Boredom will reach Ange Postecoglou eventually. Any manager or player with aspiration of competing in a challenging environment, where there are more than two horses – at most – sees life beyond Celtic. Had Postecoglou not arrived in Glasgow with a reputation for occasionally taking issue with the sporting world, onlookers would be entitled to sense the Australian is already chasing self-created excitement.
Postecoglou claimed he was more interested in his dinner options than Rangers’ appointment of Michael Beale. Harmless enough and a decent soundbite but bordering on petty. Shortly before Christmas, Postecoglou railed against the general failure to “differentiate” between his Celtic team and Rangers. The grouping together of the Old Firm is apposite; no other side have been Scottish champions since 1985. Ticket pricing alone tells us Celtic and Rangers have long since realised theirs is a partnership that is good for business. Yet Postecoglou, over this utterly trivial point, expressed unhappiness.
Postecoglou’s reaction to VAR’s October arrival in Scotland was literally to laugh it off. “I’m totally ambivalent to it,” he said. “That stuff doesn’t rock my boat.” Suddenly there is motion in Postecoglou’s ocean. Last week he described Scotland’s version of VAR as “a bit of a mess”, which is causing “confusion”. Celtic’s manager believes there is no chance of decisions levelling themselves out owing to a handful of calls he is adamant have unreasonably gone against his team. Only days earlier, before Celtic travelled to Ibrox, Postecoglou told the media he could “deal with” any decision-making “mistakes”. One debatable penalty call later, Postecoglou changed tune entirely. The frenzy had been fuelled, which turned focus on a 2-2 draw desperately low on quality.
Postecoglou has of course ignored acts of officialdom that have worked in Celtic’s favour, including since VAR’s introduction. They do exist. He has also fallen into the trap of using binary language to assess application of the – entirely subjective – laws of the game. So too, incredibly, did the Scottish Football Association’s chief executive, Ian Maxwell. “VAR across the world has taken the number of correct decisions from 92% to 98% and that is exactly where Scotland is,” Maxwell claimed. It was a baffling comment, bereft of context. Football exists with grey areas.
This is a country that, even before VAR, had an unhelpful and unhealthy interest in the mechanics of refereeing. Postecoglou’s newfound angst plays into the hands of a noisy chunk of his club’s support who believe Scotland’s football authorities – including referees – are out to get them. Fans will spend this weekend obsessing over VAR calls not only in Celtic’s League Cup semi-final meeting with Kilmarnock on Saturday but when Rangers face Aberdeen on Sunday.
Celtic pander to the same group when briefing that they are pursuing “clarity” over VAR; it is apparently beyond executives at a business of this supposed stature to put their name to a statement or address the media over what precisely they want. The notion that Celtic or Rangers are hard done by when it comes to refereeing calls triggers roaring laughter among followers of other teams. Given the on-field gulf between the clubs – Celtic remain Scotland’s dominant force, with Rangers scrambling – perhaps manufactured grievance is deemed necessary. Which does not prevent it from being tiresome.
None of this is to suggest VAR has been a success story in Scotland. Far from it. Its arrival during a season – agreed to by clubs – was bizarre. A series of penalties were awarded from October to the World Cup break, largely for handball, which would never have been granted early in the season. Competitive fairness is therefore open to question. Those in high office screamed about the value of the paying fan when desperately trying to reopen turnstiles during Covid. And yet no widespread canvassing of supporters over this project was undertaken. The in-game experience for spectators has been consistently – and Postecoglou is correct here – muddled.
Scotland’s lack of refereeing resources and the added demands created by VAR mean top officials are spread far too thinly. The sense that matches are being refereed by an individual in the VAR compound has been unavoidable. Limits on technology inside stadiums and cameras at games that are not subject to live broadcast are additional problems. There are many who would rather this scheme were ditched. That group, crucially, does not include the referees who want their broader status assisted by routine use of VAR.
Rangers have been conspicuous by their silence. No wonder, Celtic’s fans will say; the Ibrox club have not had a domestic penalty awarded against them since January 2022. It is a remarkable run, a statistical anomaly, which feeds entirely into injustice harboured across the city. As and when Rangers concede a penalty, their support will cite pressure towards referees from Celtic.
History tells us Rangers will not be slow to act should referees and VAR not perform the way they would desire. In 2019 Rangers issued a stinging statement against the referee Willie Collum, who was duly not seen at one of their fixtures for months. Job done. Steven Gerrard was one game into his Rangers tenure when bleating about perceived historical injustices.
Celtic have the personnel to comfortably see off Kilmarnock, who are rated 20-1 shots to prevail in 90 minutes. It would be a shock if Rangers do not earn a final berth at the expenses of Jim Goodwin’s floundering Aberdeen. An Old Firm League Cup final would whet appetites while only encouraging the kind of background noise that is growing ever louder.
