Predictable SFA back their team

As predicted yesterday, the SFA appeals process rejected Celtic’s application to have Yang’s red card, awarded at Tynecastle on Sunday, rescinded.  The merits of the case can be set aside.  The SFA were being asked to consider whether one of their senior referees intervened unfairly in a manner which changed which team was top of the table with nine games remaining.

That was never going to happen.  Any technical justification for the recommendation to upgrade the initial yellow card would be seized.  Unlike offside, which is a definitive on or off, foul play remains under the remit of referee interpretation.

The lack of consistency, which resulted in a Motherwell player not even being cautioned for a similar challenge on Daizen Maeda a week earlier, is explained by referees interpreting the circumstances differently.

VAR is never going to change the fact that Scotland is a small place with a very small number of teams capable of winning the league.  It has shone a greater light on this lack of consistency, but it will not change people and will not quickly change processes.