Willie Collum’s VAR show has reviewed the evidence from Celtic’s penalty against Motherwell.
It’s a long-awaited address from Collum, given the intense media hysteria surrounding the decision which directly impacted the Scottish Premiership title race.
It allowed Kelechi Iheanacho to step up from the spot and win the game for Celtic, giving them the opportunity to win the league with a win against Hearts three days later, which they did.
Unusually for a decision in Scotland, there were reactions throughout the footballing world, but these weren’t exactly rational.
The VAR audio confirms what we already knew… but hysterical reactions continue 👀
Willie Collum: Celtic penalty call vs Motherwell ‘clear’
The audio reveals a typical process whereby referee John Beaton is called to the monitor due to the VARs discovering a “clear” handball from the review footage.
Beaton then reviews it for himself, and agrees.
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Collum then backed the decision up, saying: “For us there’s clear evidence, particularly the still image.
“In our opinion this is clear. When you strip it back, 95th minute of the match, VAR goes through a clear process.
“They’re clear it’s a handball. When the referee comes over, he agrees. So we fully support the decision.
“When you bring a ref to the monitor, you’ve already come to the conclusion that it’s hit the hand. The ref’s focus has to be to check the position of the arm.
“He just quickly confirms ‘has it hit the arm?’ You wouldn’t bring him over if it hadn’t.
“The key for me is Nicholson’s hand and arm are already in an unnatural position. It moves further into an unnatural position.
“The player takes a huge risk when he jumps with his hand in that position. It’s not a foul on the Motherwell player. We’ve been consistent with handballs.
“We felt he wasn’t trying to get his arm out of the position. We didn’t feel he was trying to protect his face, it wasn’t a shot coming at him from a close distance.
“We need to be careful talking about an advantage being gained. It wasn’t a case of trying to avoid contact, or trying to protect his face.
“Another small point. People say ‘support the on-field decision?’ There wasn’t an on-field decision, it was completely missed.”
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Hearts reactions to Celtic penalty call vs Motherwell
Leading the disgruntled was Hearts boss Derek McInnes, who blasted the decision as “disgusting” in a hot-headed interview after his side’s win over Falkirk.
Hearts hero Ryan Stevenson also wasn’t happy, labelling it a “disgrace” and “garbage”. Even Gary Lineker slated it.
The media fury reached such a temperature that referee John Beaton’s address was leaked, leading the official to need security around his home.
However, Chris Sutton has called out high-profile pundits for their hysteria, saying that their pro-Hearts agenda is clouding their judgement.
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