Willie Collum has claimed that Joe Newell ducked to make contact with the boot of Ianis Hagi at Ibrox on Saturday.
The explanation revives the old phrase of putting the head on someone’s boot.
Hibs were pushing for an equaliser when the midfielder tussled for a ball just inside the penalty area. Struck by panic Hagi stretched full length to boot the ball at head height but the elite referee from Lanarkshire saw things differently.
In November 2018 the Ibrox club were fined £6,000 for a statement critical of Collum but he found himself without another game involving the Ibrox side until the final day of the 2018/19 season.
Saturday was Collum’s first appointment at Ibrox since September 2019, clearly he has high hopes of return trips although perhaps not as frequently as Douglas Ross who has had four weekend fixtures there since the start of this season.
Discussing Saturday’s penalty incident with The Sun, Newell said:
It is one of those that if it is on the halfway line it is a foul all day long. If it is a penalty I think the ref is a wee bit more nervous to give it, but I think it is a foul.
I have gone in to head it and I can’t actually tell you what has happened. I think he has booted the other side of the ball. So I don’t know if there is actual contact but if there is a high boot it is dangerous play — and it is a free-kick anywhere else on the pitch.
I spoke to the ref after it and said, ‘How is that not a thing?’ and he said I had ducked down. I don’t know — refs have a tough job but if it is on the halfway line, he probably gives it.
Anybody else this is a red/penalty! pic.twitter.com/Mn3K4czABy
— Michael (@weeseabee) December 26, 2020
Alan Muir will be on duty away to St Mirren on Wednesday with Bobby Madden trusted with the Glasgow derby.
