THEY’RE OUT TO GET US
Gerrard claims referees have targeted Rangers for years
STEVEN GERRARD last night claimed Scotland’s under-fire referees have had it in for rangers for years. The Ibrox boss was denied a first league win after 19-year-old aberdeen substitute Bruce anderson claimed a dramatic equaliser in the 93rd minute of a 1-1 draw at Pittodrie yesterday. Insisting rangers proved themselves a better side than
their opponents, Gerrard rounded on referee Kevin Clancy for showing a red card to fiery striker Alfredo Morelos after just 12 minutes. Then he criticised the official for failing to punish Dominic Ball for the foul which led to James Tavernier opening the scoring with a penalty on the half hour. Claiming ‘the world was against us today’, Gerrard insisted the Ibrox side have been the victims of persistently poor decisions by referees over a lengthy period and said: ‘It’s not just today, it’s been happening for a while. ‘I believe it’s been happening for seasons. That’s my opinion, just my opinion. I’ve watched footage. Look, I don’t think we ever get anything to go for us. ‘Everything we have seen today is about Rangers. So someone should give me answers on that.’ Asked if he planned to raise the issue with the SFA, Gerrard shrugged: ‘It is what it is. I can’t control it if the issue is going to be ongoing. All I can do is give my opinion.’ Morelos was shown an early red card after kicking out following a barge by Dons defender Scott McKenna. ‘When you do stuff like that, when you react like that, you leave officials with decisions to make,’ acknowledged the Rangers boss. ‘So we will speak to him
about the part he has played in it. But we feel hard done by because we felt Alfredo was provoked twice with violent barges. ‘No way in the world was his kick out violent. So we didn’t think he deserved a red. ‘At the same time, with the penalty there was no attempt to play the ball. So it’s beyond me how a card can’t be shown for that. ‘The rules state that if you don’t make an attempt to play the ball, you should be punished. There was no punishment. ‘I had a chat with the ref. The assistant said he only saw one second out of the three (seconds) with the Alfredo incident, which I find hard to believe. ‘There are always emotions straight after the game. We have a long journey back to reflect and decide on it. ‘It seems like the world is against us. But we’ll make sure we get better for that. ‘We’ll make sure we play better and try and put results to bed because it looks like some more decisions will go against us as the season goes on.’ Gerrard, who approached the officials for an explanation after the game, was asked if opponents were targeting the Colombian in a quest to have him sent off. ‘Possibly. So he needs to learn and be ready for that,’ he said. ‘I can’t prove that’s the case but two violent barges by McKenna, it seems people are out to wind him up.’ Opposite number Derek McInnes, however, insisted Morelos brought the red card on himself, saying: ‘If you lift your feet and go to kick out and lash out, the laws of the game don’t say how hard the kick is. He clearly kicked.’ McInnes also dismissed claims Ball could have seen red for the foul on Josh Windass which led to the Rangers penalty. ‘I don’t think so. I don’t know what exactly the rules are now with that,’ he said. ‘It doesn’t take a lot for Windass to go down a lot of times anyway but my staff have looked at it and they thought it was a penalty. I don’t know if it’s a red card. ‘I’m disappointed with a lot of the decisions at times today.’ Gerrard was delighted with his team’s display after they restricted the hosts to scraps despite being a man down. ‘I thought we were better than Aberdeen with 11 men and better than them with ten men,’ he said. ‘We looked like the team with all the ideas, we looked like we wanted to play the game the right way. ‘I’ve got nothing bad to say about any of my players. I’m absolutely delighted with them.’ Sportsmail understands Bournemouth’s Jack Simpson will become Gerrard’s eleventh signing of the season this week, with the 20-year-old left-sided defender poised to sign a season-long loan deal.