Celtic extras: Poor consideration of fans, new stance on Rangers, someone should tell McInnes VAR message

Celtic ran out relatively comfortable winners at home to Kilmarnock in the cinch Premiership.

We take you through three talking points from the match as the champions moved seven points clear at the top of the league:

All gone quiet over there

Derek McInnes is traditionally a loquacious sort who likes to discuss everything at length but on the subject of his suitability to fill the managerial vacancy at Ibrox he was unusually brusque. The questioner only got as far as “Derek, you’ve been linked with…” when McInnes interjected to say he would not be talking about Rangers. Which, given his regular appearances as a TV pundit covering their matches, was certainly a new stance from the Kilmarnock boss. It was a smart way of ensuring he didn’t commit himself one way or the other, effectively “refusing to rule out” the possibility of him succeeding Michael Beale in the hotseat. Given he is fourth in the betting – behind Frank Lampard who has already been dismissed as a viable candidate by the club – there may yet be mileage in this one.

There were gaps in the crowd at Celtic Park - no doubt due to the poor weather.

Communication breakdown

Another week, another VAR controversy. Killie were incensed at Celtic’s second goal, believing Reo Hatate was in an offside position when Luis Palma threaded a pass through to him, the ball rebounding to the Honduran who thumped in a terrific goal. VAR apparently didn’t intervene as Stuart Findlay was deemed to have made an attempt to play the ball, thus rendering Hatate onside. That message, though, only started to filter through later on Saturday evening, with nobody from the Scottish FA clearly having bothered to explain it to McInnes before he began his post-match media duties. Better communication needed.

Wash out

A question sprung to mind 10 minutes before kick-off: where WAS everyone? Celtic Park was barely a quarter full by that point and nowhere near capacity by the time the game started. To be fair, on a day of torrential rain, with trains cancelled, roads closed and “don’t travel” warnings it was a miracle as many made it along as did. There was no mention of kick-off being delayed or the match being postponed to another date, proving again that fans are always the last to be considered in these circumstances.

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