Philippe Clement claims “all of Europe” has been talking about the controversial non-penalty decision which has dominated the fall-out from Rangers’ Premier Sports Cup final defeat.
The Scottish Football Association’s head of referees Willie Collum admitted on Thursday the Light Blues were denied a legitimate spot-kick against Celtic at Hampden Park and described VAR Alan Muir and his assistant Frank Connor’s role in the decision as “really poor” and “unacceptable”.
With Sunday’s match tied at 3-3 in extra-time, referee John Beaton blew for a foul just outside the Hoops’ box when Celtic defender Liam Scales tackled Gers winger Vaclav Cerny.
Despite television replays – and a VAR review – showing the infringement was inside the area, the on-field decision was not changed and, after the free-kick came to nothing, Celtic went on to win 5-4 on penalties.
Ahead of the home William Hill Premiership game against Dundee at Ibrox on Saturday, Clement spoke about the moment that “will stay in the back of our heads for the rest of our lives” as he looked to move on to league business.
The Belgian boss said: “It’s hard because you feel after the game that the rules of the game are not followed.
“A lot of times there’s a grey area in decision-making. This time there was totally no grey area, that’s very clear for everybody.
“And there’s nobody in the world who has another view on that.
“It’s been good that there was transparency from Willie Collum, and openness and honesty about what happened and about his ideas about the situation. He was really clear about that.
“It doesn’t help the result in the end, because it’s a game-decisive moment, but we appreciate the honesty and everybody in the club hopes that Willie is not alone in his fight to get standards better, but that everybody at the top of the SFA also have the same ambition to make things better. These things cannot happen, because it’s not only for Rangers losing a game like that, but it’s also a really bad advertisement for Scottish football.
“And all of Europe has been talking about what happened in this final and that’s a pity, because it was two good teams playing a good game of football with everything that every fan wants in a game, with the quality, the intensity, relentlessness, with everything.
“And there’s been much more talk about the game-decisive moment. So that’s a pity for Scottish football.
“But for us, it’s now really important to stop thinking about it, because we have a very important game against Dundee tomorrow and that’s what I spoke with the players about this week, you cannot keep on thinking about what happened.
“We need to focus now on what we’ve been doing and to do that in the game against Dundee and take the three points.
“We don’t have the luxury that other people have to stay in that (final) moment.
“Fans have this opportunity. They can do that, but I hope also that they see how much this team is working, what they are doing on the pitch, and support them like they’ve been doing brilliantly in these last couple of games.
“And that doesn’t change because what happened in the final.”
