SFA chiefs set for Rangers penalty grilling as ex referee slams silence over spot kick snub

SFA chiefs Ian Maxwell and Mike Mulraney are set to be grilled on Rangers’ Premier Sports Cup final penalty snub – as a former top referee blasted the Hampden hierarchy over their silence on the controversy.

New Ibrox CEO Patrick Stewart kicked off his first day at the Light Blues by firing off a letter to the authorities in a demand for clarity over why VAR failed to send on-field referee John Beaton to the monitor to review a potential penalty when Liam Scales fouled Vaclav Cerny.

The incident at first appeared to be outside of the box but TV replays showed it was on the line which experts believe should have led to a spot kick. Now Maxwell and Mulraney have been pencilled in to speak to the media to help launch a new SFA initiative on Wednesday and will see them quizzed on the incident amid Rangers’ fury.

And it comes as former referee Mike McCurry hit out at his old employers for not explaining why VAR Alan Muir didn’t get involved on Sunday. The 60-year-old, who refereed in Scotland until 2009 and was in charge of the 2005 League Cup final between Rangers and Motherwell, told the Rangers Review: “The SFA could come out and clarify that very, very quickly and very easily, and Willie Collum has in the past come out very quickly and clarified the situation and yet what we've got two days on is silence from them.

“We do not currently know whether VAR scrutinised that decision, or whether they took a cursory glance at it and just said go with the on-field decision, or whether they didn't look at it at all. I don't fault John [Beaton] at all – from John's angle, he could never see that. But in a day and an age where we've had goals disallowed with offside because of the width of a toenail as one manager would say, VAR