Allan McGregor’s Assault: “If that’s not brutality, what is?” asks ex-Celtic star

CHRIS SUTTON has labelled the SFA’s new judicial panel “the three stooges” and reckons that it is “scandalous” that they failed to impose a retrospective red card on Allan McGregor for his kick at Kristoffer Ajer Celtic Park a fortnight ago.

And as The Celtic Star has been calling for, Sutton agreed that Steven Gerrard should also have been called to account for claiming there had been collusion between match officials against Rangers “for years”, this after his first league game in charge.

Sutton, like the rest of us can’t get his head around the baffling decisions taken by the various SFA panels this season and believes that all that has happened so far this season has damaged the trust in the disciplinary and appeals process.

Sutton can’t accept that Kilmarnock and their manager Steve Clarke can be charged for criticising a referee (Clarke) or publishing the criticism on the official club website when Rangers and Gerrard have done the same thing twice – after a draw at Pittodrie and a defeat at Celtic Park and have escaped any SFA sanction on both occasions.

And of course Rangers have Allan McGregor available tomorrow for the visit of Dundee to Ibrox because the “the three stooges,” failed to agree that his kick merited a retrospective red card – even Steven Gerrard reckoned he should have been send off.

“Steven Gerrard’s conspiracy stuff is as bad as anything. He’s implying that there’s collaboration between referees which has worked against his club,” Sutton said.

“Steve Clarke must be sitting in his office thinking: ‘If I’ve been charged, why hasn’t Steven Gerrard been charged?’ I was done for saying something similar and rightly so.”

Sutton was of course referring to his claim back in 2003 that Dunfermline were guilty of lying down to Rangers in the last game of that season.

“You just want to see common sense and consistency and there’s been anything but that from the SFA,” the BT Pundit continued.

“We’ve seen all their decisions – the Alfredo Morelos one, the Steven Naismith one, the Allan McGregor one. It’s hard to go round the country and find anyone else who doesn’t think they should have been punished,” Sutton said

“There has been a lot of head scratching going on across the country. Clearly, the panel needs sorting out in some way, shape or form because there have been some very strange decisions.

“Steve Clarke coming out and saying what he did was out of frustration. He has overstepped the mark in some respects and he will know that, but he makes some valid points.

“It all comes down to the incidents we have seen and the Dicker one and his frustration over that. I can understand that.

“It’s a strange old start to the season for the panel and McGregor’s was probably the oddest decision of them all. They talk about the wording of the rules. If that’s not brutality, what is?

“You know, he’s kicked out at him – if it’s going to take someone to have their leg broken then what message does that send to young players across the country?

“It’s scandalous they didn’t see that and get it right; it’s not even a grey area. Derek McInnes has come out and said they’re incompetent and that’s hard to argue with, really.

“McGregor first and the Dicker verdict came later that week. You would have thought the three-man panel – the three stooges or whatever you want to call them – would have thought logically about things, but they’ve let McGregor off with that.

“Steven Gerrard came out complaining about Ryan Jack not being awarded a foul in the build-up to Celtic’s goal the other week, but Rangers were lucky to have McGregor still on the park and he admitted that.

“Why didn’t the SFA react to Gerrard’s comments? That’s a really good question, but you’d need to ask them that. However, since they’re now acting over Clarke’s remarks, it’s fair to ask them why they’re not taking the Rangers manager to task for, arguably, the worst offence of them all.

“It’s a sad situation, really, and a poor reflection on the SFA that it’s come to this.”