Stuart Kettlewell explains why Willie Collum phone call after Celtic penalty award would’ve been pointless

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Stuart Kettlewell has revealed three reasons why he did not pick up the phone to Willie Collum after Celtic’s controversial penalty award vs Kilmarnock.

The Hoops and Killie were deadlocked at 1-1 and it appeared both sides were set for a point apiece in the Scottish Premiership.

But a Lewis Mayo handball was spotted by VAR and after on-field referee John Beaton checked the pitchside monitor, a spot-kick was awarded.

Kelechi Iheanacho rifled home the penalty to win the game for Celtic, which left Killie boss Kettlewell fuming after the game.

Now, with the dust beginning to settle, he has been quizzed on the flashpoint further.

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Kettlewell did not seek Collum clarity for Celtic penalty call

Kettlewell was asked by reporters at his pre-St Mirren press conference on Wednesday if he called the SFA’s head of refereeing Collum to complain about the penalty decision.

The SFA’s official reasoning for the big call is: “The penalty was awarded for handball by the Kilmarnock defender whose arm is in an unnatural position.

“A deflection doesn’t always negate a handball offence. He doesn’t know where ball is going and his arm is up in an unnatural position to block a shot.”

And that’s partly why Kettlewell refused to seek further clarity from Collum, as well as how VAR and Beaton came to their decision.

Kettlewell said: “You’re asking why I didn’t seek clarity. Because there’s a chain of decisions and thought processes and statements that have told us that can be given as a penalty.

“So what clarity would I want? From checking VAR, from the look at the screen and from the statement afterwards, that’s given me my answer so why would I go back over that again?”

Kettlewell says SFA have now set handball ‘precedent’

Kettlewell says the threshold for awarding penalties for similar handball situations has now been set by the SFA.

He continued: “I’m somebody that likes clarity, I’m somebody that likes consistency, same as everybody else.

“I have a lot of conversations with a lot of different people within Scottish football – press, media, coaching staff, players, punters – people with that vested interest in Scottish football, and I don’t think we want to see that (being given as a penalty).

“But I think we have set a precedent on Sunday on what will be given as a penalty.”