They’ve got 12 men on the pitch that is illegal- Nick Montgomery discovers life at Ibrox

Nick Montgomery got a crash course of the peculiarities of Scottish football today as he visited Ibrox as the first time as a manager.

Hibs were abysmal, wide open and toothless from start to finish, putting up the sort of resistance that you expect from David Martindale when he takes Livingston to Ibrox.

One incident gave the former Central Coast Mariners boss a glimpse of how Scottish football works with Don Robertson too awe-struck to punish Philippe Clement for running onto the pitch in is first game in charge after the sacking of Micky Beale.

??’Away at Ibrox you don’t expect any favours but that’s not within the laws of the game’

Hibernian manager Nick Montgomery feels his side were on the end of some harsh refereeing calls in their defeat to Rangers ??#BBCFootball pic.twitter.com/G4guIqAIN3

— BBC Sport Scotland (@BBCSportScot) October 21, 2023

Everyone can see that the ball had not gone out. I was standing on the line.

Derek McInnes was sent off a couple of weeks ago when the ball actually had gone out and he stepped on the pitch, so you want consistency in everything.

I felt today when that happened, it’s an incident where I don’t think I’d ever step on the pitch to control the ball.

And if he had any doubt, there’s no way he steps on the pitch but from where I was the ball didn’t go out, the fourth official didn’t think it went out and then when that happens, you probably think it’s not gonna be your day. At that point, they’ve got 12 men on the pitch and that’s illegal.

That’s not why we lost the game but I thought when that incident happened I was confused as to why it was allowed to happen.

The worst thing about it was they got the throw in, and at Ibrox you don’t expect any favours but that’s not within the laws of the game so that was disappointing.