Ross Callachan can count himself lucky he got to stay on the pitch on Sunday after making two dangerous tackles in the space of four minutes.
Kevin Clancy should take a long hard look at himself if he believed Callachan’s initial challenge on captain Callum McGregor didn’t warrant a free kick never mind a yellow card. It could have easily need a red at the time.
Clancy allowing this tackle to stand gave Ross the confidence he needed to go do it again. Simply put, the referee has put players at risk by not punishing the County player at all the first time around.
A few minutes later Anthony Ralston got similar treatment and could have easily been injured.
Time and time again we see robust challenges like this go unpunished.
Celtic analysis on twitter made a very good point about referees in general in this country. There’s a willingness to let some of these aggressive tackles go unpunished and a sort of proudness that we allow this to happen.
In any other European league or in European competition there’s a good chance Ross is gone after the challenge on Cal Mac.
Players need to be protected. There are plenty of more players like Ross who try to level the playing field with thuggish behaviour. It can’t stand.
