless, the panel unanimously voted in favour of the sending-off.
That’s despite no strong complaints from the Hibs players as the incident took place. In this case and others, the panel has been completely counterproductive in addressing controversy.
O’Neill said that “in time, we won’t need a referee”, such is the level of re-refereeing going on in a VAR world.
Rejected penalty claim vs Aberdeen
O’Neill said that Celtic should’ve had a “clear” in their 2-1 win over Aberdeen, with Jack Milne accused of handball.
Once again, the panel unanimously disagreed with the Parkhead boss.
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Whilst nothing was deliberate, the ball made clear contact with Milne’s arm, in an incident we’ve become used to seeing given as a penalty in UEFA competitions.
A fair few handballs have been missed in Scotland this season, where things are done differently.
Liam Scales penalty vs Aberdeen
In the same game, the panel also reviewed the penalty awarded to Aberdeen for a tackle by Liam Scales on Toyosi Olusanya.
In their report, the members noted that the tackle was “soft”, but argued that Scales “took a risk” in going for the ball, which was in the striker’s possession
O’Neill’s comments on this were more focused on his own team “coming off the game” and “allowing” Aberdeen to win the penalty.
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