What Collum said on 'very quick' Rangers VAR check incident

Tyreece John-Jules appeals after the Tavernier incident <i>(Image: Stuart Wallace / Shutterstock)</i>
Tyreece John-Jules appeals after the Tavernier incident (Image: Stuart Wallace / Shutterstock)
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James Tavernier did not deserve to be sent off during Rangers' win over Kilmarnock, says Willie Collum.

During the 5-1 rout of the Ayrshire men, the Englishman was involved in a tangle with visiting striker Tyreece John-Jules.

Opposition fans highlighted the incident and felt the Ibrox captain should have been sent off for denial of a goalscoring opportunity.

However, Collum says it was not clear enough that would have been the case. The head of referees was also asked if the VAR check on the night was "very quick."

He told he VAR Review Show: "So for us in terms of the VAR team, what they're looking at is an angle to say 'is what the referee is saying correct?' The referee quickly says that there's not enough in it and for him there's no offence.



"What I would say is different from the previous clip (Celtic's Trusty vs Hearts) here is the ball is in the air, there really is quite a bit of debate here about whether the Kilmarnock player would have reached the ball before it went through to the goalkeeper.

"A couple of things to consider here, the KMI panel spent a bit of time discussing this and they felt it was not the denial of an obvious goal scoring opportunity. They felt a direct red card here would have been wrong. So that's what the VAR team are looking for here because that's what they can become involved in. However, what I will say is the KMI panel felt unanimously that this was a foul and this would have been a yellow card therefor a second yellow card for James Tavernier here. So we can understand if people have a perspective on that about it being a foul and that it should be a yellow card.

"What we don't have here is opportunity for VAR to be involved there because it's not a clear and obvious goal scoring opportunity here because of the trajectory, the speed and very different than when the ball's on the ground and the ball's in the air. That’s not me saying that any time the ball's in the air it's not the denial of an obvious goal scoring opportunity, but there's enough doubt in here. But I repeat again, I can understand where people are coming from if they think there's enough here to punish the defender for stopping a promising attack."


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