Derek McInnes did not simply say Celtic’s late penalty against Motherwell was wrong. The Rangers manager called the decision “disgusting”, and that is the word his defence conveniently leaves out.
The SFA handed McInnes a four-match ban, with three games imposed immediately and the fourth suspended until the end of the season for the comments made when he was Hearts boss last season. Rangers have already confirmed that they intend to appeal.
He is now presenting the row as a warning against stopping managers from giving honest answers. That would be a fair defence if McInnes had only said the referee was wrong. He went much further than that.
Controlled? Is McInnes deluded?
Derek McInnes tones down his Celtic outburst
McInnes has now defended his comments and warned that managers could begin checking themselves before answering questions about controversial decisions.
The Rangers boss told The Scottish Sun, “I’ve been a manager for 19 years now and part of my job is you know you’re going to be asked on contentious decisions and all the rest of it.
“I’ve never wanted to make it personal. For me, the decision was wrong.
“I feel as though I made my points at the hearing today.
“I do think, in general, broadcasters pay a lot of money to hear managers’ reaction.
“We’ve got to be careful that we don’t have managers and players who have to be really sure of themselves and check themselves before answering a question. At no point was I wanting to inflame the situation.
“The situation was already being discussed before I did my press.
“It was quite a big moment in the season and there was a lot of emotion but I felt as though what I said was controlled.
“And that’s what the appeal process will now discuss and consider.”
“I was pleased to put my points across, but I don’t agree with it and the club don’t agree with it.
“I’m glad that we’re going to appeal against that, but with it being an appeal process, I’m reluctant to say any more on that.”
McInnes says his response was controlled and that he never wanted to inflame the situation. The word “disgusting” is missing from that version of events.
McInnes called the Celtic penalty “disgusting” before claiming Hearts were “up against everybody”. Nobody has twisted his words. They are there for everyone to hear.
McInnes cannot rewrite his Celtic penalty comments
McInnes wants the argument to be about whether managers can criticise referees. Nobody says they should sit in front of the cameras and say nothing.
The problem is the language he chose. Calling the decision “disgusting” went well beyond saying that the referee had got one call wrong.
Rangers are backing McInnes by insisting that his criticism was aimed only at the decision. That ignores how he described it and his wider claim that Hearts were up against everybody.
McInnes can appeal the ban all he likes. What he cannot do is pretend he calmly said the referee got the decision wrong, because everyone heard what he actually said.
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