'Decisions will be wrong' - SFA chief breaks silence on Rangers non-penalty award in cup final defeat to Celtic

VAR fall-out continues from Premier Sports Cup final

Scottish Football Assocation chief executive Ian Maxwell has stressed that contentious decisions will never be fully eradicated as he addressed the VAR fallout from Sunday’s Premier Sports Cup final.

The governing body has accepted that VAR officials made an error during the Hampden Park showdown when failing to communicate to referee John Beaton that a shirt pull by Celtic defender Liam Scales on Rangers winger Vaclav Cerny took place on the 18-yard line, which according to the rules, should have resulted in a penalty kick being awarded to the Ibrox side.

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The match was tied at 3-3, and in the early stages of the extra-time period, when Beaton awarded a free-kick on the edge of the Celtic box, which Rangers captain James Tavernier sent over the crossbar with Celtic going on to win the trophy in a penalty shoot-out.

Celtic's Liam Scales (R) pulls down Rangers' Vaclav Cerny at the edge of the penalty box during the Premier Sports Cup final. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)Celtic's Liam Scales (R) pulls down Rangers' Vaclav Cerny at the edge of the penalty box during the Premier Sports Cup final. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)
Celtic's Liam Scales (R) pulls down Rangers' Vaclav Cerny at the edge of the penalty box during the Premier Sports Cup final. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group) | SNS Group

New Rangers chief executive Patrick Stewart, who only started his new role on Monday, the morning after the final, wasted no time in contacting both Maxwell and SFA head of referees Willie Collum to seek an explanation for the non-penalty award. It followed Rangers manager Philippe Clement’s post-match comments where he described the non-invervention by VAR Alan Muir and assistant Frank Connor as “really weird” and asked reporters to “dig into it”. Neither VAR official will be involved in William Hill Premiership action this weekend after being stood down.

Addressing the matter at the launch of Pitching In, a new SFA campaign to raise £50million over the next five years to improve football facilities across the country, Maxwell said: “There will never be a point when there isn’t a contentious decision. People disagree on decisions. It’s the beauty of the sport. If you get 20 football fans in a room you’ll get 25 different views on whether a decision or a foul was right or wrong. We’re never going to change that.

“Decisions will be wrong. That’s a given. We’ll eradicate them as much as we possibly can. VAR has done that in the vast majority of cases. There is always going to be one or two that will fall outwith that because there are people involved. Anything that involves a person at any point in any walk of life there will be decisions made that don’t go the way we want them to or are incorrect. That’s just part of human nature.”

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Scottish FA chief executive Ian Maxwell. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)Scottish FA chief executive Ian Maxwell. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)
Scottish FA chief executive Ian Maxwell. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group) | SNS Group

A number of VAR errors have been flagged this season by the Key Match Incident Panel which meets on a weekly basis to examine major talking points from the previous weekend's matches before voting on whether the on-field decision and any subsequent VAR interventions were correct. However, Maxwell insisted that VAR has been a success since its introduction to Scottish football in 2022.

“Absolutely,” he replied. “This is the first time this year I’ve been asked about a VAR decision. It’s not always been that way. Willie has come in and the transparency, and the way he has dealt with things has been a breath of fresh air and made a real difference on and off the pitch. We want to drive that forward.

“We talk on a regular basis with all clubs, it’s absolutely right that we do so. As you can imagine, on a Monday morning Willie Collum’s phone will be busy with managers up and down the country wanting to talk through refereeing decisions. We’re being as transparent as we’ve ever ben in terms of refereeing decisions. It’s now mid-December and it’s the first time I’ve been asked by a reporter about a VAR decision over the course of a season so that tells us something in terms of progress. Our VAR show is being filmed at the moment and that will be aired as soon as we possibly can and that will give everyone the insight they need into the result on [Sunday].”

Celtic and Rangers fans set off pyro during the Premier Sports Cup final. Cr. SNS Group.Celtic and Rangers fans set off pyro during the Premier Sports Cup final. Cr. SNS Group.
Celtic and Rangers fans set off pyro during the Premier Sports Cup final. Cr. SNS Group. | SNS Group

The Glasgow giants are set to again be in trouble following the display of pyrotechnics at Hampden Park which delayed the kick-off due to the smoke which engulfed the pitch, while there were reports of Rangers and Celtic ultras clashing in Glasgow before the game. Both clubs are already under investigation by the Scottish Professional Football League after a display of pyrotechnics took place in their respective semi-finals at the national stadium.

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Maxwell said: “Obviously, the disorder that we saw at the weekend is unacceptable. Primarily we will talk about inside the stadium, because that’s the bit that we’ve got more control over. We want to eradicate pyrotechnics from the game. We’re now seeing kick-offs being delayed. We’re now getting feedback from players about how much they are feeling it from the impact that it’s having on them.

“The vast majority of supporters don’t want it in stadiums. We are seeing supporters have to leave the game early because of breathing difficulties that are brought on by the smoke. It’s unacceptable. It’s a worldwide football problem. It’s not Scotland-specific.

“Nobody has quite cracked how to deal with it yet, but it’s incumbent on ourselves, SPFL, Scottish Government, Police Scotland, to work together to try and find a solution because it’s on the increase, and it’s definitely unwelcome in Scottish football and we need to try and eradicate it.”

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