Allan McGregor savages Celtic vs Rangers ref and takes pop at Scottish officials

Allan McGregor let rip over the standard of refereeing in Scottish football as he questioned some of the decisions in the Scottish Cup final.

The Rangers legend made his punditry debut a year on from retiring as he appeared alongside former teammate Alan Hutton and Celtic heroes Neil Lennon and Scott Brown for Premier Sports. There were plenty of talking points of the guys to pore over, both at half-time and full-time.

It wasn’t the best out of outcomes for McGregor as his old club lost out but he wasn’t too impressed with the officiating either. The first subject of his ire was a foul on Cyriel Dessers by Liam Scales just outside the box which went unnoticed by referee Nick Walsh and his assistant.

Lennon went first and said: “Yeah, it’s a clear free-kick. He has pushed him in the back and taken him out at the legs. I don’t know why he hasn’t given that one against Liam Scales. I think he is fortunate to get away with that.”

McGregor chimed in : ‘It’s mind boggling. It doesn’t surprise me with the state of these referees to be fair…” Lennon joked: “Oh, he is on one now.” Undeterred McGregor went on: “Oh yeah, I’m on one. The linesman is about 15 yards away. He has got two hands on his back, what is he looking at? It doesn’t surprise me to be fair.”

The pair later discussed a challenge by Cameron Carter-Vickers on Cyriel Dessers. Leading on it again, Lenny said: “It’s a good block from O’Riley. It’s a good follow up from Carter-Vickers – it’s a really strong challenge, but it’s clean. There is no hint of a penalty there whatsoever. It’s a good reaction from Carter-Vickers, and Dessers goes over. It’s not a penalty, no way.”

McGregor disagreed: “I still think it’s a big naughty”, with Lennon replying: “There is no touch on the follow through…” McGregor added: ‘I get that. My wee pal in her room at Hampden once told me when I asked her if to endanger the opponent you need to actually touch the person, and she said no.”

At full-time, McGregor wasn’t convinced on the decision to disallow Abdallah Sima’s goal for a push by Nico Raskin and while he stopped short of saying it was an error, he strongly hinted it was soft.