Rodgers can appeal one match touchline ban as he awaits Crawford Allan’s revenge

BBC Scotland are reporting that Brendan Rodgers has the right to appeal against his one match touchline ban which will see him watch Sunday’s match with Livingston from the stand.

The Irishman won’t be able to have contact with his players for an hour before kick-off or at half-time which leaves John Kennedy and Gavin Strachan in charge although there will be audio contact between the Celtic manager and his backroom staff during the match.

A two match suspension had been suggested but fearful of the consequences of banning Rodgers from the match at Ibrox the SFA suspended the second match until the end of the season with the Irishman being served with it if he ‘reoffends’.

Following a report in The Sun announcing the outcome of today’s appeal, shortly before 3pm today BBC Scotland reported:

Celtic’s Brendan Rodgers has been given a one-match touchline ban with another suspended, which means he will not miss the forthcoming Old Firm derby.

The Celtic manager complained of “incompetence” and “really poor officiating” in a 2-0 loss away to Hearts earlier this month.

Reviews led to Yang Hyun-jun’s yellow card being upgraded to red and Tomoki Iwata conceding a penalty.

Celtic later had their appeal against Yang’s dismissal rejected.

Rodgers has five days to decide whether to appeal against his own punishment.

Effectively Rodgers has until Saturday to put in an appeal, beyond then he will have served the most significant part of his punishment.

Suggestions that Celtic had prepared a ‘Desmond Dossier’ and would go in ‘all lawyered up’ seem to be wide of the mark with both parties getting a result that they can live with.

The issue now for Celtic is that with Crawford Allan in charge of appointments for the remainder of this season the outgoing Head of Refereeing can inflict his own punishment following today’s hearing.

John Beaton or Nick Walsh are expected to referee the April 7 clash at Ibrox with the SFA making their announcement on Tuesday morning.