Former PGMOL chief slams Steven McLean’s ‘unfortunate’ Celtic red card

Former PGMOL chief Keith Hackett has questioned Steven McLean’s decision to send off Celtic defender Auston Trusty vs Hearts, insisting VAR had no justification to intervene.

Speaking to Football Insider, the ex-referee chief argued that McLean’s original yellow, which was then upgraded to a red card for the Celtic star, was correct and that the incident failed to meet the required criteria for denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity.

Instead, John Beaton, operating VAR, advised red card upgrade for Trusty to what he described as an incorrect dismissal — a decision that once again leaves Celtic fans asking how a “clear and obvious” threshold was ever met.

Keith Hackett tells John Beaton and Steven McLean why DOGSO did not justify Celtic red card

Keith Hackett worked as a former FIFA referee and was the head of PGMOL for years, so his knowledge of the rules of the game are simply not in doubt.

And here he lambasts the SFA officials and gives them a lesson on how DOGSO should have been applied in the red card incident.

Hackett told Football Insider, “The referee, Steven McLean’s original call of a yellow card was correct. It was not a clear and obvious error that allowed VAR to intervene.

“Sadly, when McLean went to the monitor, he came back and changed the colour of the card from yellow to red on the basis of the denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity.

“When you look at the criteria for DOGSO, one of the pieces that has to be fulfilled is the direction of play.

“In my opinion, the ball and play was clearly moving away from goal towards the right hand side.

“There were covering defenders also making a run directly towards the penalty area.

“So for me, the criteria is not fulfilled, and sadly, a player was dismissed incorrectly.”

It’s yet another VAR decision that has Celtic supporters scratching their heads and wondering what exactly is going on with the match officials.

Thankfully, Celtic are still within touching distance at the top of the Scottish Premiership table with 15 games left to play.