Better defensive talents that Maldini, Moore, Beckenbaur and Miller- Evening Express rekindle the ‘remarkable’ Ibrox penalty run

The Aberdeen Evening Express (Press & Journal) has followed up on Richard Gordon’s brilliant summary of the bias shown by referees in SPFL matches to the club from Ibrox.

At that time the run was at 68 since Kevin Clancy awarded a penalty against Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side in January 2022. Unless there is an incredible shock, tonight Alan Muir will take that tally to 72 with Steven Kirkland on VAR duty in case there are any slip ups.

BBC Scotland, who employ Gordon as the presenter of Sunday Sportsound haven’t gone near the subject despite their massive resources, broadcasting hours and internet content dedicated to football.

Graham Spiers briefly picked up on the issue for his podcast but decided against taking the issue onto the pages of The Times (London) while the Daily Record touched on it 10 days after publication as they passed the time online.

Since Gordon’s article was published Don Robertson and Andrew Dallas have ignored two very strong penalty claims in the final of the League Cup with Viaplay Sport barely covering the claim during their Hampden coverage.

Giving fresh legs to the issue, Sean Wallace of the Evening Express writes:

Yet again an Aberdeen clash against Rangers ended with a controversial injury time penalty decision going the way of the Ibrox club.

An injury time challenge on Duk was one of two strong Aberdeen penalty shouts rejected in the 1-0 Viaplay Cup final loss to Rangers at Hampden.

Should anyone be surprised?

Penalties against Rangers, particularly in the Premiership, appear as regularly as Halley’s Comet.

It’s an elephant in the room of Scottish football which needs to be addressed.

Rangers have not conceded a penalty in the league since VAR was introduced in Scotland on October 21 last year.

Granted an 81st minute penalty was awarded against Rangers in their 3-1  Viaplay Cup semi-final defeat of Hearts last month, but the Ibrox club were already 3-0 up when Lawrence Shankland converted the spot-kick.

Rangers have now gone an astonishing 71 matches in the Premiership without conceding a penalty.

This lack of penalties in the Premiership is an anomaly which will leaves the Scottish game open to accusations of bias.

It suggests there has not been a single foul committed by a Rangers player in their own box in 71 league matches, or 6,390 minutes of action.

Wow! Rangers’ current crop of defenders must be blessed with the collective defensive talents of Paolo Maldini, Franz Beckenbauer, Bobby Moore and Willie Miller.

Oddly, their defensive prowess hasn’t extended to Europe, with the Gers conceding four penalties in 20 European matches since last facing a Scottish top-flight spot-kick.

The last time Rangers faced a Premiership penalty was January 18, 2022, when Lewis Ferguson converted for Aberdeen from the spot in a 1-1 draw.

Aberdeen Chairman Dave Cormack and CEO Alan Burrows like to reflect on issues through Twitter, picking up on concerns from supporters but have body-swerved the issues from Hampden on Sunday.