Ange Postecoglou has been left bemused by the decision to deny his Celtic side a penalty against Rangers – and says there’s “zero chance” that major decisions that have gone against his Scottish champions will be evened up this season
Celtic’s Australian boss expressed confusion on Friday over the latest incident, wondering why his team were denied a penalty in the key Scottish Premiership draw at Rangers on Sunday following Connor Goldson’s “save”.
Rangers’ Goldson put both hands up in front of his face to stop Carl Starfelt’s shot but referee John Beaton played on and video assistant referee Willie Collum did not call a review.
Referee guidelines say that putting hands in front of the face can be a natural reaction, but Postecoglou felt the incident was straightforward and another example of inconsistency.
The Celtic boss also referred to a penalty his team was denied for handball against Hearts defender Michael Smith and at least one decision that went against them at Parkhead.
On the Ibrox incident, Postecoglou said: “It’s a penalty. I have seen people doing all sorts of mental gymnastics trying to show why it’s not a penalty, which probably suggests it is. If it wasn’t, it would be a simple explanation .
“It’s just really confusing now for players in the box to know what they can or can’t do because it seems to change depending on who’s in charge of the decision-making process. Because there is zero consistency in decisions being made.
“In 25 years of coaching or managing, I have always abided by the referee’s decision.
“You would be hard-pressed to find me really criticizing any referee in my whole tenure as a manager, because I have always believed these things even by themselves.
“But when I look at the introduction of VAR and the decisions that have gone against us, in particular, there is zero chance that’s going to even up between now and the end of the year, because it’s remarkable that we have had at least three major decisions go against us.
“You can just say it comes down to interpretation or whatever people want to say but I guarantee if that game had finished two-all and it was Rangers that were denied that decision, the talk this week would be how that was a title-defining decision.
“The fact it wasn’t because we still got a result, as we have in all the other games, at Tynecastle (against Hearts) and here at home, when major decisions went against us, doesn’t mean we should ignore it, because a team could get relegated on a decision like that.”
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