The big ‘error’ VAR made in Rangers handball row revealed as Bobby Madden spots ‘outstanding issue’ in Celtic clash

Rangers took the SFA to task over the decision not to award them a handball against Celtic and Madden has plenty of sympathy for whistler Nick Walsh.

Bobby Madden feels that the Rangers handball dispute with the SFA still has one unresolved issue and that the Ibrox club has every right to be upset over a perceived “error.”

Rangers and the SFA are at odds over the latter’s decision to deny them a penalty for handball against Alistair Johnston during the Celtic derby on December 30.

Both the on-field referee, Nick Walsh, and the video assistant, Willie Collum, failed to signal the spot. Subsequently, an image surfaced that seemed to depict Abdallah Sima offside throughout the buildup.

But that hasn’t satisfied fuming Rangers who met with the SFA on Wednesday to review the audio from the incident.

They claimed the offside WASN’T mentioned in the VAR room, and that a consensus was reached that an error was made by not awarding them a penalty.

Their version of events has been strongly disputed by the governing body, though Gers have since requested that Collum NOT be involved in their matches going forward as a result.

Former SFA ref Madden reckons it’s understandable that Walsh missed the call on-field. But the ‘outstanding issue’ of the offside image – which he believed was released by the person overseeing VAR on the day – is what’s causing the anger. And he reckons it was an error to put that forward as a defence.

He tweeted: “What did people expect? Referee missed call on field, understandable in my opinion. VAR didn’t think it was a penalty and didn’t check APP (attacking phase of play).

Mistakes happen regarding subjective decisions. Releasing the offside image some time later is the outstanding issue.

“The person overseeing VAR would have shared the offside image, probably thinking it was a good idea to show that that the penalty couldn’t be awarded either way. I’d say that was an error on their part.”

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