Despite Ange’s plea Celtic again count the cost of Don Robertson’s leniency

Ange Postecoglou has gone out of his way not to criticise referees since he took charge of Celtic. 

There has been a number of incidents where fans have been screaming out to hear from their manager such John Beaton’s decision against Dundee United to disallow what seemed to be a perfectly good goal from Daizen Maeda. 

Postecoglou resisted the chance to criticise the referee but there has been one exception to that approach with match officials. 

Back in January Don Robertson was in charge of the Scottish Cup tie at Alloa. It was a brutal display by the homeside matched by the referee as Callum McGregor and Yosuke Guchi were taken off badly injured. There could have been more with Robertson reluctant to discipline the League One defenders. 

Alloa midfielder Mouhamed Niang had his yellow card upgraded to a red but that was no consolation to Guchi as he contemplated a lengthy absence soon after arriving at a new club. 

Reflecting on the bruising Scottish Cup tie at Alloa Postecoglou told the Daily Record: 

We had a player who had a serious injury, there’s a couple of others who were lucky to escape from that and that is why I was disappointed with the way the night panned out. 

I don’t question referee’s decisions. I’ve never used them as an excuse but, in terms of protection of players, that’s where referees have to be vigilant, because we’re told they will be at the start of every season. 

I’ve managed in different countries, I’ve managed in World Cups, and there are certain rules that have changed along the way in my 25 years of management. 

But the one consistent factor is that we’re always shown this vision of actions they deem to be premeditated or reckless. 

It doesn’t have to be premeditated, it can just be a challenge that is reckless, and anything that endangers a player on the field should be dealt with. I was disappointed it wasn’t dealt with the other night 

Today Robertson was back in charge of a Celtic fixture, clearly he hasn’t improved since the Alloa match or a similar display in December against Dundee United when the SFA had to step in and retrospectively red card Calum Butcher. 

Having missed a very clear Celtic penalty claim for handball Robertson lost the place midway the first half. 

Ross Callachan was first to benefit when he was given a lengthy talking to for a foul on Rogic but no card was produced. Soon after Kayne Ramsey delivered an equally bad foul on Daizen Maeda, a free kick was given but there was no card or even discussion with the defender. That decision could have be a costly one for Rogic, and Australia. 

Had Callachan and Ramsey been booked for their earlier fouls Robertson would have sent out a different message. Ramsey pushed his luck too far, picked yo a red card with Rogic waiting to find out the extent of his injury.