Celtic legend Kenny Dalglish has sharply criticised the Scottish FA, as well as referees Don Robertson and John Beaton after last week’s drama at Tynecastle.
A lot has been said about the incidents in the 2-0 Celtic defeat to Hearts in the Scottish Premiership, not least by Bhoys boss Brendan Rodgers.
The manager has been hauled in front of the SFA to answer for his criticism of the officials involved in sending off Hyunjun Yang and awarding the home side a dubious penalty after VAR reviews.
Dalglish reckons Rodgers should not be punished for his comments and has weighed in with his own damning verdict of what he witnessed last weekend.
Kenny Dalglish on Celtic and Scottish FA furore
He said [The Sunday Post, 10/03 print edition]: “It’s not right that Brendan Rodgers has been charged by the SFA for his comments after Celtic lost 2-0 to Hearts. He highlighted some blatant mistakes in that 90 minutes that cost his side. I’m sure any other manager would have done the same.
“Having watched the incidents several times, referee Don Robertson and his VAR, John Beaton, got it horribly wrong.
“Yang shouldn’t have been red-carded for his high challenge on Harry Cochrane. There was no aggression or malice in his attempt to play the ball. In my day, that would have been an indirect free-kick. Don just about called it a right with his initial decision of a yellow card. There was no need for VAR to become involved.
“Then, towards half-time, the Jambos were awarded a penalty for a handball against Tomoki Iwata. That’s one of the worst calls I’ve seen in a long, long time. It was never a penalty. For VAR to get involved was outrageous. It then defies belief that the referee agreed with his colleague.”
Dalglish then goes on to slam the SFA itself for their silence on it all, also feeling that Celtic shouldn’t have been given a penalty in the first half.
He continued: “Scottish football has heard nothing from the SFA on the game at Tynecastle. Surely there should be an explanation as to why the decisions made last weekend were the right ones. However, not a single word. Indeed, it looks as though some of the people in charge in the corridors of power of Hampden are hiding in their offices.
“Is there no accountability for Scottish referees? Surely, that can’t be allowed. If it is, the whole system needs to be reviewed very quickly. Yet, they are happy to haul Brendan up for highlighting some obvious errors.”
Dalglish clearly isn’t happy, nor should anyone be with the standard of refereeing witnessed recently.
Given that Rodgers has made it clear he will robustly defend himself in an upcoming hearing with the SFA on a potential touchline ban, there’s a fair amount more to run on all this.
Duck and cover isn’t really working for the Hampden lot to this point so it’ll also be interesting to see if they change PR tack.
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