Celtic left ‘surprised and disappointed’ as SFA panel throws out Yang appeal
Celtic say they have been left “surprised and extremely disappointed” after losing their appeal against the red card shown to winger Hyun-jun Yang during the 2-0 defeat by Hearts on Sunday.
Yang was dismissed by referee Don Robertson in the 17th minute of the Scottish Premiership match at Tynecastle Park after raising a high boot which appeared to catch Hearts defender Alex Cochrane in the face. The Korean was initially shown a yellow card which was upgraded to a red card following a VAR review requested by video assistant John Beaton.
The decision angered Celtic, who missed the chance to overtake Rangers at the top of the table, with the club writing to the Scottish FA to "raise serious concerns regarding the use of VAR and the decisions made within the match”.
Hearts were also awarded a controversial penalty for a handball offence given against Celtic’s Tomoki Iwata following a VAR review which allowed Jorge Grant to net the opener from the spot.
Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers accused the match officials of “incompetence” and claimed
Beaton’s VAR intervention on the red card was “incredible”.
However, at an SFA fast track tribunal yesterday, it was decided that Yang's sending off would stand, with the 21-year-old receiving a twomatch suspension for serious foul play which rules him out of the Scottish Cup quarter-final against Livingston on Saturday as well as the league encounter with St Johnstone the following weekend.
A Celtic spokesperson said: “We have received notification that the club's claim has been dismissed. Clearly we are surprised and extremely disappointed at this decision.” As a result of the ban being upheld, Celtic will have to pay a fee of £500. Rodgers could also find himself facing SFA disciplinary action as rules forbid criticism of match officials in such a way as to “indicate bias or incompetence”.
Kilmarnock have also lost their appeal against the red card shown to Lewis Mayo for bringing down Dundee forward Scott Tiffoney in the 2-2 draw at Dens Park on Saturday. Mayo – who was deemed to have denied a goal-scoring opportunity – will sit out Kilmarnock’s next league game against St Mirren but will be available for the Scottish Cup trip to Aberdeen on Saturday.
manager Derek Mcinnes lamented the way VAR is being used in Scottish football, claiming "the inconsistency of it all is driving us all mad".
A dramatic weekend in the cinch Premiership - featuring several late goals and rare defeats for title-chasing pair Rangers and Celtic - was overshadowed by the fallout from several contentious decisions by match officials.
Rangers, Celtic, Kilmarnock and Aberdeen were among the teams most upset by the way flashpoints in their matches were handled, sparking further fevered debate about the use of VAR in Scotland.
"It's not been a good weekend, I don't think," said Mcinnes yesterday.
"It's the inconsistency of it all. We've had some tackles this weekend that look way beyond what my player Corey Ndaba got sent off for [against Hibernian in January] when the referee was asked to come to the monitor.
"After the criteria I was told by the refereeing department, there were a lot of things that happened at the weekend where you're thinking 'well, why are there not more red cards?'
"The inconsistency of it all is driving us all mad, it really is.
"We need more consistency. You look at one incident, then you go 'oh, a few weeks ago there was a similar incident of handball or a challenge that wasn't deemed [worthy of ] the same punishment'.
"If we're going to try and deem handballs or challenges in a certain way we need to try and get consistency with that so there are parallels." Mcinnes was adamant Killie defender Lewis Mayo was wrongly sent off in Saturday's 2-2 draw at Dundee and was baffled that referee Colin Steven was not asked to review the incident on the pitchside monitor.
By contrast, he felt there was no need for VAR to intervene and suggest a possible red card for Celtic's Yang Hyunjun after the South Korean was initially booked by referee Don Robertson for catching Hearts' Alex Cochrane with a high boot.
Killie were on the receiving end of a similar decision last year when Kyle Vassell's yellow card for catching Hiberkilmarnock nian's Marijan Cabraja with a high challenge was contentiously upgraded to red following a VAR review.
Mcinnes feels VAR is too often intervening when it should not and not intervening when it should.
"I was shocked that our referee wasn't asked to come over and have a look at the sending off on Saturday," he said. "And if he sends him off after seeing it again, he feels a bit more comfortable with the whole thing, and fair enough.
"I actually think we've got VAR getting involved when they shouldn't and asking referees to come over and look at incidents when they shouldn't.
"The red card for Celtic [on Sunday], we had similar with Kyle Vassell at Easter Road last season. In these sort of situations, maybe they should stick with the on-field decisions a wee bit more.
"We're just kind of getting it back to front a wee bit at the minute. I don't think we're getting it anywhere near as right as we should do. I really don't.”