Rangers 'deeply concerned' after meeting with SFA over 'handball' incident

Rangers have been left “deeply concerned” after meeting with the Scottish Football Association to discuss a decision made in Saturday’s Old Firm game.

The Ibrox side lost 2-1 to their city rivals at Celtic Park on December 30 in what was Philippe Clement’s first defeat since replacing Michael Beale in October.

But an incident in the first-half when Celtic defender Alistair Johnston appeared to handle the ball in the box has proved to be an area of contention for Rangers in the last week.

Footage released to Sky Sports, who were broadcasting the game live, from the VAR command centre showed that Abdallah Sima was offside in the build up to the incident, meaning any penalty awarded would have been overturned in any case.

However, Rangers have wanted clarification over how the decision was reached between referee Nick Walsh and VAR official Willie Collum.

After meeting with the SFA on Wednesday Rangers say they remain to be convinced over the process of the decision making and the “haste” in which the call was made.

They are also calling on the governing body to follow England’s lead and make the audio of the decision, which they say makes no mention of the offside, and all other VAR calls, public.

In a statement released after the meeting, a Rangers spokesperson 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.”