Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers will face an SFA hearing tomorrow after he was charged by the Scottish Football Association due to comments made involving the officiating in our 2-0 defeat to Heart of Midlothian earlier this month.
The Bhoys were on the end of two controversial decisions, with Hyunjun Yang’s dismissal and Tomoki Iwata’s penalisation for a handball offence making headlines at Tynecastle.
Don Robertson initially awarded a yellow card to Yang before overturning the decision in the wake of an intervention from VAR operative John Beaton.
Just before the interval, communication from VAR ordered Robertson have a second look at the incident concerning Iwata, resulting in a penalty being awarded to the hosts that Jorge Grant converted, opening the scoring.
Enraged at full-time, Rodgers didn’t pull any punches post-match, stating: “It’s incompetence. And I think the first one is a great example of the game being refereed outside of the pitch.
“This is the thing everyone is talking about, that the officials do their job, and if it’s something that’s clear and obvious, maybe step in.”
Should Rodgers be sanctioned for his comments, he would be banned from being in the dugout for our upcoming Glasgow Derby clash against Rangers on April 7th, with the Ibrox encounter likely to be crucial in our bid to win the Scottish Premiership title.
Celtic set to appoint Nick De Marco to fight SFA charge
According to The Daily Record, Celtic are set to appoint legal expert Nick De Marco to fight the impending charge against Rodgers from the SFA.
The outlet state that the Irishman’s representative has already been involved in several high-profile cases recently, including Leicester City’s continuous Financial Fair Play situation, Nottingham Forest’s appeal against their points deduction, and Newcastle United’s takeover.
Facing a minimum two-match ban, Celtic are desperate to keep Rodgers in his technical area, and it certainly appears that the club are willing to back him every step of the way.
Hopefully, the 51-year-old’s hearing can yield a positive outcome with the influence of De Marco to bring the matter to a close.
Nevertheless, we will need to see how proceedings unfold as the independent tribunal deliberate over a verdict.