Willie Collum is very rarely not in the spotlight within Scottish football and Rangers' clash with St Johnstone on Saturday was no different as the whistler made several contentious decisions.
The Light Blues triumphed 2-0 winners courtesy of James Tavernier's 13 minute penalty and a second half Glen Kamara strike. And the result puts Michael Beale's men within six points of Premiership leaders, Celtic, who visit Dundee United on Sunday.
It was a dominant showing from Rangers who handed Todd Cantwell an Ibrox debut and saw Ianis Hagi return after a long-term injury. However the proceedings could have panned out very differently had the officials took different viewpoints on several key decisions. Nicky Clark was shown red on 36 minutes for a late challenge on Ryan Jack but the Gers midfielder could've been handed his marching orders minutes after too. Instead the on pitch referee, Collum, and VAR man Nick Walsh deemed it only worthy of a yellow, which left Saints boss Callum Davidson furious on the touchline.
Record Sport looks at the key moments where Collum and his team were put on the spot.
Rangers penalty
Collum pointed to the spot on the 12th minute for handball against James Brown which led to Tavernier giving Remi Matthews no chance from 12-yards to score the game's opening goal. It was immediately given by experienced whistler, which Walsh on VAR agreed.
Brown's arm was outstretched and extended from his body, with it clear the ball made contact with his arm. However the St Johnstone man had little time to react as the ball swerved off the back of Connor Goldson just before reaching his path in a tight space.
After the match Beale told BBC Sportsound: "Listen it's harsh. The boys close to Malik when he flicks it on. His arm is outwit his body and it does hit it but it's harsh. It's the law, the officials are only applying the law and I think it's the law we maybe ned to look at. Everyone in football is in agreement with that. One minute it's deemed a penalty and the next minute it's deemed not and if I'm on the wrong end it's a harsh penalty but that's what they seem to be giving them for at the moment."
While Davidson said: "It was a real difficult one, it's probably the rules where they are this now. James can't do anything about it."
Michael Stewart insisted Collum's decision was WRONG but McFadden understood why he pointed to the spot because "his arm was up and outstretched".
Stewart doubled down, adding: "For me it's not a penalty kick for a couple of reasons. Everything that James Brown does here is completely normal. It comes off of Connor Goldson's back which is less than a yard away and I'm not really sure how he's meant to react or do anything. But also there's a little flick on his leg which makes him lose his balance. It's impossible for him to do anything but what transpires."
Nicky Clark shown red
Saints striker, Clark, was shown a straight red card for a lunge on Ryan Jack despite very few protests from Rangers players and the supporters in the terraces.
It looked strange at first as the referee took his time, almost a minute, to get his card out but replays showed he caught Ryan Jack around the knee which was ultimately high and dangerous despite not much force. VAR checked it but Collum opted against going over to the monitor for a look himself.
On the outcome, Beale said: "I've seen both [incidents] and I wouldn't agree with that at all [that the referee got it wrong] because Nicky has not meant to catch Ryan Jack and he's actually trying to pull away but he's very high. Ryan's one his foot is flat to the floor, the boy gets there, he nicks it away and again, there's not enough aggression in that. It's a standard yellow card."
McFadden also hit out at Collum for this decision due to the fact he wasn't going to give anything at first then evaded the opportunity to look at the monitor. He told BBC Sportscene: "If you look initially, he wasn't even going to give a foul. It does look at certain angles, clumsy from Nicky Clark but first of all he's being pulled. He stretches with his left and from Willie Collum's view it might look like his left leg catches him, it's not. It's his right knee on Ryan Jack's shin, who's coming in at a decent speed and then he holds the left shin. There was no initial decision to say it was under review either."
Ryan Jack escapes red despite VAR check
Jack, clearly furious about the tackle on him from Clark then slid in on Adam Montgomery's ankle maliciously. It looked a nasty challenge that sparked fury from the St Johnstone camp. Collum quickly flashed a yellow, even though VAR wanted a check to upgrade it to red. Collum did eventually go over to the screen and surprisingly stuck by his instinct, which is one of the rare times time that's happened.
The Saints bench were livid while it was described by Michael Stewart as a "clear red card" and his Sportsound pundits almost unanimously agreed. Callum Davidson got booked for launching a water bottle in protest of the contrasting outcome compared to Clark's red.
Stewart was "astonished" that Collum stuck to his guns and overruled VAR. While McFadden believes the Rangers midfielder clearly had "no intent to win the ball" and that it was a "clear red". Stewart said: "When you see those two challenges, the one that was on Ryan Jack and that one there today, and if you were told one was a red card and one was a yellow, I would find it inconceivable that anybody would say they were the decisions that were shown."
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