Euan Norris’ double penalty award in Rangers favour at Inverness yesterday puts an early spotlight onto officials with Terry Butcher almost certain to appeal against Ross Tokely’s ordering off.
Norris comes from the same Lanarkshire Refereeing Association that produced Willie Collum under the guidance of the disgraced Hugh Dallas.
With Dougie McDonald’s resignation last season Norris and others are getting pushed more into the spotlight- often without the experience required to handle the top fixtures that decide championships.
A look at Norris’ performances last season would suggest that the SFA should be monitoring his performances very closely.
A 4-0 win for Celtic would hardly be the starting point for assessing a poor refereeing performance but January’s convincing win over Hearts highlighted Norris at his worst.
Ian Black’s shocking off the ball lunge at Paddy McCourt is one strong memory from the night with the Hearts midfielder escaping with a only a booking.
At half-time Jim Jefferies substituted Rudi Skacel after apparently getting a warning from the linesman that the midfielder was likely to be sent off if he continued as he’d continued through the first half.
Celtic’s third goal scored by Anthony Stokes came after Hearts keeper Marian Kello had brought down Gary Hooper. Rather than award Celtic a penalty and send off the Hearts keeper Norris decided to play advantage.
Norris refereed three other Celtic matches last season including the 2-0 defeat at Motherwell in March when John Sutton scored twice, the second from a penalty.
Last season Norris refereed two Rangers games with Walter Smith’s winning both matches and scoring three penalties in the process.
Away to Kilmarnock in November Kenny Miller scored twice from the penalty spot in a 3-2 win for Rangers whilst in April Steven Whittaker took the honours from the penalty spot as Rangers edged past St Mirren 2-1.
Having awarded Rangers five penalties in three matches it’ll be interesting to see how long it takes the SFA to appoint him for another Rangers match.
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Are we all shocked yet? We have all been subjected to garbage lip service all close season. Nothing would change.
it won’t take long joe probably an away game as well,a difficult fixture most likely
In our 2-0 defeat at Motherwell he basically disregarded the rule book, how Ross Forbes stayed on the park that day is only down to one factor.
Euan Norris turned a blind eye to a catalogue of fouls that should have resulted in a sending off.
Tipping the wink tae Jeffries about Skacel is nothing short of scandalous.
Black stamps on top of Paddy McCourt a mellee ensues and the outcome is he books a Celtic player.
So 2 Pens in a 3-2 win and one pen in a 2-1 win and now 2 pens in a 2-0 win…. Look like Norris’ pens seems to have a deciding factor in rangers results.
Of course stats from last year show we got more penalties than any other team… But how many of these penalties changed the outcome of a match? 3 pens in a 9-0 win?? Etc
was that the fairy dust pen at ipox aganst st mirren when jelavic got a sprinkle and fell
As long as the same people operate behind the scenes in the SFA, we can get rid of as many Dougie and Dallas clones as we like but there will always be another to step in.
Norris’ statistics are no surprise, although I will say having just watched the huns highlights, they should’ve got the second hand ball shout in the first half and if you pause the naismith penalty at the right point you can see tokely catch the back of his leg before he touches the ball. Its a harsh one and god knows the wee rat can’t wait to hit the deck . The second penalty award was laughable though, what was the offense? Occupying space inside the penalty area?
I see Chelsea should have had a pen today but the ref just seen the game out. Rankers have a soft claim not given then the ref says aff made a c@nt of this then starts given Rankers everything.
How many times have they been pulled out a hole over the years?
You got to feel for the Strangers when in Europe they have to use the European officials. Then you see the difference an honest referee makes.
I think you have got the wrong end of the stick here, this video I put together using Rare and unseen footage shows that yesterdays 2nd penalty was clear cut.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rf2-4Tmh6Fc
Fantastic, LOL!!!
Terry, it was more than just Forbes that day, Lasley was at it as was the 3rd player in the midfield 5 who’s name escapes me. The 3 of them kicked us off the park that day and Forbes committed a ridiculous amount of fouls that day before he got booked although it has to be said they took it in shifts to put the boot in. All of this of course redressed the victory over Rangers the week before.
The second penalty yesterday was actually caused by the Rangers player lifting his leg up into the groin of the ICT player and then going down easier than Naismith.
ICT away is perfect for Norris to get as its usually a dodgy tie, watch for him getting another Rangers away match, probably after a midweek away European match…..
When he failed to make money from his Tin Pan Alley game and took up refereeing…I knew we were in
trouble.
Norris is a fud, a cheating b****rd of the highest order. his day will come