Scottish FA chief executive Ian Maxwell dismissed allegations of foul play by Rangers after their League Cup final defeat to Celtic on Sunday, insisting “the referees' decisions will be wrong”.
Gers winger Vaclav Cerny robs Liam Scales of the ball on the edge of the box CelticHis box in extra time and was pounced on by the defender desperately trying to make up for his mistake. With the game at Hampden Park delicately tied at 3-3, referee John Beaton awarded a free-kick, rather than a penalty.
After further inspection by the video assistant referee, the on-field decision was upheld – much to the fury of all those associated with Rangers. Manager Philippe Clement called it a “cruel” defeat and labeled the challenge “a pure penalty”.
Rangers CEO Patrick Stewart reportedly contacted the Scottish FA to appeal the decision. Maxwell has issued a public and forceful rebuttal.
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“Decisions will be wrong, that's a given,” Maxwell shrugged. āWe will eradicate them as much as we can.
“VAR has done that in the vast majority of cases. There will always be one or two who will object to that because there are people involved and in anything that involves a person, there will be decisions that are incorrect. This it's human nature.”
Maxwell continued: “Ever since football started, people have been talking about refereeing decisions and we'll be talking about them forever. And that's part of the game.
“There will never be a point where there isn't a contested decision because people disagree on the decisions.”