Willie Collum going rogue isn’t the only reason Rangers dropped points at Easter Road on Saturday. Poor decision-making on and off the pitch and more than a stroke of luck were also contributory factors, however, the whistler’s display was far and away the game-changing influence.
The media, pundits and fans have all spoken at length about Collum’s incredible call to send off John Lundstram, Alfredo Morelos contributed to his own downfall and, having been in Scotland for some time, should know that Frank Connor running the line and Collum don’t need any excuse or a second invitation.
What doesn’t help Collum, Kevin Clancy or the other SFA referees’ case is their inconsistency and, again, at Parkhead on Sunday we saw the latest in a long line of examples.
Celtic, as we all know, need more fouls than any other club before they see yellow. The numbers spoke for themselves last season and they are doing the same already this one, it’s not up for debate, but how Clancy could let Callum McGregor away with the foul below only to send off Toby Sibbick for a nudge in the back-stopping a counter is incredulous – no wonder Robbie Neilson was raging.
“So that is the difficulty when you come here to Glasgow. You need that strength and I don’t think we had it. We need decisions to go our way as well because there are times when they don’t when you come here. That’s only natural.
“The crowd noise and the pressure, you don’t get these big decisions. We just need to deal with it. It works for us at Tynecastle. When we come through here, sometimes it doesn’t work.”
Neilson is right, but in Scotland, it’s more about the pressure off the pitch that influences the referees as we saw before 2020/21 when Clancy gave his famous “we know what is at stake” interview and during 2021/22 when Celtic’s chairman was given a free rein to pressure officials by stating how “concerned” he was about them.
As when we won the league, we really need to put games to bed earlier and not give the refs even the slightest of chances to make game-changing decisions, it’s clear to see that, already, they can’t be trusted to get the big ones right – well, not for us anyway.