Scottish refs are amateurs ...it’s time to open door to best from ENGLAND
SAYS BRENDAN RODGERS
BRENDAN Rodgers believes our game should open its doors and embrace foreign referees — to ease the burden on the finite number of Scottish officials being asked to handle crunch matches.
The most compelling domestic season in a generation has been punctuated by a string of high-profile officiating errors.
Last month, at the behest of the SFA, referees and managers came together for a meeting in Perth to discuss the best way forward, with the introduction of VAR given across-the-board backing.
The Celtic manager is also an advocate of full-time officials, believing the number of correct decisions will inevitably increase if the funding could be found.
Believing there is simply too great a focus and responsibility on the handful of referees who are presently tasked with handling high-profile encounters, though, Rodgers also feels consideration should now be given to welcoming officials from other nations in order to take some of the heat off the existing pool.
‘Yes, and I’m not just saying for high-profile games,’ he replied when asked if he would welcome their introduction.
‘This is a fanatical football country, but there’s a really small pool of referees.
‘If something happens or they need help, there’s no way to do it. You can’t demote — as there’s no one there to do it.
‘There’s constant pressure on them. For me, it’s definitely something that has to be looked at. Open it up.
‘You want to attract more referees, so why close it to just here? Open it up and have the best referees who could come from England or Wales, or wherever.
‘Then you have a diverse group of referees. Okay, they might need help with expenses or whatever, if they are coming up from Swansea but it opens up the pool.
‘That will also help the local refs. It’s about constant education but it doesn’t shine the torch on the same referees all of the time.’
Within weeks of taking the Celtic job, Rodgers raised concerns about the safety of players being endangered by wild tackles not being deemed serious enough to merit a red card.
Speaking after Emilio Izaguirre was fortunate to escape serious injury, following a desperate challenge by Hibernian substitute Darnell Johnson during the midweek league match, the Parkhead boss claimed those fears were as real as ever.
‘Does player safety remain a concern? Yes,’ he added. ‘I said in my first year here that some of the sanctions here surprise me — it’s bitty.
‘I don’t tend to go after the referees in these situations. The poor guys refereeing the games are amateurs, with all due respect.
‘The spotlight is on them severely from a professional side. They are going to make mistakes and then the aftermath seems a bit complicated. That will continue.
‘We all love the aggression and the physicality of the competition. That’s great.
‘But if your game is going to improve, there always has to be a line. Too often, it’s lawless or whatever word you want to use.
‘You don’t want to get to a stage where anything goes.’
Celtic entertain St Johnstone in the Scottish Cup fifth round tomorrow, with a place in the history books awaiting them if they can progress without the need for a replay.
A victory will mean Rodgers’ men have won 24 straight domestic cup matches, a run which would surpass that set by Walter Smith’s Rangers between 1992 and 1994.
‘We didn’t know about this possibility until last week but it’s a consequence of the work and consistency of the team,’ said Rodgers.
‘People talk about (Celtic) playing St Johnstone again and it’s only human nature that you could become blasé about winning.
‘What we’ve always tried to train the players is that their attitude in every game is so important.
‘Excellence is not easy. It’s difficult. People who have been in my position will respect and understand that, at the big clubs, it is about winning and that’s a constant.
‘It’s a huge tribute to the players who have been involved in all the games since I’ve been here.’
Starting with a 5-0 win over Motherwell in the Betfred Cup in August 2016, Rodgers has never fielded a shadow side in any cup tie — in sharp contrast with the attitude of many of the major clubs in England.
‘The job when you are at Celtic is to win games, of course, but also to try to give something that the supporters will enjoy seeing,’ added Rodgers.
‘I grew up with the notion of the cup games and memories around that. It’s the legacy we want to create. Celtic is a winning club.
‘We’re expected to win, of course, the league and compete in every competition we are in. That is something that is important for us. The fans are used to cup finals and I wouldn’t swap the two days we’ve had in this competition.’
Izaguirre is a doubt for tomorrow but, together with a string of absentees, has a chance of facing Valencia in the first leg of their Europa League tie on Thursday.
‘Olivier (Ntcham) and Odsonne
(Edouard) are back training, and Kieran (Tierney) has returned to the group, which is good,’ revealed Rodgers.
‘Kieran looked good this morning but it’s about general fitness now. He has been out for quite a while, so it’s about time.
‘We will see about next week. I wouldn’t rule him in or out. Sunday might be a bit too close for him — but at least he’s out on the pitch.
‘James Forrest is back training as well, Dedryck (Boyata) came through (the midweek game) well and (Kristoffer) Ajer is available.
‘We are slowly getting them back.’
Vakoun Issouf Bayo (signed last month from Slovakian club Dunajská Streda) has been omitted from the squad for Europe but is likely to feature tomorrow, having had his debut from the bench against Hibs aborted due to the need to replace Izaguirre with Jonny Hayes.
‘He (Vakoun) was excited to get on but I could only cuddle him,’ said a smiling Rodgers.
‘It reminded me of a young lad, Gwion Edwards, who is now at Ipswich Town. In my last game at Swansea, we were playing Liverpool.
‘We were 1-0 up and he had done really well for the youths. I was trying to get him on for about five minutes but we were managing the game brilliantly and we were keeping the ball.
‘I was shouting at Leon Britton to kick the ball out but they were too programmed to keep it! Gwion was still standing there when the final whistle went!
‘I felt for him. Vakoun will get his time. He is training well but we had to put him through a mini pre-season because he hadn’t done much before he joined us.’