Todd Cantwell's claim that Celtic didn’t win the Old Firm on Saturday got the levels of Hotline scorn usually reserved for our poor match officials and VAR.
Not that they escaped the storm with the dust still to settle on the derby which saw Alfredo Morelos denied a goal by a contentious Kevin Clancy decision - backed by VAR - before Celtic won 3-2. James Tavernier was also in the firing line after the Rangers skipper said the game gave them confidence they could topple the Hoops in the forthcoming Scottish Cup semi final.
Arrin Geddes, Irvine, said: “Todd Cantwell ran about like a headless chicken for 90 minutes on Saturday and that probably contributed to his confusion thinking Celtic didn’t win. Tavernier says his usual post match ‘we’ll be better next time’ speech, but they can’t match Celtic’s quality just now.” Stephen Mulhern, Dumbarton, added: “Rangers players are seemingly taking great confidence now going into the semi final after running Celtic close on Saturday. The Hoops weren’t at their best particularly in midfield and when Reo Hatate is reunited with Callum McGregor Celtic will run out convincing winners.”
Andrew Lamb, Fraserburgh, said: “All those Gers fans whining about Morelos’ disallowed goal are missing the bigger picture. A right back scored both their goals and quite simply Ryan Kent, Morelos, Fashion Sakala and even Malik Tillman didn't deliver. Time to dump them all.”
Robert Livingstone, Palm Beach, said: “Connor Goldson was a massive loss and his replacement John Souttar is just not a centre half. They are now paying the price for letting Niko Katic go - he was one of Rangers’ best and safest defenders. Also letting Leon Balogun leave was just another bad decision by Ross Wilson.”
Graham Taylor, Airdrie, said: “A lot of fellow Gers fans seem happy with our performance but once again we come out second best. While I agree we showed a lot of heart and dig we also lacked quality which ultimately cost us. Tillman for me is not worth the £5million being quoted, surely we can get better quality for that money. Our manager needs the semi final win otherwise our fan base will have serious questions about him being at the helm long term.”
Paul McArdle, Gourock, said: “After the cup final all we have heard is if Raskin and Cantwell had started we would have won the game. Well they started on Saturday and got put in their place. Three attempts from Beale all end in failure.”
Onto the row over the refs now.
Mark Smith, Cumbernauld, said: “The Old Firm didn’t surprise or disappoint. Celtic fans with their complaints about VAR and referees set everything up nicely for them. Unfortunately Clancy and his assistants decided to pander to their whims ruling out Morelos’ goal and in effect ruined what could have been a good game.”
But Brian McColligan emailed: “You have to hand it to Rangers they don’t like a VAR call so they are writing to the SFA , both guys were pulling and hauling but only one guy had a two handed push on the other.” Paddy Gowans emailed: “Half these referees should be made to resist their badges. If not we need to bring in European refs for big games ours just can't cut the mustard.”
Finally, Hearts pulled the trigger on Robbie Neilson on Easter Sunday after a woeful five defeats in a row saw them lose their grip on third spot.
Dundee United fan Kenny Goff emailed: “I hope no one on the United board think about getting Neilson back for next season as there would be uproar after way he left Tannadice. He always to go back to Hearts - well he can watch them from the Tynecastle stand.”
And Neil Renton, Edinburgh, said; “I can see Hibs getting rid of Lee Johnson and replacing him with Neilson. The former Jam Tarts gaffer has a decent record against Hibs so it would give the Leith side an advantage.”
What do you make of Easter Monday's calls?
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