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Rangers concerned about referees? Sorry, but the stats tell another story

Aberdeen and Rangers played out a hard-fought, and at times heated, Premiership draw.
Aberdeen and Rangers played out a hard-fought, and at times heated, Premiership draw.

It’s hard to decide whether Rangers are feeling the strain at the top of the Scottish Premiership or simply suffering from a case of sour grapes and not getting it all their way for once.

Option C is the inference in their letter to the SFA that referee Kevin Clancy gave every big decision in Tuesday’s 1-1 draw at Pittodrie in Aberdeen’s favour and we know that cannot be the case.

Clancy had a poor game – that much is clear. After all he missed Allan McGregor’s foul on Ryan Hedges seconds before Rangers broke upfield to open the scoring.

Aberdeen were aggrieved but you know what? These things happen. Officials are not infallible. They get things wrong. Aberdeen know from this fixture already this season how easy it is for decisions to go against you.

The numbers simply do not add up

Penalties, yellow cards and red cards so far in the Scottish Premiership

The problem Rangers have is they are demanding answers to incidents which they feel have wronged them and that’s simply not on.

The needless scrutiny also falls apart when weighed against the season as a whole.

In the Scottish Premiership only Hearts have been awarded more penalties than Rangers and only Celtic have received fewer yellow cards.

Rangers have received the lowest number of red cards this season along with Celtic with Ryan Kent’s dismissal at Pittodrie their first red card this season.

It’s funny, I don’t recall the rush to criticise John Beaton for penalising Lewis Ferguson for a foul on Joe Aribo for a free kick which led to Rangers scoring their first goal in the 2-2 draw at Ibrox earlier in the season.

David Bates of Aberdeen was penalised for a challenge on Fashion Sakala Jnr of Rangers at Ibrox in October

Nor was there a request for clarity for what Beaton saw to convince him Fashion Sakala Jr had been fouled by David Bates for the penalty he awarded for their equaliser.

You cannot cherry pick the decisions which went against you while keeping quiet about others such as the McGregor and Hedges penalty claim which went for you. It is as daft as it is needless.

VAR would have cleared up any doubt

VAR, we can hope, would have sorted all these incidents out.

There’s every chance a replay would have led to Ianis Hagi’s goal being chalked off and a penalty awarded to Aberdeen for McGregor.

Aberdeen’s Ryan Hedges (right) nicked the ball past Rangers’ Allan McGregor who collided with him but nothing was given.

Borna Barisic’s bloodied noise from Jonny Hayes’ flailing arm was not missed by the officials. It was interpreted as being accidental. The South Stand assistant referee was right in front of the incident.

Here’s the thing about firing off letters wanting answers to questions about a refereeing performance – it does little to foster good relations between the SFA and the club feeling wronged.

In all likelihood it will only galvanise the referees into showing they are not going to be pressured into making decisions in the future.

Feisty fixture has also prompted an Aberdeen protest in the past

Aberdeen know this of course having been so aghast at Mike McCurry’s officiating in this fixture that they felt compelled to put their complaint in writing to the SFA for the first time in the club’s history in 2000.

The man who wrote said letter highlighting three big incidents? One Dave Cormack. Aberdeen’s current chairman who was chief executive at the time.

Aberdeen chairman Dave Cormack.

The Dons were unhappy McCurry had failed to award a penalty after Barry Ferguson had clearly tripped Dons striker Arild Stavrum in the box. Had the spot kick been given Ferguson, under the rules at the time, would have been sent off.

Aberdeen were also unhappy at Lorenzo Amoruso’s clearance with his arm was missed while Fernando Ricksen’s kung-fu kick at Darren Young also went unpunished. Ricksen’s subsequent admission “someone had to straighten him (Young) out” did little to help relations between the parties at the time.

Decisions go for you sometimes. They also go against you on other occasions.

That should have been the end of the story after Tuesday just as it should have been 22 years ago.