As someone whose grounding in Scottish football mainly came in the 90s, it was quite something last month to see Celtic supporters become entitled about success and Rangers supporters become paranoid about referees, but here we are.
Up is down and left is right, but the one reassuring constant is that the Scottish FA are getting it in the neck from somebody.
The embattled governing body has spent the last few days batting away incessant calls from Rangers to publicly release the VAR audio from the flashpoint of Saturday’s Old Firm derby, when Willie Collum was just about the only person in the country who thought Celtic defender Alistair Johnston hadn’t handled the ball in his own area.
We knew this to be his call at the time because that is what we were told by the SFA. And it is a decision, I understand, that he stands by.
Referee Nick Walsh restarted the match with a goal kick. Nevertheless, at the start of the second half VAR HQ released images of Abdallah Sima in an offside position in the build up to the incident, which would have rendered Johnston’s handball irrelevant.
‘This should clear things up’, thought somebody, somewhere. Yeah, not quite.
For a kick-off, the fact that the offside infringement was highlighted at all tells you a fair old bit about what was felt internally about Collum’s call. It was a tacit admission that an error had been made, but that it didn't really matter because of Sima’s offside position.
In the context of the game, at least, it was indeed inconsequential. Had Collum thought a handball had in fact taken place, the VAR procedure would have been followed through to its conclusion and the original offside offence would have been discovered.
So, in no eventuality would Rangers have actually had a penalty over the incident, let’s be clear about that.
Initially, that made their manager Philippe Clement’s vehement protests in the immediate aftermath of the match a little puzzling, but the Belgian’s argument was about process, rather than outcome.
What this all essentially boils down to is a call from Rangers to the SFA to show their working. You may have arrived at the ‘right’ conclusion – in that no penalty was awarded - in the end, but how did you get there? It seems serendipitous, to say the least, rather than by design.
The fact that Sima was offside may have bailed Collum out after a horrendous error in terms of the match itself, but the way the entire thing has been handled does little to quell accusations of a refereeing culture in Scotland where covering behinds takes precedence over accountability and transparency.
Had there been an early admittance of an error, for instance, or an explanation for why Collum was right, and the rest of the world was wrong - on what was still, after all, a subjective call - then the whole thing might have been nipped in the bud there and then.
As it is, all the circling of the wagons has done is inspire fury from Rangers and days upon days of the spotlight being fixed firmly on how this whole scenario has been handled.
You can pick holes in Rangers’ motivation all day long, and there is probably a mixture of a little deflection from their defeat going on with a measure of sour grapes thrown in too, as much as there is concern for the greater good of the game.
But the wider point they are trying to make with their request for the VAR audio of the incident is sound enough. That it is about transparency, and trust in our officials and the VAR process, concepts it will be difficult for anyone to argue aren’t hugely important.
The argument for not releasing the conversation between the officials is that it will open up a Pandora’s box, and that every club will be demanding the VAR audio be released after every major incident.
Refereeing body PGMOL have done so in England though and publicly held their hands up to errors, such as a huge one in a game between Liverpool and Tottenham.
And the public release of VAR audio isn’t without precedent in Scotland, either. The SFA released clips from decisions that referees had called correctly on the anniversary of its introduction in October, after all. And they release all VAR audio to clubs after every 11 rounds of fixtures as a matter of routine.
Rangers have now heard the VAR audio privately at a meeting between the club and SFA officials, but a statement released thereafter suggests that has done little to quell their concerns.
And I agree with them that when there is a decision as high profile and as controversial as this one, it would be best for all parties involved if the VAR audio was put out into the public domain so that the integrity of the officials – and the VAR process – could not be called into question.
The standard of their officiating, well, that’s another matter entirely.
For a referee to look at that replay - or look at the ‘dive’ Hearts winger Alan Forrest was cautioned for against Ross County, incidentally - and not so much as call the on-field official over for a review, would suggest the main problem we have is with competency, rather than conspiracy.
