LISTENING to Aberdeen v Rangers on BBC Radio Shortbread on Sunday afternoon, when it got to ten minutes left and The Breengers were still trailing 0-1, I asked myself: “When are they going to get their penalty?” I still had a wee bit to wait, but when Andrew Dallas, on VAR duty, got involved, I knew penalty time had come.
Might I, by the way, suggest to those supporters of “The Diddy Teams” who complain about the number of penalties The Bigot Brothers get, with or without the aid of VAR, maybe if their teams got into the opposition's penalty area more regularly, they too would get penalties.
[A wee story: an Ayrshire Junior team, usually in the trophy mix, were at the wrong end of the table, running out of games and in real danger of relegation. But, their Secretary saw hope surface when a former player turned up to referee what was a must-win game.
“I hope we can look forward to a penalty or two,” the Secretary suggested to the ref, who said he would see what he could do. But, at half-time, with the score still 0-0, the Secretary sought-out the referee to remind him of the need for a penalty.
“True enough Alex,” was the reply; “but, before you get a penalty, you have to get into their penalty box.”]
I honestly thought, after James Tavernier had knocked home the spot kick, Willie Miller might throw a wobbler. However, it speaks of Mr Aberdeen's status as one of the Eminence Grice of Scottish Football that he should suggest the shirt tug which was penalised was as we say in God's County: “A rush of shite to the brain” by the Aberdeen player. Willie, in his day recognised as “The best penalty box defender in the world” also suggested the modern fashion for: “getting tight to your opponent” is leading to players panicking and tugging shirts when that opponent gets the jump on them.
The problem, as Miller and Billy Dodds conceded in their post-match post-mortem, is the old one of refereeing consistency. One tug will be pulled back, another will not. Maybe, like American Football, we need additional officials to catch shirt pulls and other nefarious activities.
Mind you, maybe if clubs started fining their players for shirt pulling and other no-noes, we would have a better game. Jock Stein's old dictum: “Don't give the referee a chance to make a decision that could hurt you “ comes to mind here.
Barry Robson was naturally disappointed at his side's failure to see-out the game, but, the difference in their performance in this game, and in their recent visit to the East End of Glasgow lends credence to the view, they reserve their best performances for games against The Breengers.
As ever, Social Media has gone doo-lally in the wake of Sunday's events at Aberdeen, with the usual claims of “Masonic bias among Rangers-minded referees” and the usual pile-on against our officials.
Can I just say, maybe Scottish referees are ahead of the curve here; they are starting to pick-up on and penalise jersey-pulling in the penalty area. Just watch any English game, or any European one, and the jersey-tugging and all-in wrestling that goes on at set pieces in the box is off the scale, and almost never picked-up, other than to offer an immediately-ignored lecture.
Scottish referees, while maybe not always consistent, are starting to act against this clear foul – let's hope their lead is followed elsewhere, we need to eliminate the jersey-pulling from the game.
IN THE interest of balance I am obliged to now mention The Other Lot. The Red Top Rotweillers at The Hun and the Daily Rhebel have been, since Saturday, somewhat aerated at Sir Roderick David Stewart CBE's response to receiving some abuse from the banned Ultras group The Green Brigade as he sauntered into the San Giro on Saturday.
The Grate Crooner showed his disdain for the GB by giving them the American-style middle finger salute. A most-unladylike gesture from the singer nicknamed “Phyllis” by his close friend Sir Elton Hercules John CH, CBE – aka “Sharon”.
Opinion being free, both the GB and the GC are free to do as they like, however, for all they often go too far, for all their stupid, sometimes unpleasant actions, I still reckon the Green Brigade are more-devoted to the team, more passionate and have a higher investment in being “Celtic-minded” than the Highgate-born, wannabe Jock knight of the realm. Many of them are probably better chanters too.
Looking at the draw for the Fourth Round of the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup, I am wondering if the Treasurer at Buckie Thistle has come round yet. OK, the Highland League outfit can expect a severe spanking when they travel to the San Giro for their tie, but, the huge cheque they will take back up the road will be ample compensation.
Another intriguing tie is the Edinburgh Derby, between Spartans and Heart of Midlotnhian, while my tip for a likely cup upset is for Clyde, now managed by Ian McCall, to upset Aberdeen.
THE DEATH of Terry Venables has rightly been marked by generous tributes to a very-good manager. His record of being selected for England at every level from Schoolboy to Full International was also worthy of acknowledgement.
Venables always came across well on TV, he also wrote some good books – I enjoyed his tome: “They Used To Play On Grass” which is one of the better works of football fiction – certainly well ahead of some Keith Jackson match reports or Hugh Keevins opinion pieces!! Also, “Hazell” which he co-wrote was good TV.
But, I take exception with the BBC, true to form, in their tribute, going big on Euro '96, when, under Venables, the Three Lions failed to bring football home. OK, that was a good theme song, although I preferred the Bill Leckie parody version, but, what the good only BBC forgot was – they got past Spain on a refereeing error, which VAR would have picked-up on today, and, had Gary McAllister just stopped and re-spotted the ball for that penalty, the game as poised at that time, we would almost certainly have gone on and won.
Mind you, Tel did fall-out with Lord Sugar, another reason for liking the guy.
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