GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - AUGUST 17: Referee Matthew MacDermid during a Premier Sports Cup last sixteen match between Rangers and St Johnstone at Hampden Park, on August 17, 2024, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Williamson/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Richard Foster has accused the SFA of lies over the goal scored by Cyriel Dessers against St Johnstone at Hampden on Saturday.
The defender played for both versions of Rangers and has been a coach with Motherwell since March 2023, joining Stuart Kettlewell in the dug-out for first team matches.
Matthew MacDermid awarded St Johnstone a free kick before Dessers put the ball into the net but before he could restart the match with a free kick he was told to pause for a VAR check by Greg Aitken.
Listening to Sportsound on Saturday Glasgow World reports:
An SFA statement to the BBC reads: “The whistle is blown after the goal is scored. The referee clearly communicates that he is going to award a foul after the goal is scored.”
That had Sportsound pundit Richard Foster branding the call as ‘lies’ while Premier Sports pundit Marvin Bartley can also see the grounds for controversy. He said: “Whether he says he blew the whistle after or he didn’t, the fact he puts his hands out and indicates a free-kick is given…sometimes as a player when you’re out there and it’s loud, you can’t hear the whistle.
After contacting Radio Scotland with a rushed explanation the focus is now on the SFA. Will Willie Collum come out and justify the actions of MacDermid and Aitken or bring in a new era of accountability with both men demoted?
Past experience would suggest that the SFA will remain silent and hope that attention moves on with only St Johnstone fans putting pressure on their Directors likely to upset matters.
In March 2023 the Motherwell website reported:
Richard Foster has been appointed head of coaching.
Joining the club and starting immediately, Foster will oversee coaches within our academy at all youth levels.
Alongside this, he will be coaching our Under 16s team and will be involved at Under 18s level. With Stuart Kettlewell’s role of lead development coach vacant, since he became first-team manager, Foster will be coaching the Under 18s until a replacement has been appointed.
Last season Brendan Rodgers was given a one match touchline ban for calling John Beaton incompetent after a match at Tynecastle, it remains to be seen if Levein and Foster are charged by the SFA.
The wee ref there showing it is a foul to the players before it hits the net.
Players all stopped hands in the air.
No clear and obvious error. pic.twitter.com/IrOB59MrnF— Lint (@Zeshankenzo) August 17, 2024
And your point iss caller,Groundhog Day all over again.
The same as last season and many seasons before that.
They will do jackshit about,you have a better chance of seeing Lord Lucan or a rocking horse doing a shite before the go against sevco.
Auld PISHY again in the daily sevco today running Celtic into the ground regarding having loadsamoney Harry Enfield style,but not parting with any of it,oh how we feel his pain and others that support sevco in the media.
Anyone else would think there is some sort of SPORTING ADVANTAGE going on there.
The MESS sevco find themselves in at this time and all this boring auld fart does with every article is ATTACK our club.
Collum could argue that as Dessers had the ball it represented an advantage to St Johnstone and that the referee was therefore perfectly entitled to allow play to proceed.
As the St. Johnstone man falls, the Referee is clearly seen putting the whistle to his lips, orientating his body away from goal and pointing up the field to indicate a foul.
So it is a foul, everybody knows.
Step up Greig Aitken, (Andrew Dallas, John “Cheatin’ Beaton, etc, etc.)