Brendan Rodgers’ view on the officials after Celtic’s defeat to Hearts was the strongest I have ever heard from the Hoops gaffer.
Rodgers was in no doubt that VAR official, John Beaton, was the reason why Celtic lost at Tynecastle and the chance to go top of the Scottish Premiership.
The Celtic manager now faces a date with destiny with the SFA after the national association charged him for his comments about Beaton.
And now, PFA Chief Executive, Fraser Wishart has made a claim about Rodgers after he heard what the Celtic boss said about the SFA official.
Brendan Rodgers ‘knew’ what he was doing with Beaton comments
Fraser Wishart was speaking after the event and gave his rather bold opinion on what he thought of Rodgers’ comments after the Celtic VAR furore.
Wishart said [Superscoreboard], “Too often I’ve been up these representing players at the judicial panel protocol. The rules are pretty clear.
“You can’t say a referee’s incompetent. If you start to challenge his competence before or after the game, then you’re in a bit of bother.
“So we’ll see what happens to Brendan because it’s not given that he’ll be suspended. He’ll have Celtic’s lawyers in there to argue his case.
“He had every right to be angry. As did Hearts for the penalty that Celtic got. So it was a poor day all round for referees.
“From Brendan’s point of view, I think that he knew what he was doing, he knew what he was saying, he maybe didn’t quite pick up that he could miss the Old Firm game, but I think he knew what he was doing and he took this opportunity to really highlight what he sees as an injustice for his club.”
Whatever happens at Rodgers’ hearing, at least it has brought to light the clear inconsistencies with VAR and how the rules are applied in Scotland.
Too often have we seen Celtic be penalised for handballs that players could clearly do nothing about. Before Tomoki Iwata, we had Matt O’Riley and before that, we also saw Alexandro Bernabei penalised for a handball that happened behind his back at Celtic Park against Dundee United last season.
Yet there are players from other teams who seem to be immune from being penalised for handball. It’s completely bizarre.
However, let’s see how Rodgers goes with the SFA. Hopefully, they will see sense and the Celtic manager will be cleared before the upcoming Ibrox Glasgow Derby.
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