I can only imagine the disruption that has been caused to the private lives of Alan Muir and Frank Connor since the Premier Sports Cup final ended last Sunday night.
We live in a world where organised gangs of supporters rampage through the streets of Glasgow city centre terrorising women and small children naive enough to think they can go Christmas shopping without fear of physical harm because of a football match being played miles away. Match officials are, in today’s world, recognised as being legitimate targets if they are suspected of deliberate wrongdoing, such as failing to award what their employers at the SFA officially acknowledge as being a legitimate penalty for Rangers against Celtic.
And, as such, the game has a duty of care where those errant officials are concerned. The statement released by Willie Collum, the SFA’s head of referees, was, to my way of thinking, too accusatory and condemnatory. Fair enough, the VAR operatives got it badly wrong at Hampden.
Ref John Beaton awarded a free-kick for the foul in extra time but the VAR officials did not intervene despite replays showing Vaclav Cerny’s foot on the line of the penalty area. But the savaging the virtual refs have received in print on top of the punishment they have been given in the form of being stood down for this weekend’s football schedule could be inflammatory.
And the circumstances surrounding Celtic’s cup win have already created an extremely difficult situation. There is no cooling off period between the last Old Firm game and the next – the potentially pivotal league match at Ibrox in 10 days’ time.
Tension isn’t just running high. It started out being at a high level and now it’s threatening to spin out of control. And matters
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