Rangers to fight McInnes ban for ‘disgusting’ penalty remark
Rangers plan to appeal the four-match touchline ban handed to manager Derek McInnes, who described his decision to award Celtic a late penalty against Motherwell in May as “disgusting”.
The comments, made at the end of last season when McInnes was in charge of Hearts, concerned Kelechi Iheanacho’s spot-kick in injury time for a handball.
Celtic’s 3-2 win at Fir Park on 13 May kept them a point behind Hearts, whom they beat in a final-day decider a few days later.
Responding to the Scottish FA’s punishment, which included an immediate three-match ban and one suspended until the end of the season, Rangers said the remarks were “directed towards the decision rather than representing a wider criticism of the officials”.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the win against Falkirk at Tynecastle the same night, McInnes said: “When you hear Celtic get a penalty in the 96th minute that goes to VAR and they check it, you assume what happened is they took the penalty.
“I saw this again, it’s disgusting. It is.
“I don’t think it was a penalty kick.
“But we’re against that. We’re against everyone.”
McInnes will be in the stands when Rangers open their Scottish Premier League away game against Dundee United on July 31.
The same conditions apply for Hibernian’s next league match at home and the League Cup tie on the weekend of 15/16 August.
The ban does not include the Europa League qualifying match against Polish team Jagiellonia Bialystok.
Rangers add that McInnes’ “concerns are widely shared by other commentators in the UK” and say “similar language has previously been used by others in Scottish football with lesser or no disciplinary action”.
Following the latest drama at Fir Park, referee John Beaton’s contact details were published online while police kept his home under surveillance. A teenager was later charged “in connection with a data protection offence”.
SFA head of refereeing Willie Collum backed the call, arguing there was “clear evidence” that Sam Nicholson’s hand and arm were in an “unnatural position” and that the resulting contact amounted to “a criminal handball”.
Rangers’ statement concludes: “Respect for authorities and legitimate scrutiny are not incompatible principles.
“If Scottish football is serious about raising standards and maintaining confidence, managers, players and clubs must be able to speak honestly about important decisions.
“Review, transparency and accountability should be seen as part of improvement, not a threat to standards.”
Former Motherwell midfielder Elliott Watt has already been sanctioned for social media posts on the issue.
Watt, who later joined Turkish club Samsunspor, was suspended for four matches, describing it as “the worst VAR decision in history”.
Motherwell were fined £5,000 for publishing a video with the headline: “With the football world making fun of our game, we need to draw a line in the sand and shift focus.”
The Scottish FA compliance officer complained to all three parties under disciplinary rule 72: “No recognized football body, club, official, team official or other member of team staff, player or other person under the jurisdiction of the SFA shall criticize, in an interview, on the internet, in a ‘blog’ on a social network or microblogging site or in any other manner likely or calculated to give rise to publicity (i) the decision(s) and/or performance(s) of any or all match official(s) during the match in question.” or (ii) make statements about the match official(s) in question that would damage his or her character.”
