Brendan Rodgers has no regrets over Hearts-Celtic ref criticism despite potential Rangers ban as he plans talks with club and lawyers

Rodgers could land two-match suspension after his words on officials in wake of Hearts defeat

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has no regrets over his criticism of the match officials following last weekend’s defeat by Hearts.

Rodgers faces a Scottish Football Association disciplinary hearing over his comments on referee Don Robertson and video assistant John Beaton. The panel is due to sit on March 28 and Rodgers could be hit with a two-match ban, which would rule him out of the dugout for the next Old Firm derby against Rangers on Sunday, April 7.

Rodgers was left incensed by decisions during the 2-0 loss at Tynecastle, in particular the VAR reviews that led to winger Yang Hjun-jun’s red card and a handball offence against midfielder Tomoki Iwata that permitted Hearts to score from the penalty spot. He slammed “incompetence” from Robertson and Beaton and stated that actions could have a huge impact on the title race.

Brendan Rodgers was critical of Don Robertson and John Beaton during Celtic's 2-0 defeat by Hearts last weekend.

When asked if he had any regrets in his broadcast press conference ahead of Sunday’s Scottish Cup quarter-final against Livingston, Rodgers said: “No, not at all. My job is to defend the team, defend the club and that’s what we will do in this case. We will defend it vigorously and when the date comes we will go from there. I will sit down with the club and the lawyers and we will look at it from there.”

Rodgers added: “It was my observations over many games, primarily around the inconsistency of decisions. I never talk so much about referees and haven’t done over the course of my career. I understand they make mistakes. But I felt the ones last week were clear, clear errors.”

Celtic failed in an appeal over Yang’s red card for a high boot on Alex Cochrane, which was upgraded following a VAR review. Rodgers said: “I have seen incidents worse than that, and I thought the on-field decision was correct, a yellow card. We had a report back that the studs and the boot was in the face of the player, which clearly a couple of days later when we get that report and it says that, it is clearly not the case when you watch it.”