Celtic really have been put through the mill this season because of VAR and poor refereeing decisions this season.
The report released yesterday by the national association where they admitted, amongst other VAR mistakes, that the decision to award a penalty against Celtic for a Tomoki Iwata handball was wrong has not shocked the Hoops support one bit.
It was a ludicrous piece of refereeing and it absolutely swayed the game in Hearts’ favour. Especially after the decision to send off Hyunjun Yang was viewed as extremely harsh.
And John Hartson went on a superb rant when he was asked his opinion the report and the admission of the SFA that the Tynecastle penalty award against Celtic was wrong.
‘Inept’ – John Hartson doesn’t hold back on SFA officials
This game dominated the headlines for weeks for Celtic. Brendan Rodgers ended up in front of the Hampden beaks because of his post-match comments and it’s just as well Hartson has hung up his boots because what he said about the report was just superb.
Hartson said [The Go Radio Football Show], “Yeah, well, this is absolutely massive right. This is a massive call today from the independent review panel. VAR, in other words.
“The implications of these inept calls by VAR could be absolutely massive. It could mean managers losing their jobs. It can mean teams finishing lower down in the league, it could affect the title.
“It could affect loads and loads of things by getting these decisions so wrong. The implication of it is it will cost clubs money because you get extra money, the higher up you go in the league.
“These are the ten. There are 16 in total. Honest to God.
“Something’s got to get better because we’ve spoken about VAR quite a lot this season, more than what we would have liked to.
“But as I said, it’s so inept that they can get so many things wrong. I know they’ve come out and they admitted it, that’s brilliant.
“But if you’d look at it, it’s just not acceptable, in my opinion.”
That decision alone cost Celtic three points. It also cost Brendan Rodgers a one-match dug-out ban and allowed Rangers to close the gap at the top of the league.
And whilst we don’t know if it will end up contributing towards costing Celtic the title, losing three points at such a crucial stage of the season and the ensuing carnage that decision caused, was completely unnecessary.
This leads to one burning question. Celtic were punished twice because of ‘inept’ officiating. What are the repercussions for the officials who still couldn’t get such a simple decision correct despite having the benefit of using VAR?
I think we all know the answer to that.