After Celtic 2 – 1 Rangers Match, Rangers release a second statement about the Celtic penalty incident and criticize the time frame for VAR audio requests

The club at Ibrox is still upset about what happened in the Old Firm match.

Rangers have criticized the Scottish Football Association for not sharing the VAR audio from Saturday’s Old Firm loss to Celtic. The governing body says it will not meet until Wednesday to talk about the request, according to Rangers.

The Ibrox club is upset about how a penalty claim was handled in the first half of Celtic’s 2-1 win over Rangers at Parkhead. They want to know what Willie Collum, the VAR operator, and Nick Walsh, the match official, talked about before deciding not to punish Celtic defender Alistair Johnston for touch while under pressure from Rangers forward Abdallah Sima. Sky Sports said on radio that Sima was offside, which is seen as more important than any foul play by Johnston. A still picture from several minutes after the incident was shown.

But when the game started again, it looked like Celtic goalkeeper Joe Hart had given a goal kick instead of a free kick for offside, and Rangers boss Philippe Clement said he didn’t know why the officials did what they did. Rangers released another statement on Sunday, less than 24 hours after their first call for the VAR audio to be made public. In it, they criticized the “unacceptable” time frame for meeting and said their worries about “the lack of transparency” are growing.

As of now, the Scottish FA has not released the VAR tape that would have helped Rangers FC understand why there was no penalty in the first half of yesterday’s Old Firm match, even though the club has asked them several times. Officials from Rangers are ready to meet with the Scottish FA at any time, either in person or online, to listen to and talk about the tape.

The Scottish FA, on the other hand, won’t share the VAR tape or meet until at least Wednesday, which is five days after the Old Firm match and before the next set of Scottish Premiership games. This is clearly not appropriate, and it makes Rangers even more worried about the lack of openness, which needs to be fixed right away.

“Rangers learned that there was no penalty because Willie Collum, the VAR official, decided there wasn’t a handball in the first half.” The club and most onlookers are shocked by this “professional” view.

We are still confused and worried about the Scottish FA’s reasons for showing an offside picture to the media during the second half, when this wasn’t the original reason why the penalty wasn’t given.

“The English Premier League and other top European leagues have a “nothing to hide” policy, which means that clubs and the fans can talk to officials and get full information about controversial VAR calls as soon as possible.

This weekend, both Rangers and other Scottish FA member teams have serious questions about things that could have changed the outcome of games. Our governing body would do well to remember that same mantra.