Rangers' demands to the Scottish FA over Willie Collum's involvement in future games were wrong.
That's the viewpoint of former Gers striker Kenny Miller.
Following last weekend's Old Firm derby, which Celtic won 2-1, there has been a public war of words between the Ibrox club and the SFA over the non-award of a penalty for handball against Alistair Johnston.
Collum - who was on VAR for the game - felt the Canadian did not handle the ball inside his own area, and therefore alerted on-field official Nick Walsh to play on.
This sparked controversy, with further offside pictures circulated by Clydesdale House to indicate why the decision of no penalty was made.
Miller believes the handball call was a subjective decision and feels Collum does not deserve to have his integrity called into question.
He wrote in the Daily Record: “I don’t like seeing referees being put under pressure. Are Rangers correct to ask for an explanation of what actually happened? Absolutely. But they can’t dictate to the SFA who’s going to referee their games.
“Willie clearly felt it wasn’t a handball and the majority of people out there believe that was the wrong decision. But that’s all it is. A big mistake. Even though 99 percent of the population think it was handball.
“Everyone can see what happened. Willie didn’t think it was a penalty so there was no need to check for offside later. The lines and pictures were put out there to try and calm the situation. But offside should never have come into the equation. Why would it? Willie didn’t think it was a penalty.
“So that has muddied the waters and I don’t like how it’s played out. I don’t agree with referees being put under pressure based on decisions they’ve made. And you don’t want a situation where officials are fearing for their safety.
“We’re really passionate about our clubs and our game in Scotland. It’s OK to be disgruntled at decisions made against your club. But if a mistake has been made, you have to believe it’s an honest one. If we don’t, we have far bigger problems. But by putting out the offside lines after the event, all it did was open a can of worms and instigate theories of bias or conspiracy.
“That didn’t sit right with me. It didn’t need to happen. The SFA has caused their own issue there. It was completely unnecessary because Willie didn’t believe it was a handball.”
