Referee Ross Hardie has been caught out coaching Tom Lawrence during the record breaking win over Ross County.
Phil Clement has been dining out on that victory but with the score at 2-0 and approaching the hour mark a very sinister incident took place with the Glasgow based referee at the centre.
As Tom Lawrence chased back to catch Connor Randall the VAR audio catches Hardie warning the midfielder not to tackle, it sounds like something you would hear a concerned fan shouting.
For added mateyness Hardie refers to the Welsh midfielder as Tom, clearly he is familiar with one set of players on the pitch.
Eleven passes and 35 seconds later Cyriel Dessers scores, a minute later Lawrence scored with the contest over at 4-0. In the Europa League Scottish referees won’t be involved with Clement’s side.
Willie Collum was sent out on a media charm offensive yesterday, standing firmly on transparency and accountability but a couple of dubious incidents have emerged.
With Gordon Duncan coaching Collum through questions on Super Scoreboard the serious questions about officials involved with the club they support and the frequency of predictable honest mistakes was kept off the airwaves.
Who the fk is the ref here?
Did he win a competition?
Is he actually shouting at Tom Lawrence not to tackle?
?That looks to me to be an attacking phase of play, I’m afraid. pic.twitter.com/p6TJ3ZsKxM
— Lint (@Zeshankenzo) September 11, 2024
Covering the issue The Sun reports:
Collum looked at an incident from Rangers’ 6-0 thrashing of Ross County back on 24 August.
It ultimately saw Cyriel Dessers score the Light Blues’ third of the game.
However, the clip begins some 50 seconds before the Gers No9 actually puts the ball in the net.
A few seconds into the clip, a Rangers attack breaks down with County getting the ball out of their box.
Connor Randall breaks away down the park with Gers midfielder Tom Lawrence bursting a gut to keep up with him.
And this is the bit of audio that’s caught fans’ attention.
As Lawrence closes in on Randall, referee Ross Hardie can be heard shouting: “Don’t tackle there Tom! Don’t tackle there Tom!”
The shout has left fans divided, with many accusing the whistler of ‘coaching’ Lawrence.
One bemused fan asked: “Why is the referee telling a player to not tackle an opponent in the middle of a game?”
A second added: “He’s shouting like it’s his coach. WTF?”
A third posted: “Is this common for referees to do? Seems really weird.”
Another commented: “A referee telling a player not to tackle? Something not right going on here.”
A fifth added: “Can someone explain to me why the referee is shouting to Tom Lawrence not to tackle during a game?”
Another comment read: “Why would a ref tell a player what to do….bizarre!”
While another fan said: “Clip here. No idea why the referee is saying this to Tom Lawrence. It’s not his job.”
Player is asking what’s the fk is going on.
Weirdly the ref tells him he ‘he played the ball through you’Player is possibly saying he didn’t get any of the ball, when throwing his hands up. https://t.co/zIj8vdFYga pic.twitter.com/Ch1gmuTMpp
— Lint (@Zeshankenzo) September 11, 2024
Very bizarre indeed and evidence of bias. He tells him not to tackle,which he does, and clearly fouls the player. The referee has a clear view of the incident, closest man to it on the park in fact. No foul given. The only way something will be done about this sadly is if Ross County make an issue of it. Surely they must, it’s blatant cheating against their club.
I thought that this was a joke, somebody must have dubbed that audio. If it really is the ref’s VAR mic recording then he should be fired immediately , as should Collum and the rest.
My question is why weren’t the SJ players doing their nut about it? Does this happen every time a smaller club faces the scum?
This is almost hunbelievable,almost. It’s actually despicable. Surely someone has to be held accountable for this. Fucking sitting here raging man
Yes, IF that audio is correct, then it is astonishing.
Having never played professional, I did play amateur level for 20+ years,
and in different countries.
I never experienced a referee communicating to me or my team mates whilst the
ball was in play. Never.
During stops in play, of course, plenty of chit chat – but not in-play.
If Collum doesn’t recognise this ‘Lawrence’ advice during play,
as unacceptable,
then it tells us all we need to know about Collum and his intentions
NOT to reform and improve match officiating standards?
This is the most blatant and shocking proof yet that the refs are playing for Sevco. I will have lost all respect for the Celtic board if they sit back and do nothing.
Not sure there’s much they can do about a Sevco v Ross County game Charlie…
But by fuck they sure as night follows day have had ample ample chances to do something about it over many decades and done the square root of fuck all tragically for us Celtic supporters !
I lost all respect for the Board years ago…and they will do nothing..
As for the Ref verbally coaching the Sevco player…this happens in Rugby where the ref will warn a player not to transgress the Rules…But in Football..???…That is a shocker.
Never seen anything like that …….but like Beaton and the Crown Bar…..
Nothing to see here Timmy….Move on.
TN – I was just about to make the same point about rugby referees, where they are ‘miked’ up and you can hear their live commentary on why they made their decision, and usually telling players not to transgress the rules. It’s not coaching it’s just letting players know what they can and can’t do.
Like many on here, I’ve never ever heard a live audio from a football referee, so not sure if this is normal practice, but if it was to become the norm, as in rugby then I would welcome it wholeheartedly. It has to be the way forward and would help fans understand the reasoning behind certain decisions. It would certainly make referees more accountable – if it were to happen. Not sure the referees would agree to it though.
Your point is well made HC…Hail hail.