Referees are reportedly set to hold crisis talks with the Scottish FA.
It's claimed top-flight officials will meet with Hampden chiefs next week to discuss recent requests from Rangers after the VAR fallout from the match against Celtic.
The Scottish FA earlier this week confirmed requests from Rangers - reported to include a demand for Willie Collum not to be involved in their matches going forward - were "immediately rejected".
Now, The Scottish Sun report head of referee operations Crawford Allan is set to speak with officials who feel let down by the handling of the situation.
It's claimed there has been no talks over a referee strike but tensions could be raised with Collum's colleagues reportedly expected to rally around him over the issue.
Rangers chiefs had been left furious over the decision not to award a penalty for an alleged handball by Alistair Johnston in the derby last month.
Referee Nick Walsh awarded a goal kick despite handball appeals and Collum did not call for a pitchside review having seen no clear and obvious error from the match official.
Sky Sports later displayed an image of an offside in the build-up to the incident.
Furious Rangers chiefs said: “Rangers FC today met with Scottish FA officials to discuss the VAR handball call and subsequent miscommunications from Saturday’s Old Firm match.
“From the meeting, there was an overriding consensus the VAR decision of no handball was incorrect.
“Having listened to the audio, there is no mention of a potential offside at the time of the handball decision. Rangers is also deeply concerned at the haste at which the erroneous no-handball call was made.
“Rangers has appealed to the Scottish FA to release the audio and explain this decision, and future contentious decisions involving all clubs, to the public, as would be common practice in England for such a decision.
“The club has made a number of specific requests that it hopes the Scottish FA will respond to in order to improve matters going forward.”
The Scottish FA responded in a stinging statement that read: "The Scottish FA is disappointed by contents of the most recent statement issued by Rangers in relation to a match incident during the club’s recent Premiership fixture against Celtic.
"Chief Executive James Bisgrove and Director of Football Operations Creag Robertson attended a private briefing with the Head of Referee Operations, Crawford Allan, to review the incident in question, including the use of matchday audio. We understood from the chief executive that the meeting had been constructive and informative, and conducted amicably.
"This does not appear to be reflected in the club’s statement.
"During the meeting, it was pointed out that the incident in question was a subjective handball and that the VAR did not deem it a sufficiently clear and obvious error to refer to On Field Review.
"Furthermore, the offside would not have been mentioned at the time as it was not part of the VAR’s decision-making on the handball. It was highlighted within Clydesdale House that had the VAR considered the incident to be a handball offence and asked the referee to carry out an On Field Review, the Attacking Phase of Play would have been checked and an offside would have been identified. This supplementary information was relayed to broadcasters in-game, and we are reviewing the process of information dissemination to avoid any perceived ambiguity in future. "There was an overall consensus that the incident could not have led to a penalty kick being awarded in any event, and that there was no impact on the final outcome of the match.
"Scotland’s VAR protocol is in many ways modelled on the PGMOL system, and we are in regular dialogue with our colleagues in England on knowledge sharing and improvements. VAR has been operational in Scotland for just over a year, whilst it has been operational in England for more than four.
"Since the summer, we have ensured that Key Match Incidents are reviewed and shared with all clubs after every full round of 11 Premiership fixtures, including use of audio. We will continue to do this, along with KMI being shared with the Independent Review Panel for their consideration and opinion.
"Finally, we note posts from a recent official media partner of the club’s detailing requests from the private meeting that were immediately rejected. We would ask that club representatives show greater responsibility in such matters, especially in the context of recent incidents in European football that have compromised the safety of match officials and led to widespread condemnation."
