Rangers earn new Hotline nickname after Pittodrie bottle job as conspiracy theory debunked

Last week marked the 60th anniversary of JFK being shot in Dallas and yet the conspiracy theorists are still no closer to agreeing who was responsible for the US President’s assassination. Sadly, it seems like we’ll be in for an ever longer wait for Hotline callers to come to a consensus on refereeing decisions.

Three days on from Rangers’ contentious penalty award at Pittodrie and the bickering shows no sign of calming. Chris Lowe, Yoker, was first on to say his piece: “Imagine a country where one team has won the league 12 out the last 13 years. And their rivals were kicked into the fourth tier for being the victims of fraud. And they’ve had the most penalties this season. And that team is the victim of a conspiracy. Welcome to Scottish football…”

John Bruce added: “Barry Robson is the latest to have a go at Rangers for the legitimate late penalty they received at Pittodrie at the weekend. Instead of complaining about Rangers or the officials, why not have a go at his defender who stupidly tugged the jersey of Connor Goldson in the dying minutes and gave the referee and the VAR officials an easy decision to make? And why is every penalty that is awarded to Rangers a contentious one - even when they are stone wallers?”

Ian Renton, Johnstone, said: “You are winning 1-0 with minutes left to play. The game is under the scrutiny of VAR. Why would you pull an opponent’s jersey in the penalty area, and give the opposition a penalty? If I was the Aberdeen manager, or a fan, I would be raging at the culprit, but nevertheless!”

But Charles Buchanan said: “If Philippe Clement thinks VAR keeps the game honest and a tug on Connor Goldson’s shirt is a penalty, then why is a penalty not given at every corner kick?”

Helen McLean,