Michael Nicholson might be getting back in touch with the SFA after yet more VAR controversy involving Celtic. The Parkhead chief executive revealed at the club’s AGM that they contacted the authorities after Michael Smith’s handball for Hearts against the champions wasn’t checked.
That was on the opening weekend of the technology being introduced into the Scottish Premiership and Ange Postecoglou was left scratching his head as to why Steven McLean, in front of the monitor at the Clydesdale House base, didn’t refer match referee Nick Walsh to check it out. And the Celtic boss highlighted the incident after his team’s win over Dundee United to show the inconsistency after a contentious decision.
Walsh was again involved after another contentious handball decision with the whistler this time in the operations room when he asked David Dickinson to look at an incident involving Alexandro Bernabei when the ball struck his arm from Steven Fletcher’s header in the win over Dundee United. Dickinson looked at it and pointed to the spot with Fletcher dusting himself down to convert from 12 yards and cancel out the first of Sead Haksabanovic’s two goals. And to rub salt into Celtic’s wounds, Argentinian Bernabei was booked despite knowing little about it with his back turned when the ball hit his arm. It didn’t affect the outcome in the end as the champions produced a late show to win 4-2 but it was still a major talking point. Here’s what the pundits had to say on Bernabei’s handball.
