After Hibs St Mirren call out the SFA over VAR mistakes as Michael Nicholson sits in silence

St Mirren have followed the example of Hibs by getting an apology from the SFA over a VAR error, this time from their match against Ross County on Tuesday night.

While those clubs push the SFA for explanations and share the detail with their supporters Michael Nicholson says nothing and does nothing as he enjoys the thrills of the SPFL Premiership title race. Some might describe it as levelling up.

Away to Ross County on Tuesday night Chris Graham missed a clear handball, incredibly, Greg Aitken, a full time VAR official also decided to miss the handball when his suggestion of a check on the VAR monitor would have got both officials off the hook.

At lunchtime on Thursday St Mirren stated:

St Mirren Football Club can confirm it has spoken to the Scottish Football Association’s Referee Department regarding the decision not to check for a penalty after a handball in Tuesday night’s draw with Ross County.

The club believes VAR made an error by not recommending an On-Field Review following a handball by a Ross County defender in the first-half.

Having been allowed to review the full VAR audio and footage it is clear there has been a mistake in the process. There was a quick VAR review that centred around a shirt pull on James Bolton in the box. We also believe this could have been a penalty but understand that is subjective. However, the handball was a factual event, and the Referee Department has agreed that this should have led to an On-Field Review.

While we welcome continued independent reviews aimed at making the process as robust as possible, and appreciate the openness and transparency from the Referee Department in reviewing this incident, we remain frustrated and disappointed that the correct process wasn’t followed on this occasion.

At Motherwell on Sunday Celtic were victims of a similar incident.

With the match level at 1-1 Yang Hyun-jun created some space, when he shot for goal Dan Casey raised his arm to deflect the shot. Willie Collum had a clear view of it, Gavin Duncan reviewed it on VAR and decided not to get involved.

Fortunately for Collum and Duncan they know that Nicholson is on mute, at the 2022 Celtic AGM he told shareholders to expect teething issues with the introduction of VAR. No timescale was offered.

Less than a fortnight ago Hibs raised a similar handball/VAR issue with the SFA. David Munro was the referee, David Dickinson was on VAR with the Edinburgh club denied a clear cut penalty.

Since becoming Celtic CEO in September 2022 Nicholson hasn’t said a word outside of his AGM obligations.

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