A former referee has slammed the SFA’s continued silence over Rangers’ penalty claim in Sunday’s League Cup final defeat to Celtic.
Mike McCurry, who refereed in Scotland until 2009, claims the Ibrox club “100%” should have been given a penalty for a shirt-pull by Liam Scales on Vaclav Cerny on the 18-yard line.
VAR official Alan Muir did not intervene after referee John Beaton awarded Rangers a free-kick for Scales’ foul, having failed to spot that the infringement had taken place on the line.
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McCurry, who officiated Rangers’ 5-1 League Cup final win over Motherwell in 2005, is calling on the SFA to give fans an explanation over the error. He said: “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.
“The SFA could come out and clarify that very, very quickly and very easily, and Willie Collum [SFA Head of Referee Operations] 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.”
With the scoreline at 3-3 after 120 minutes of chaos, Philippe Clement’s side were narrowly beaten in a penalty shootout after Ridvan Yilmaz missed from the spot.
But Rangers fans have been left furious over the extra-time flashpoint which saw Cerny denied what appeared to be a stonewall penalty.
McCurry, 60, believes that anyone who has viewed the incident “would say 100% the correct decision there is a penalty kick to Rangers.”
He said: “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 really need to be involved in that.”
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐠 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐠𝐮𝐞 𝐂𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝
— The Rangers Review (@RangersReview55) December 17, 2024
🗣️ Former SFA referee Mike McCurry runs the rule over:
🔺 Cerny penalty incident
🔺 Diomande trip
🔺 Schmeichel antics
▶️ https://t.co/Mf542TBirg pic.twitter.com/EvWHTMMNwO
“If I'm John Beaton there and I'm given a decision that is that close and the margin is so tight on it, I want to know that VAR's had a good look at that so that it’s the right decision, especially in a cup final,” he continued.
“So if I'm John Beaton I'd be asking VAR to have a look at that. I'd be wanting VAR not just to have a cursory glance but to scrutinise that and in the time that passed VAR might have had a cursory look at that and just said go with the decision. I don't think they had time to scrutinise it properly.”
New CEO Patrick Stewart sought answers from the SFA on Monday morning over the incident.
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