Rangers penalty myth debunked by latest figures compared to Celtic as places on spot kick rankings shared
Rangers and Celtic penalty stats have been tallied up.
The cry of ‘penalty Rangers’ is almost a trademarked Scottish football catchphrase - but what is the reality and how does it compare to Celtic?
Penalty chat and debate is never far away from the top of discussion on the airwaves and post-match press conferences. Scotland’s big two often form the centre of that discussion and rival fans often are left with rolling eyes when either of Rangers or Celtic are handed spot-kicks.
So many penalties were the Light Blues claimed to be getting at one point that ‘penalty Rangers’ became a running joke. A run of 51 games without conceding a penalty in any competition only fuelled this theory and the latest incident occurred in Sunday’s win at Hearts.
Clinton Nsiala challenges Jambos striker James Wilson, who went tumbling inside the area as Vaclav Cerny scored at the other. Ref John Beaton said no penalty and VAR backed him up to the howling boos of the home fans inside Tynecastle.
Wilson said of the penalty incident to the Edinburgh Evening News: “I feel the shove on my back. It's put me off balance and got me going to ground. I definitely feel the shove on my back. I can't tell you how much it looks like a penalty, but it felt like a penalty.”
“I've legit been knocked off my balance. It's annoying, but that's football. You're going to get decisions to go against you and you have to try and bounce back. I think probably that's the most disappointing part of our performance. I think when it went to 3-1, we probably just didn't have the belief to get back in the game,”
So what do the stats say about who has got the most penalties in the league, and which is the fewest? Well, Rangers take joint-bottom spot with just one this campaign. Aberdeen and Hearts also have a sole spot-kick with Motherwell on two.
There’s a slight jump to St Johnstone, Kilmarnock and both halves of Dundee on five. Then it’s St Mirren on six, Hibs on seven and Celtic take a joint-runners-up spot with the same total. It leaves Ross County as the team to have benefitted most from penalties with eight awarded.
Premiership penalty awards figures
Ross County 8 Celtic 7 Hibs 7 St.Mirren 6 Dundee 5 Dundee Utd 5 Kilmarnock 5 St.Johnstone 5 Motherwell 2 Aberdeen 1 Hearts 1 Rangers 1