OUESTION TIME

Rangers hit out at BBC for coverage of club and Morelos And SFA are also in firing line over disciplinary process

RANGERS managing director Stewart Robertson last night took aim at BBC Scotland, accusing the corporation of treating them differently from other clubs and ‘vilifying’ striker Alfredo Morelos.

In a lengthy interview on the club website calling for changes to the SFA’s disciplinary system, the Ibrox chief also voiced concern over compliance officer Clare Whyte potentially being influenced by ‘Trial by Sportscene’.

Rangers and the BBC have been in dispute since 2015, with the corporation refusing to send staff to Ibrox after the club banned one of their reporters.

Robertson (right) claimed the BBC have recently confirmed to the club that they treat Rangers differently to the rest of the Premiership.

Citing the treatment of Morelos after a series of flashpoints in the last Old Firm clash, and an unsavoury picture of midfielder Ryan Jack that drew an official apology from the BBC, he wondered if the club is being punished due to the broadcaster’s coverage of Rangers.

Robertson said: ‘The BBC recently asked to come to Ibrox, but only to cover the matches. They would not be interviewing our manager and our players.

‘Now, if they are treating us differently in that respect, are there other areas where they are also treating Rangers differently in terms of the incidents which we are seeing being highlighted at the weekend?

‘You only have to look at the

Alfredo Morelos incident in the Old Firm game, where they seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time examining Alfredo’s actions, but at no time at all did they look at any other actions from that game with the same scrutiny.

‘Morelos was then effectively vilified for three weeks on various BBC platforms.

‘We had the Ryan Jack incident where we had a banner showing the decapitated head of Ryan used as an image for a discussion on ticketing, I think.

‘So we have had various incidents with the BBC and it just doesn’t seem to be getting any better with them.

‘They have actually written to us and told us they are treating us differently from other clubs in the Premiership.

‘It is important the compliance officer isn’t influenced unduly by

Sportscene given that background. ‘It feels as though the incidents, which are being highlighted on the television at the weekend, are the incidents which are being picked up by the compliance officer on a Monday.

‘I’ve heard the expression “Trial by

Sportscene” and that really seems to be the way it is going.

‘Now, we understand complaints come in from all sorts of avenues but the correlation between what is shown on television at the weekend and what is then being reviewed on a Monday and the notice of complaints which then appear is very high.

‘All we ever want from the BBC is to be treated fairly, in a balanced way and in an accurate way.’

Last night, a BBC Scotland spokesperson responded, saying: ‘The central part of this dispute is that Rangers is continuing to operate an exceptional ban of one of our journalists. We have offered to return to Ibrox to provide commentary, as per our contracted rights, while we try to find a permanent solution to the overall dispute, but Rangers have said this is unacceptable.

‘Our coverage, including analysis and comment, is editorially fair. We will continue to speak to both Rangers and the SPFL about the situation as we believe it’s in the best interest of our audiences to restore the ability to bring commentaries from all SPFL grounds.’

Rangers have also been unhappy with the SFA’s judicial process this season, most recently when goalkeeper Allan McGregor was given a two-match retrospective ban for a challenge on Aberdeen’s Lewis Ferguson.

That saw the club renew their call for the Scottish FA’s ‘flawed’ disciplinary system to be urgently overhauled.

Now Robertson has accused compliance officer Whyte of re-refereeing matches and called on the system to revert back to the way it worked under her predecessors.

He said: ‘If you go back to last season and previous seasons, it was only incidents of violent conduct or off-the-ball incidents the referees didn’t see that would be reconsidered.

‘What we are now getting ourselves into is a situation where many more incidents are being looked at and we are effectively re-refereeing games.

‘That is placing intolerable pressures on the referees, which is then placing pressures on the compliance system and the disciplinary system.

‘Do we feel this has altered since the new compliance officer was recruited? There is no doubt.

‘Clare came in at the start of this season and there is no doubt things have been dealt with differently this year. ‘Some of the incidents which have been reviewed this year wouldn’t have been reviewed last year. That is leading to the confusion — there is much more inconsistency and it definitely feels as if we are re-refereeing games.

‘We feel we should now be looking to go back to what the system was previously where it was violent conduct and off-theball incidents that should be reviewed only.

‘That way, you are not going back to every incident and re-refereeing and examining it in minute detail.

‘You’re not having television pundits effectively setting the agenda of what should be reviewed on a Monday morning.’

The Ibrox managing director also threw his weight behind the introduction of Video Assistant Referees (VAR) in Scottish football.

‘I also think we need to look at VAR,’ he added. ‘It is the direction of travel in football and we need to be looking at it seriously to give the referees all the assistance we can.

‘I heard a stat the other day it takes decisions from 93 per cent accurate to 98 per cent accurate.

‘We are not going to get 100 per cent accuracy, but it is going to help and, if we have tools and technology which can help us, let’s use them and let’s take the pressure off the referees. That in itself will help them to referee the games better.’

The SFA declined to comment.