The Foundation of Hearts has called for referees to give Derek McInnes’ team ‘the fair opportunity it has earned’ in Saturday’s title decider at Celtic Park in the wake of a string of recent decisions going against them.
The body, which owns the Tynecastle club, spoke out amid growing anger from supporters at big calls potentially derailing their bid to become champions for the first time since 1960.
Last Saturday, Hearts were aggrieved at having two penalty claims turned down in the 1-1 draw at Motherwell.
They felt Emmanuel Longelo’s handball was ignored before Tawanda Maswanhise’s stamp on Alexandros Kyziridis’ foot also went unpunished – despite referee Steven McLean visiting a VAR touchline monitor to review the incident.
Manager McInnes phoned head of refereeing Willie Collum to outlay his concerns and was ‘satisfied’ he ‘was in agreement’ with him.
Sam Nicholson was penalised for handball in Celtic’s dramatic late win over Motherwell
During Sunday’s 3-1 home win for Celtic over Rangers, the home side’s Alistair Johnston was booked for a challenge on Mikey Moore, which many observers felt was deserving of a red card.
With Hearts beating Falkirk 3-0 on Wednesday and Martin O’Neill’s men level going into injury time at Motherwell, Celtic needed a three-nil margin of victory on Saturday to win the title.
But with Sam Nicholson’s handball flagged up by VAR Andrew Dallas, referee John Beaton awarded a penalty which Kelechi Iheanacho converted to mean Celtic only now need to win Saturday’s decided by a goal.
The decision was roundly criticised by former officials and ex-players with McInnes labelling it ‘disgusting’.
Now the fan-led FoH group, which owns the Gorgie club on behalf of nearly 10,000 members, has issued a statement to convey their dismay following events across the past week.
‘All of us at the Foundation of Hearts congratulate our magnificent team and manager, Derek McInnes, on their outstanding achievements in this momentous season, and urge all Heart of Midlothian supporters to get right behind them for Saturday’s final game of the campaign,’ read the statement from chairman Gerry Mallon.
‘We have, however, been extremely concerned by a number of refereeing and VAR decisions across the last two rounds of fixtures, which have had a significant impact on outcomes for Hearts and others.
‘That this has occurred at such a crucial stage of the season is particularly disappointing. We understand that the club shares these concerns and has made representations to the football authorities seeking clarification on recent decisions.’
Don Robertson will referee Hearts’ title decider against Celtic on Saturday
It continued: ‘At a time when Scottish football is subject to heightened scrutiny, both nationally and internationally, it is important that confidence in officiating standards is maintained.
‘We therefore call on those responsible for the officiating of Saturday’s match to ensure that the highest standards of decision-making are applied, so that the game is decided by the players on the pitch and the team is given the fair opportunity it has earned.”
It’s been confirmed that the referee for Saturday’s match is Don Robertson with Kevin Clancy on VAR.
The incident with Nicholson sparked a furious debate. Sky Sports’ studio panel – Kris Boyd, Paul Hartley and John Robertson – were all adamant that that the ball struck the Motherwell player on the head, but there are still images which appear to confirm a handball.
But former referee Bobby Madden said that the fact the Motherwell player was being challenged by Auston Trusty means he simply shouldn’t have been penalised.
Asked if it should have been a spot kick, he told BBC Radio Scotland: ‘In my opinion, no.
‘We’ve spoken about handball for a number of years and various sets of criteria and laws of the guidance that is issued.
‘In this instance, people will say that the arm is above the shoulder and out from the body. But it is not out from the body.
‘But if it does not strike the player’s hand it is going to strike the player’s head.
‘I think the arm is up because of the contact that comes from the Celtic player.
‘So that is the impact from me which means, no matter if it hits his hand or not, it should not be a penalty kick.’
Referee John Beaton points to the spot afte studying the VAR handball claim
Madden reckons the biggest complaint is that Dallas didn’t have clear evidence to overturn the on-field decision.
He pointed to some other recent handball decisions and guidance apparently handed out to clubs by Collum.
Asked if VAR had enough to intervene, he said: “No, and I think that’s the biggest complaint that most people will have. It’s this ‘clear and obvious error’.
‘There is nothing clear about this for me and that is why we have to support the referee’s on-field decision.’
Another former official, Steve Conroy, concurred with Madden’s view that no penalty should have been awarded.
‘No,’ he said. ‘VAR, the whole point of it is to prove absolutely that a clear and obvious error was made,’ he said.
‘You slow that ball down as much as you can last night and apart from the fact you can’t prove it hit his hand there is absolutely no deviation on the path of the ball.
‘Pretty much, IFAB tried to get really clever and come up with lots of complicated rules for a simple game. They initially talked about the silhouette of the body.
‘If you looked at the silhouette of that, exactly as Bobby said, if you moved his hand away that ball was hitting his face.
‘He wasn’t making himself bigger and I agree with why his hand was there in the first place.
‘Any defender needs to jump to clear a ball and if you are jumping you are using your arms. Your arms can’t be by your side.
‘If his arms were 90 degrees away from his body and they hit it, then absolutely it’s a penalty.
‘There is nothing more unnatural than someone jumping with their arms by their side.’
