The club from Ibrox are allegedly going to war with the SFA over a Notice of Complaint regarding comments from Steven Gerrard.
After beating Dundee United 4-0 on September 12 the Ibrox boss was asked for his views on a challenge that led to Alfredo Morelos being stretchered off. Five days later the Colombian was back playing after recovering from a sore knee.
Trying his best to act like Jose Mourinho or Alex Ferguson Gerrard questioned what action would have been taken if Morelos had been the aggressor.
That comment falls foul of Rule 72 which forbids any player or official of a club from indicating bias or incompetence in a match official.
Responding to the charge, the club website states:
RANGERS are bemused that a notice of complaint has been raised against Steven Gerrard, for comments relating to the challenge which caused injury to Alfredo Morelos. This is a bizarre charge which we will robustly contest at the scheduled hearing.
As is often the case, Steven Gerrard was asked for his view on a flashpoint in the match, with leading questions relating to the challenge that caused the injury and whether it should have been deemed a red card. On several occasions, he refused to do so.
Given the wide range of incidents in Scottish football so far this season, we are perplexed that this issue has been raised and cited for complaint. Whilst our national sport faces an unprecedented crisis, it is baffling that resources are used to charge Rangers’ Manager based on a flawed and inaccurate interpretation of Steven Gerrard’s remarks.
Rangers will fully support its Manager against this charge during the scheduled hearing.
In Gerrard’s first season in charge a nameless club statement claimed that Willie Collum had underlying issues refereeing their matches. The club was fined £6,000 for the comment but went six months before having Collum in charge for the final match of the season, a 2-1 defeat at Kilmarnock.
