Rangers CEO Patrick Stewart asks Scottish FA for explanation over non-penalty after Celtic League Cup final loss

New Rangers CEO Patrick Stewart has asked the Scottish FA for an explanation over the non-award of a penalty in Sunday’s League Cup final defeat to Celtic, Sky Sports News understands.

The Ibrox club wanted a spot-kick awarded when Liam Scales brought down Vaclav Cerny, with referee John Beaton awarding a free-kick just outside the box, while video assistant Alan Muir agreed with the on-field call.

Gers boss Philippe Clement said he had received “hundreds of messages” about the incident, suggesting the foul was on the line of the box and should have been a penalty.

The incident is expected to be analysed on the Scottish FA’s monthly VAR Review Show – featuring head of refereeing Willie Collum – with the show being filmed this week.

The Scottish FA also publish a weekly assessment of key match incidents (KMI) occurring in games where VAR is operational. The review panel vote to determine if on-field decision and any subsequent VAR intervention were correct.

Each KMI panel consists of five members: three independent members with established careers within Scottish football – such as coaches, former players and members of the Scottish football media – one representative from the Scottish FA and one representative from SPFL clubs.

Scales: I thought Cerny foul was outside box

Celtic defender Liam Scales, who was involved in the incident, speaking after the match at Hampden Park:

“I thought it was outside the box. I haven’t watched it back so I can’t really tell you if it was in or out.

“But at the time I thought it was outside. There were no complaints at the time so I think we just got on on with the game. So, yeah, I’m sure they looked at it upstairs.”

Clement got ‘hundreds’ of messages about foul

Rangers boss Philippe Clement after the defeat to Celtic:

“I don’t know if you saw the images back, but my phone is overloaded with the penalty situation with Cerny. I get hundreds of messages now about that. That’s also a really decisive moment in the game.

“Of course, he (the referee) cannot see that moment. But he didn’t get the communication from the VAR to come to watch the screen, which for me is a really weird situation. At least there’s no look about that kind of situation in this kind of game, about the situation that the referee can make a decision in that way.

“I didn’t see it at the time because I still have quite good eyes, but I cannot see that much distance if the foot is outside or inside or on the line.

“So no, but my phone is full of messages from everybody. I don’t know. So those are things I cannot control.

“I know all of [the media] like to dive deep into things so maybe it’s an important moment to dig into that. About why there’s no communication in the moment about a big decision like that because it’s clear for everybody that it’s a game-deciding decision.”