Neil Lennon has blamed teams playing against Rangers for continually conceding penalties for shirt pulling, asking “when are the opposition going to learn?”
The former Celtic boss reacted on PLZ Soccer’s The Football Show on 11 December after Aaron Donnelly was penalised for grabbing Abdallah Sima in the 3-1 victory over Dundee at the weekend, with both Hearts and Aberdeen also penalised for last-minute pulls on Connor Goldson in recent weeks.
Tam McManus agreed with Dundee boss Tony Docherty’s complaints to call the decision “soft”, although Alan Rough and Peter Martin both laughed off the claim against what they felt was a clear penalty, and while there was general agreement that it isn’t refereed consistently enough Lennon was baffled by teams routinely doing it against the Gers.
He said (25m 15s): “We have this conversation every week now about Rangers getting penalties. When are the opposition going to learn?
“They all do it. Hearts did it, Aberdeen did, Dundee have done it. They’ve given away a penalty for shirt pulling against Rangers. They’ve got to stop the shirt pulling, I’m sorry but you have to do it.”
Managers continue to get upset about penalties being given against them in matches with Rangers, although in each case there seems to be no dispute that the shirt has been pulled.
Whatever the merits of whether that should be a foul or not it surely seems obvious that if referees are prepared to penalise it in the box then it is clearly a risk to do it.
There may have been an argument that the Goldson instances against Hearts (2-1 win on 29 October) and Aberdeen (1-1 draw on 26 November) actually were soft, but the Sima one looked an obvious infringement when he got his head to the ball and may have otherwise scored, as Rough suggested.
The Senegalese forward powered another header home against Dundee but was unable to jump properly for the chance that won the penalty.
Clearly referees do need to be consistent, but even the knowledge that there is a risk that the decision could be given should probably be enough to stop players grabbing shirts.
The most recent example looked pretty clear even if not everyone is happy about it and came as Philippe Clement’s side roared back from an early deficit on a day where their own defence was also poor but the attackers got it right.
