VAR Review – The Rangers on wrong end of an Honest Mistake

The Celtic Star

·19 December 2024

VAR Review – The Rangers on wrong end of an Honest Mistake

Willie Collum’s VAR Review for December has been rushed out with three round of fixtures still to be played, and the Head of Referees immediately tackles the decision not to award theRangers a penalty in their Premier Sports League Cup defeat to Celtic on Sunday…

Celtic Supporters holding up “Bye Bye Rangers” and “RIP Rangers 1872-2012” banners. Photo Geo (The Celtic Star)

PENALTY TO RANGERS

It was a match that when one team scored the other replied, sometimes seconds later so even if VAR had made what Collum believes would have been a correct call and the often used PENALTY TO RANGERS messages was blazed across their social media channels, the had they scored chances are Celtic would have responded. Or they might have missed as they did in the shoot-out.

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So IF it had been given and IF they scored there’s no reason to state with any certainly that Celtic might NOT have responded. Indeed the only time Celtic went behind in the Premier Sports Cup Final, the response from Brendan Rodgers’ team was NOT to score ONE goal but to score TWO. So you can’t rule out a 5-4 Celtic scoreline, which is where we actually ended up in the penalty shoot-out for theRangers were second best.

Penalty to Rangers scarf.

Their keeper saved none and one of their players also missed. Celtic had a keeper who made a crucial stop with all five of our players found the back of the net in a penalty shoot-out where theRangers went first (statistically speaking that gave them an advantage) and the shoot-out took place in front of their fans (ditto).

‘These things even themselves out’...if you wait long enough

John Hartson offside? That call won Rangers FC a trophy. Photo The Celtic Wiki

THE MOST SUCCESSFUL CLUBS* IN THE WORLD

The result meant that Celtic has won more trophies than the combined total of the two Rangers clubs* – 119 to 118. That’s pretty close but if there was a tally for HONEST MISTAKES, for dubious penalties awarded and also stonewallers denied then there would be no catching the combined Ibrox clubs, it’s the area where they actually are THE MOST SUCCESSFUL CLUBS* IN THE WORLD.

Peter Schmeichel saves during the penalty shoot-out during the Premier Sports Cup Final victory over theRangers at Hampden on 15 December 2024. Photo AJ for The Celtic Star

* Dead or alive

Here’s Willie Collum’s VAR Review admitting that it should have been A PENALTY TO RANGERS (sic).

Celtic v theRangers 2019 League Cup Final, Hampden Park, 8 December 2019. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

And former Celtic manager Neil Lennon has been giving his views on the controversy…

"it's more outside. Agree?" 🤦‍♂️ Another VAR madness in Scotland. The whole SFA refereeing team need completely retrained even on the basic use of language in their comms. The questions asked should be open e.g. "is it outside or inside?"
– Thursday, 19 December 2024

Celts celebrate after winning the Premier Sports Cup Final between Celtic and theRangers at Hampden Park on December 15, 2024. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)