Celtic official responds to clarification call over Hearts goal VAR call
John Paul Taylor has responded to a tweet from a fan asking about the validity of the goal scored by Hearts in last night’s match.
Instantly the assistant referee on the North Stand side of the stadium flagged for offside, after around 90 seconds reviewing the incident Nick Walsh informed Alan Muir that Josh Ginnelly was onside- either in line with or behind Carl Starfelt.
It was a very close call, viewers to Celtic TV and Hearts TV were shown a still image with a thick blue and thick green line which did little to clarify the decision.
While other competitions have access to Hawkeye technology all that the SFA have released is a long distance picture, there is no zooming in on the two players involved or illustration of how the two lines are drawn.
Taylor is the Celtic SLO, effectively the only visible link to supporters with CEO Michael Nicholson taking a very low profile role with his voice only heard at the AGM, refusing to be interviewed by in-house media options.
Will let you know if anyone informs us Terry
— Celtic FC SLO (@CelticFCSLO) March 9, 2023
Should Celtic demand full publication and explanations for VAR decisions
With Starfelt’s mainly white kit and Ginnelly in a darker ‘Inter Milan’ style kit the image released appears to show the Hearts forward visible behind the Celtic defender.
Since introducing VAR the SFA appear to have become additionally secretive, only one technical error has been admitted- when Jota’s ‘goal’ at Motherwell was disallowed by VAR in November.