Sky Sports clarify major Celtic vs Rangers incident as ex Premier League referee's claim shot down
VAR has come under criticism for not intervening after an incident in Sunday’s Old Firm Derby
Sky Sports have released a statement rejecting the claim made by former English Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher that VAR John Beaton didn’t have access to a camera angle showing the full extent of Celtic defender Alistair Johnston’s high challenge on Rangers’ Mikey Moore.
With the score at 1-1, referee Nick Walsh’s decision to book the Canadian was backed up by VAR, however when the Sky Sports punditry team of Kris Boyd, James McFadden and Neil Lennon reviewed the incident at half time from a different camera angle shown during the coverage, all three were in agreement that Johnston should have seen red. Celtic subsequently emerged 3-1 victors after a second half collapse from the visitors.
Speaking on Ref Watch, Gallagher question whether Beaton had access to the same camera angles as the punditry team did during the game, claiming that if he did, an on-field review would have almost certainly have been recommended. However, Sky Sports have now confirmed that Clydesdale House did have access to all possible camera angles.
Sky Sports statement on Old Firm VAR controversy
Their statement read: “Sky Sports can clarify that all angles of Alistair Johnston's tackle on Rangers' Mikey Moore were available to VAR during Sunday's Old Firm clash. It was suggested on Ref Watch that the VAR team, led by John Beaton, did not have the full range of angles available until half-time.
“However, the officials at Clydesdale House did in fact have all angles at their disposal. The decision was fully reviewed by the VAR team, who were satisfied that referee Nick Walsh's decision to book Celtic defender Johnston was the correct outcome.”
Rangers boss Danny Rohl played down the incident after the game, claiming he doesn’t like to criticise referees ‘publicly’, while Celtic icon and pundit Chris Sutton described fans who were wanting Johnston to be sent off as ‘straw-clutchers’.
Gallagher’s original comments on ‘angles’ debacle
Speaking on Ref Watch, the former whistler said: “Seriously, when you look at this it’s a red card all day. But the first angle, I didn’t think it was a red card. What I will say in the referee and VAR’s defence, that [second] clip became available at half-time. It was never ever available during the game. So it is impossible to recommend a review, which it definitely would have and it definitely would have been a red card. But it is too late, at half-time the game has already restarted.
“I was watching the game, and that was not shown as a replay at the time. The first time anybody saw that [angle of the foul] was at half-time, including the pundits. So suddenly at half-time they’re saying ‘wow’. The first time they would have saw that clip was at half-time. If they don’t show it to him, he can’t act on it, can he? It’s 100% a red card. He gets a touch on the ball, I don’t think there’s any intention to hurt him, but he’s just got the tackle wrong.”