Usually it’s when we win but, this time, after dropping points, the one decision from a game overseen by horrendous officiating that has been highlighted by the Scottish media is one that happened in the 97th minute.
Ryan Jack was late into a tackle as time was ticking by, however, he also made a genuine attempt to pull his foot out of the way rather than making contact with the opposing player – it was a foul and should’ve been a yellow card, he could easily have seen red though given the letter of the law and how it was interpreted by Bobby Madden.
That there was no mention of an even worse challenge from Charlie Mulgrew tells you everything you need to know though, another incident – along with the two penalty decisions – that had a massive effect on the outcome of the result.
Not seen it yet. Was there any discussion of Mulgrew’s earlier red card tackle? pic.twitter.com/nJQjSDjbE9
— Barkas Save Reviews (@BarkasSave) February 21, 2022
Kevin Clancy’s recent performance at Pittodrie was equally as inept as Madden’s at Tannadice, it’s understandable for officials to get the odd decision wrong because their view is impeded and because of the speed of the game but to get two, three or four major calls wrong in one game is appalling – they need more help as soon as possible in the shape of full-time positions and VAR, their assistants also need to do a lot more, on Sunday both had clear views of the penalty incidents and did nothing.
Referees shouldn’t be scared to blow their whistle for fear of the consequences, as we’ve seen recently with Steve Conroy’s revelations, Scottish football isn’t the place for a supporter of either side of the Old Firm to be tasked with a role of such importance, there is never a happy ending and it’s a wonder the SFA still gets applications.
They need to get back to the basics of refereeing; analyse what has happened rather than what they think has happened, ignore whether they’ve given a side a penalty already or not, or making decisions based on what the score is or how long has been played – it’s a relatively simple job that has become a thankless task, made complicated by people who are more concerned about the reaction to their decisions rather than getting things right.