(The Guardian) Rodgers doubles down on criticism of officials despite charge
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has no regrets over his criticism of the match officials following last Sunday’s defeat by Hearts after being hit with a Scottish Football Association disciplinary charge.
Rodgers faces a hearing on 28 March after being accused of breaching a rule which forbids criticising match officials “in such a way as to indicate bias or incompetence”. He had claimed the “level of incompetence” made him worry for the game as he criticised the displays of referee Don Robertson and video assistant John Beaton in particular, with Yang Hyun-jun’s red card and a penalty for handball against Tomoki Iwata the key complaints.
He said: “My job is to defend the team, defend the club and that’s what we will do in this case. We will defend it vigorously and when the date comes we will go from there. I will sit down with the club and the lawyers and we will look at it from there.”
Rodgers added: “It was my observations over many games, primarily around the inconsistency of decisions. I never talk so much about referees and haven’t done over the course of my career. I understand they make mistakes. But I felt the ones last week were clear, clear errors.” (PA Media)
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has no regrets over his criticism of the match officials following last Sunday’s defeat by Hearts after being hit with a Scottish Football Association disciplinary charge.
Rodgers faces a hearing on 28 March after being accused of breaching a rule which forbids criticising match officials “in such a way as to indicate bias or incompetence”. He had claimed the “level of incompetence” made him worry for the game as he criticised the displays of referee Don Robertson and video assistant John Beaton in particular, with Yang Hyun-jun’s red card and a penalty for handball against Tomoki Iwata the key complaints.
He said: “My job is to defend the team, defend the club and that’s what we will do in this case. We will defend it vigorously and when the date comes we will go from there. I will sit down with the club and the lawyers and we will look at it from there.”
Rodgers added: “It was my observations over many games, primarily around the inconsistency of decisions. I never talk so much about referees and haven’t done over the course of my career. I understand they make mistakes. But I felt the ones last week were clear, clear errors.” (PA Media)
