The long held belief by Rangers fans that their club is refereed to a different standard has never been more easily confirmed when the latest Sky Sports “ref watch” highlighted the challenge by Ryan Edwards that saw Alfredo Morelos stretchered off against Dundee United.
The Daily Record has picked up on Dermot Gallagher’s rank hypocrisy in his assessment of the challenge as the former ref – charged with analysing the weekend’s decisions- contradicted himself on a huge scale.
With regards to Morelos’s injury and the knee high follow through from Edwards, known Celtic fan Gallagher said when asked if he thought that it deserved a red card:
“This tackle will split lots and lots of people because many people think it’s a red card and a lot of people think it’s not.
“I actually don’t because Edwards plays the ball first, he gets the ball first. It’s unfortunate he follows through and catches Morelos across the knee.”
So, according to the retired Premier League whistler, because the United defender gets the ball first, it isn’t a red card, interesting when you consider that he believed the exact opposite when condemning Ryan Jack’s tackle on Stevie May a couple of seasons ago:
“I think this is a great spot by the referee. Not only is it a great spot, but he reacted very, very quickly, which stopped players going to him.
“This is quite ironic in that without doubt the player clearly plays the ball, but he does seriously endanger the safety of an opponent.
“No doubt whatsoever that is a red card offence. But it does show that because you play the ball, it doesn’t exonerate you from further punishment.”
If you take the last two sentences in isolation, they could easily be applied to the tackle on Morelos and one that – thankfully – doesn’t look like causing any long lasting damage, however, it also goes to show just how impartial Gallagher is capable of being, or not as the case may be.
Should Edwards have been sent off?
Yes
No
The whole crux of the argument for both tackles is how players could have been injured and yet, when it is Morelos, that doesn’t seem to matter, confirming what we have known for a long time – the enigmatic Colombian isn’t treated the same as his fellow players in Scotland, which is as shameful as it is embarrassing.