Brendan Rodgers expressed his frustration over the controversy surrounding Willie Collum’s VAR decision from the Old Firm game in December. This came after Celtic was denied a penalty in the victory over Buckie Thistle due to an offside call on Liel Abada.
During the 5-0 win against the Highland League side, referee Chris Graham consulted the VAR screen when Abada fell in the penalty area. Despite a prolonged review, the incident was considered inconsequential because the Celtic winger was initially in an offside position.
Rodgers questioned the need for reviewing the incident if it was already established that Abada was offside. He emphasized the absurdity of the protocol, where they had to check if it was a penalty before disallowing it due to offside, referencing the controversy around Alistair Johnston’s handball in the previous month’s win over Rangers.
“The frustrating one was the penalty one that was looked at,” Rodgers stated. “It shouldn’t be looked at; it’s offside. But they had to for some reason, it’s protocol according to the fourth official. They had to look to see if it’s a penalty first before they look to disallow it because it’s offside, which just seems ridiculous. If it’s offside, then the penalty doesn’t even matter… as we know!”
On a different note, Buckie Thistle manager Graeme Stewart commended both his players and Celtic for the warm welcome they received. Stewart revealed that Rodgers addressed his team after the game, expressing gratitude for Celtic’s hospitality.
“After the game, none of the players were in our changing room; they were all in the Celtic changing room,” Stewart said. “Celtic were brilliant, taking them in. Though I noticed Celtic had sushi and nicer food than us! Brendan Rodgers was brilliant. They gave us strips, signed strips, and they didn’t have to do that. One or two even asked for our strips, which I’m not happy about.
I said to the guys they are getting fined now because they cost us 50 quid! I was delighted with the respect shown. Brendan Rodgers came into our changing room after the game and was a class act. He gave a wee speech and said he was delighted with our attitude.
They gave us so much respect and took it seriously, and that was good. We would rather have played against that than a second-string team. Playing the full team, the guys can keep that memory forever.”
FOR OTHERS VISIT SPORTEP.CO.UK
