Pundits on Premier Sports called Madden’s performance in the Scottish Cup Semi Final “embarrassing” and “shambolic”.
Whilst my Yorkshire Whistler series was intended to review SPFL matches, such was the furore around this particular match performance, I asked if he’d review the whole game.
Very kindly he said yes, and here are the considerations of a non-biased expert in the laws of football.
Take it away, sir!
Finally managed to finish off watching the match last night. Please find below my observations.
Given the number of incidents I tried to note down, I have been pretty brief in some of my findings – so if there are any incidents you wish me to expand upon any more detail, please feel free to ask away.
Having watched the game now in its entirety, I have attempted to assess and provide my thoughts on various incidents and contentious decisions made throughout the game. This is not to say I appraised every single decision or non-decision made by the match official on the day, just what I felt were incidents that merited further consideration.
In total there are 21 moments in the game that I reviewed. Some could be perceived as minor, others maybe having a larger impact on the outcome of the game.
In chronological order:
6th min. McGregor fouls Aribo with his studs showing.
On field decision: Foul but no caution
Verdict: Incorrect
Expected Outcome: Foul & caution to McGregor for a reckless challenge
11th min. Hatate is blocked by Jack.
On field decision: No foul awarded
Verdict: Incorrect
Expected Outcome: Free kick awarded to Celtic
14th min. Lundstram catches McGregor late.
On field decision: Foul but no caution
Verdict: Incorrect
Expected Outcome: Foul & caution to Lundstram for a reckless challenge.
31st min. Lundstram commits to a strong 50/50 challenge.
On field decision: No foul
Verdict: Correct
Expected Outcome: No foul
31st min. Bassey impedes Celtic player
On field decision: Foul but no caution
Verdict: Correct
Expected Outcome: Foul but no caution
35th min. Bassey appears to hold onto a Celtic player.
On field decision: No foul
Verdict: Incorrect
Expected Outcome: Free kick to Celtic
35th min. Aribo fouls Celtic player with a clear shirt pull.
On field decision: Foul & Aribo is cautioned
Verdict: Correct
Expected Outcome: Foul & Aribo is cautioned
39th min. Aribo challenges Juranovic in the air. Juranovic stays on the floor. Rangers launches counterattack. McGregor picks up a caution, I assume for dissent towards the referee.
On field decision: No foul
Verdict: Correct
Expected Outcome: No foul
44th min. Assistant flags for a Rangers corner but referee although further away from the incident, over rules assistant and awards a Celtic goal kick.
On field decision: Goal kick to Celtic
Verdict: Correct
Expected Outcome: Goal kick. Good spot by referee as last contact was off Rangers player
45th min. Jack fouls Hatate and is cautioned
On field decision: Foul & caution to Jack
Verdict: Correct
Expected Outcome: Foul & caution to Jack
47th min. Bassey appears to foul Rogic and then free kick is given in Rangers favour.
On field decision: Free kick to Rangers
Verdict: Incorrect
Expected Outcome: Free kick to Celtic. Bassey appears to tug back Rogic at least twice before Bassey is sent to the floor.
47th min. Lundstram appears to block Hart’s attempted quick kick up field from out of his hands.
On field decision: Free kick to Celtic. No caution shown
Verdict: Correct
Expected Outcome: As the ball is already classed as being in open play, blocking the quick kick is not classed as a mandatory caution under Law 12 fouls & misconduct under the ‘delaying the restart of play’. This makes specific reference to delaying the taking of throw ins, kicking the ball away after referee has stopped play etc. The only way a caution would be shown for this offence is if the player in question has committed a number of ‘persistent offences’ (down to referees’ discretion as to what constitutes persistent)
48th min. Roofe slides in and catches Celtic player late.
On field decision: Free kick to Celtic and Roofe cautioned
Verdict: Correct
Expected Outcome: Caution for a reckless and cynical tackle but not committed with excessive force. Not a sending off offence.
53rd min. Lundstram commits a foul
On field decision: Foul but no caution
Verdict: Correct
Expected Outcome: In isolation not a caution able tackle, but given the number of fouls now committed by Lundstram and still not booked, I would start considering the ‘persistent offences’ yellow card action imminently for Lundstram.
54th min. Bassey commits a late challenge on a Celtic player
On field decision: Foul, but no caution to Bassey
Verdict: Incorrect
Expected Outcome: Foul & caution to Bassey. This was a late challenge that appeared to be reckless in nature & justified a yellow card.
61st min. Lundstram commits a foul
On field decision: Foul against Lundstram but still no caution shown
Verdict: Incorrect
Expected Outcome: Foul & caution shown to Lundstram. Firstly, I feel challenge on its own was a reckless challenge and worthy of a caution. Added to this the 5/6 infringements already committed by the same player at this point, I was very surprised a caution was shown for persistent offences regardless.
72nd min. Goldson commits a foul.
On field decision: Free kick to Celtic & Goldson is cautioned
Verdict: Correct
Expected Outcome: Free kick to Celtic & Goldson correctly cautioned
96th min. Free kick awarded against Rangers for a Barisic handball just outside the 18-yard box.
On field decision: Free kick to Celtic, even though there were players asking for a penalty as they felt Barisic hand was on/inside the line of the penalty area
Verdict: Incorrect
Expected Outcome: No offence committed. I have been consistent with my view and application of law around accidental hand ball incidents all season. For me Barisic is jockeying his player with his arm slightly outstretched. The ball is fired at him from close proximity and hits his left arm. I feel this body shape/movement is natural for this specific situation and I would not therefore consider his body shape to have been unnaturally bigger as a consequence.
111th min. Starfelt goes down in Celtic box holding his head. Referee spots this injury as Rangers have possession about 25 yards out and blows to stop play so Starfelt can get seen to immediately. Play then restarts with an uncontested drop ball in Ranger’s favour.
On field decision: No offence has been committed so play is resumed with an uncontested drop ball
Verdict: Correct
Expected Outcome: Uncontested drop ball to Rangers. Law 8 – Start & Restart of Play was revised 2 seasons ago and in essence there is no such thing as a ‘contested’ drop ball anymore.
If play is stopped by the referee and the ball is outside the penalty area, then ‘the referee must drop the ball to the team that last touched the ball at the position where it last touched a player. All other players must remain at least 4.5 yds from the ball until it is in play’
The referee’s priority as soon as he spotted the potential head injury was to stop play and allow treatment. So even though the restart appears unusual and gave Rangers an attacking opportunity from the restart, this was the correct decision in law.
111th min. Sakala attempts an overhead kick which Cater-Vickers blocks
On field decision: Corner to Rangers
Verdict: Incorrect
Expected Outcome: Free kick to Celtic. I feel Sakala is attempting an overhead kick at a height and area that you would expect a defender to be heading the ball at. Even though there is no malice in Sakala’s attempt, I feel this is careless attempt to play the ball and given he appears to make contact with Carter-Vickers head this should have been awarded as a defensive free kick.
114th min. Kent plays though ball to Bassey who crosses the ball from a potentially offside position, and this results in a Rangers goal.
On field decision: Bassey not adjudged offside, goal allowed to stand
Verdict: Correct (probably)
Expected Outcome: No offside given. Such an incredibly tight decision where Bassey appears to be level at the point of contact on the ball by Kent as he makes the pass. No obvious error by the assistant referee here. Even looking at the incident numerous times I feel the video footage is inconclusive to judge if any part’s of Bassey’s body were offside at the point of ball contact. If VAR was being implemented the decision either way will have been decided by mere millimetres either way. For this we would have to give the benefit of the doubt to the attacking side and so the right decision was made.
Summary
In summary of the 21 incidents looked at, I feel 9 of them were incorrect to some extent either with the actual decision made at the time or the disciplinary action subsequently shown once a foul was awarded.
I would not go so far as to criticise the overall performance of the referee & can only imagine how difficult it is to maintain focus and concentration for this kind of highly charged and atmospheric fixture.
I certainly feel a factor in the referee’s reluctance to show any cautions in opening 30 minutes comes down to a common mindset amongst referees towards match day control. As a referee, if you can manage certain early tackles/challenges without brandishing yellow cards early on, it feels you are able to retain control of the game’s tempo and utilise the cautions as the game progress. If you are ‘waving’ yellow cards early doors, then you must maintain your consistency around sanctions of future tackles. The end result of this approach can then be multiple yellow/red cards and a perception that ‘the referee lost control of the game.’
It is a fine line between applying the laws of the game and maintaining the ‘spirit of the game’ so that these highly anticipated fixtures are a good spectacle and are not ‘spoilt by an overexuberant referee’ if that makes sense.
However, on reflection I think maybe the referee did allow a ‘little too much’ to go unpunished which resulted in numerous breaks in play and tactical fouls, which perhaps suited one side more than the other.
Heartfelt thanks for sitting through all that and then providing such rich and balanced summation. Chapeau!
My summary.
Of the 9 incorrect calls identified, 7 benefitted The Rangers and 2 Celtic.
Celtic
- For Celtic, McGregor was fortunate not to be booked in the 6th minute. That would perhaps have influenced challenges he made later in the game.
- Celtic were also incorrectly awarded a free kick on the edge of the area when Barisic handled in the 96th minute.
The Rangers
- 11th minute – A block on Hatate by Jack went unpunished.
- 14th minute – Lundstram should have been cautioned for foul on McGregor
- 35th minute – Bassey evades sanction for pull back
- 47th minute – a free kick to TRFC for Bassey should have been awarded to Rogic
- 54th minute – Bassey escapes caution for foul on Rogic
- 61st minute – Lundstram escapes Yellow for caution-able offence AND persistent fouling
- 11th minute – Sakala “wins” a corner despite head high foot on Carter-Vickers – should be free kick to Celtic
As usual that will satisfy nobody!
But, unlike elsewhere in the old and new media, I hope you appreciate this is a nonpartisan and expert take on events.
I like this. It’s completely impartial. I also thought McGregor was very lucky not to be booked or more.
In the next game I’m sure they will employ the same tactics on rogic with bassey constantly holding him. I would suggest rogic drop Every time bassey grabs him, rather than try to fight his way past bassey as it obviously doesn’t work. A word in Jota’s ear to look up and try a pass now and then wouldn’t go amiss.
Thanks Mike – great feedback
Thanks to The Yorkshire Whistler again for his time and energy to bring a very concise and honest look at all the contested decisions this season. Is there anyway for Referees to speak about they’re own decision’s like the old days? Or are they forced to keep quiet.
Excellent informative read, would prefer this whistler to be officiating Celtic matches. Spot on.
Great appraisal, thank you.
So Lundstram early card @ 14 mins may have changed their approach, certainly GvB tends to sub them when they’re on a card….
Very interesting to get a non partisan view.
Still wish we had turned up tho..
re McGregor’s YC
I believe this was for an attempted trip rather than dissent as suggested.
This one annoyed me at the time, as an attempted but unsuccessful foul, resulted in a YC (a super-officious interpretation), whereas actually fouls by themuns resulted in no YCs (a super-lax interpretation)!
These features are awesome, well done. I don’t always agree with the decisions but at least you know they are really impartial & can then maybe give the refs some slack. With some of the decisions the only conclusion you can come to at times is that the refs have an agenda, but this analysis actually helps to a certain extent where your ref comes to the same conclusion as the ref, whereas it looks blatant with our green tinted glasses on.
Can you ask your ref to review the foul near the end where the free kick is fired over by Turnbull to Jota but Madden then calls it back for a foul to them. Still no idea how that could be seen as a foul the other way??????
so the better team won.hard luck.ange usnt all that good?
What part of ‘Of the 9 incorrect calls identified, 7 benefitted The Rangers and 2 Celtic’ didn’t you understand? Your spelling and grammar suggests ‘none of it’…but you’re right, the best team is certainly on top. Well said.
Thanks again for this CBN/Yorkshire Ref ??
While I don’t doubt this ref has no bias towards Scottish football I wonder if he has a bias towards fellow referees. Why include 12 incidents where the ref got it right? Many of them were not controversial, and why exclude the foul awarded to Celtic and then brought back and given to rangers? This was one of the most contentious decisions in the game.
I disagree with much of the Yorkshire fella, as much as I respect the impartiality. Hey, I guess this shows how contentious and difficult refereeing actually is.
The biggest takeaway really, and I don’t think this is underlined enough, is just how absurd it was that Lumstram survived without a yellow, never mind a red. 4 “official” fouls that each merited a yellow, along with 2 contentious “reckless” situations that the ref did not deem a foul.
Like, I get one-off fouls where a player gets lucky or whatever, but it’s outrageous how the ref failed Celtic. Probably the most significantly “bad” , consistent set of outcomes I can think of.
I think he does cover that. He is very balanced but maybe read between the lines?
Happy to disagree here. He has covered certain incorrect calls – and I appreciate that. What I’m saying is he doesn’t emphasise quite how outrageous the continued, consistent blind spot to Lundstram.
As I say, we’ve seen plenty crap calls by refs over the years in isolated incidents and they’re painful enough. But my goodness I’ve never seen anything like what Lundstram got away with. This wasn’t a few bad calls, this was major, consistent, failure. Literally an extra man for Rangers. So no, I don’t think the Whistler covered that at all – even cryptically implied or whatever you’re suggesting.
Great insight as always.
I agree with the McGregor early tackle would have been an expected booking. It was a bookable offence. However I would caveat that with if it was Jack etc it may equally have been allowed to go because Madden (and others, but especially Madden) like to let some of the early ones go.
Similarly I agree that Barisic handball wasn’t a free kick however again wouldn’t have been surprised if it was given the other way. And agree the offside goal is hard to call and claim for.
I’ve maintained for many a year (given the variables) it is very difficult to measure a ref’s performance in these games (and other games) on incident by incident in isolation. I like to measure them on the basis of would Rangers have been given a similar decision (and vice versa). Very subjective but ultimately it is the real measure. IE Not should have McGregor been booked but would he have been booked if he was a Rangers player? Very dangerous grounds to go into when analysing and concluding but for me that is the true measure.
Back to the game and I like others would like an interpretation on the Turnbull free kick incident.
Re McGregor booking then like others I believe this was for an attempted kick and very soft in nature as didn’t connect (which doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be a caution) and very very soft in nature given other incidents in the game.
On the game itself some may trivialise the Lundstram incidents as they are not penalties, red cards (in isolation) or offside goals etc. However these things are quite significant. Lundstram was many Rangers fans man of the match so to not temper him by cautioning him did have a material impact on the game. Similarly allowing Rangers aggressive incidents to go unpunished allowed them to carry on in a similar vein and Rangers aggresiveness was a key factor in them winning the game. Small things matter and a referee can have a major impact on a game’s outcome when he even gets small things wrong.
Regards
Tony
To all asking about the late Turnbull shirt pull. The YW came back to me on that one and here is an added extra!
“ As an extra point of consideration, I have noted several comments regarding a ‘phantom’ free kick awarded at around the 118th minute. My apologies, I suspect my concentration levels had dipped whilst watching tail end of the game, but I didn’t initially spot this as a point of contention.
However having looked at it again, I can see why there is an element of confusion around the the decision.
A Rangers player closes down a Celtic player to prevent a counter attack and in doing so, appears to impede the Celtic man. You hear the referee whistle for a free kick and everyone assumes it is Celtic’s favour. However whilst the ball is sent forward into the Rangers half, the referee then indicates it is actually a Rangers free kick.
To the naked eye, this appears a baffling decision as it looks like it is the Rangers player causing the infringement.
However please note the referees body language as he gives the initial foul. He clearly points to award the free kick to Rangers and also seems to indicate he has given the free kick due to a shirt pull by the Celtic player.
I suspect he doesn’t see the Celtic player take the free kick, after assuming it has gone the other way. It is only a a couple of seconds later as the ball is in flight he has to communicate that it is actually a Rangers free kick.
Without a close up video replay, it is not possible to confirm of this shirt pull took place, and from the footage presented, I also felt the free kick should have been awarded in Celtic’s favour.
Verdict : Assumed incorrect decision unless there is another angle available that shows the shirt pull. ”
YW and I fully in agreement again. Incident by incident he’s right. But for me Madden made an absolute hash of the game: play in one direction constantly stopped, lots of flow in the other. The handling of Lunstram was absolutely awful and really (in my view) affected the game. He was allowed to foul almost every time celtic moved through the middle of the park. No way with a yellow would he have had the impact he did. I’m not buying the he should’ve been off argument as he would likely have altered his gameplan once on a yellow.
The CalMac yellow was soft, but probably more Madden making up for the very early challenge he let him off with. Which is a tactic some refs use-he did deserve a booking but that early is difficult so they lower the bar for later fouls. I’m not personally a fan, but there is an argument for it. Not in this game where he was inconsistent and failed to apply it to several Lunstram fouls.
Celtic were, to be absolutely clear, terrible in this game and got the nothing they deserved. But that would’ve been one horror show of a refereeing performance even if it was only his Lunstram blind spot we were looking at, never mind the rest.
The 47th minute incident on Hart is a total surprise to me , the rules must have changed on this at some point. Though White of Ross County was booked for a similar, but far less aggressive, incident on Sunday.
Rulings on this are few and far between. It looks like more of an informal agreement within referees that blocking goalkeeper throw-outs are *not* an automatic booking (but importantly MAY MERIT a booking).
So not only White, but Besuijen at the weekend was booked for blocking Stryjek. This latter case has generated much discussion in that Stryjek should’ve been red-carded for his violent response – BUT the referee seemed to think the block merited a yellow card.
Therefore – not just by the book – but amongst refs themselves there seems to be a highly “referee interpretation” source of issue here. We’ve got Madden and Yorkshire whistler saying no, while Irvine and Clancy (reffing Aberdeen and Ross County respectively) decided it was worthy of a booking.
excellent read