The fallout from Celtic’s Premier Sports Cup Final victory over Rangers is showing no signs of slowing down, with former Ibrox midfielder Derek Ferguson the latest to add fuel to the fire.
Ferguson’s exasperation over the now-infamous VAR decision has captured the mood among Rangers fans, as frustration morphs into a full-blown meltdown.
The controversy centres on a critical moment in extra time when Liam Scales appeared to foul Vaclav Cerny inside the box. Referee John Beaton awarded a free-kick just outside the area, but replays clearly showed the contact was on the line, warranting a penalty. VAR officials Alan Muir and Frank Connor failed to intervene, a decision that continues to haunt Rangers and dominate headlines five days on.
Appearing on the Open Goal podcast, Ferguson didn’t hold back, venting his frustration in a mixture of disbelief and scathing humour:
“That’s what VAR is there for!” Ferguson fumed. “The two of them are sitting at their screens. They should be looking at that right away. It’s a foul, it’s in the box, so it’s a penalty!”
“What were they [VAR] doing? Come on! It is not about shouting. If you look at John Beaton, you can see his point of view. He is unsure. That is what the VAR is there for.,
“Were they having a Christmas party and pulling each other’s crackers? What were they doing? It is quite embarrassing.”
🎥⚽️| RIGHT IN THE COUPON
VAR have admitted they got the penalty shout wrong between Celtic and Rangers, and Derek Ferguson isnt happy about it!
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Ferguson’s comments echo the sentiment across the blue half of Glasgow, where outrage over the decision has reached fever pitch. The Ibrox club have been relentless in demanding accountability from the Scottish Football Association, with new CEO Patrick Stewart holding talks with Willie Collum, the SFA’s Head of Refereeing.
Collum’s subsequent admission that the decision was “unacceptable” and that VAR officials were “not forensic enough” has done little to ease the tension. For many Rangers fans, this acknowledgment merely confirms their sense of injustice.
Rangers’ official statement described the error as “damaging for the credibility of Scottish football,” a sentiment that continues to resonate among the Ibrox fans.
On the other side, Celtic have remained steadfast in their belief that their cup triumph was deserved. Midfielder Paulo Bernardo summed up the team’s stance succinctly:
“We don’t focus on that decision. We just move forward now. We deserved to win.”
Despite the passage of time, Rangers’ meltdown shows no sign of subsiding. The incident has sparked a frenzy of debate across social media, podcasts, and punditry platforms, with many in the Rangers camp demanding systemic changes to VAR and officiating standards.
The continued focus on this single incident highlights the wider issues at play. For Rangers, the inability to move on is perhaps symptomatic of deeper frustrations: their inability to overcome Celtic in another high-stakes encounter and their lingering struggle to consistently match their rivals on the pitch.
As former Celtic manager Neil Lennon aptly noted:
“They [Rangers] will have to move on. They put in a great performance. They have closed the gap. There will be regrets about it. It’s done now and you have to use that as motivation.”
For Rangers, the focus must return to the pitch. While VAR errors are part and parcel of football, fixating on them risks overshadowing the need to improve performances and challenge Celtic’s dominance in a more sustainable way.
Meanwhile, for Celtic, the drama merely adds another layer of satisfaction to their triumph. The trophy is in the cabinet, the controversy is background noise, and Brendan Rodgers’ men march on.
Five days on, the meltdown continues. And from a Celtic perspective, that’s just fine.
