Rangers chief executive Patrick Stewart has revealed he is waiting on an explanation from the Scottish FA over the major penalty flashpoint in the Premier Sports Cup final against Celtic.
The new CEO has been in contact with the Scottish FA to demand answers over the decision-making process after Rangers were not awarded a spot-kick at Hampden.
Referee John Beaton had awarded a free-kick when Vaclav Cerny was hauled down by Liam Scales. However, replays showed the Rangers winger with his foot on the line of the box at the time of the incident.
🎙️ New Chief Executive Officer Patrick Stewart sat down with RangersTV to discuss his role with the club. pic.twitter.com/eNFuWI4F6M
— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) December 17, 2024
IFAB laws state: "If a defender starts holding an attacker outside the penalty area and continues holding inside the penalty area, the referee must award a penalty kick."
VAR official Alan Muir did not intervene with the free-kick being taken instead of any review of the incident or VAR involvement in upgrading the award to a penalty. As the call was a "factual" decision Beaton would not have been called to the pitchside monitor, rather a decision on whether it was inside or outside the box would be made by the VAR officials and then communicated to the referee.
Philippe Clement was left furious over the "weird situation" as he urged journalists to "dig in" to the decision in his post-match press conference.
Stewart only began as Rangers CEO on Monday but one of his first actions was to contact the Scottish FA and referee chief Willie Collum to seek answers over the incident.
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"The performances in the SPFL have been really positive, we are scoring, not conceding, of course the Cup Final - I don’t want to dwell on it again, but it could have been such a memorable day," said Stewart on Rangers TV.
"We have a lot to be positive about. The manner which we lost was hard to take, and as I think people will know, I have spoken with the SFA to ask for an explanation about the non-awarding of a penalty in extra-time, so I will wait to hear what the SFA have to say about that.
"Obviously it is somewhat bittersweet. Yesterday was my first day and we were licking our wounds from Sunday.
"It was disappointing in the manner of the defeat, but we can take a huge amount from it. There is a lot to be optimistic about, but yesterday was bittersweet.
"I was really excited to start the role, but I was disappointed it wasn’t with a trophy in the cabinet.”
