GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - MAY 04: James Tavernier of Rangers FC speaks to Referee, Nick Walsh during the William Hill Premiership match between Rangers FC and Celtic FC at Ibrox Stadium on May 04, 2025 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
Nine minutes before half-time in the Glasgow Derby Celtic built a promising move down the left, it involved the fluent triangle of Greg Taylor, Daizen Maeda and Reo Hatate.
Advancing into the penalty and Mohamed Diomande spotted the danger and did what comes most naturally, he fouled his opponent.
With Maeda on the ball Taylor moved into the penalty box, Diomande grabs the upper right arm of the former Kilmarnock defender to knock him off balance, falling to the ground.
Nick Walsh had a clear view of the incident but opted against applying the Laws of the Game by awarding Celtic a penalty, he knew that Andrew Dallas on VAR wasn’t going to over-rule him.
Sky Sports didn’t replay the incident, it was never going to make the cut for BBC Sportscene for the dull analysis of Steven Naismith.
So lazy from the Rangers player.
Blatant pull and no attempt to get anywhere near the ball or match the run.
Taylor pulled back in the Rangers penalty area, no penalty given. pic.twitter.com/Ocawm7Bwu4
— Lint (@Zeshankenzo) May 5, 2025
Fortunately Lint on Twitter goes to the heart of incidents that legacy media won’t touch.
By replaying the incident and going in closer each time you can see the move development and the deliberate foul play of Diomande.
Walsh got into bother after sending the Ibrox midfielder off against Dundee United in January- a decision that was clearly on his mind throughout Sunday’s match.
Some bizarre decisions were awarded against Celtic, throughout the game Walsh was too close to the ball, effectively giving the home side an extra marking midfielder for Celtic to play around.
After his day off on Monday Walsh will be back at work on Tuesday working on the fitness and education needs of the next batch of Murray Park starlets.
Stick on penalty, ref right next to the incident, no var , why? Sky TV pretending it didn’t happen. ?
Sky TV pretending it didn’t happen because they HATE Celtic !
The only ‘consolation’ is knowing that all these dodgy match officials
will probably never be invited to a World Cup or Euros Finals ?
Diomande is a clugger…no more …no less..An outright clugger…Graeme Peeness would have rated him highly.
You see the thing is sevco players then go in do this in European games and are punished for it,and they wonder why,well there’s the answer there,they do in the league week in week out without punishment,then think it’s OK to do it in Europe,only they get punished for it.
Wonder if that will get covered in Uncle Tom Collum’s round-up…. Sutton’s commentary comment didn’t help either…’went down too easily’ I think he said. I was a clear foul regardless of how he fell. If that has been the other way…it would have been dissected to death from every available viewing angle and slo-mo. Instead absolutely nothing. Not even a question raised about why VAR didn’t review it.
Nothing New..
Thanks To our Years of Cowardly Custodian’s..
Walsh associate of the opposition
Dallas family association for decades.
Unthinkable Anywhere in the World.
Massive true Story out if there is any clever
Lawyers with strong set of balls.
Apparently Referee, Is Neutral person.. don’t laugh.
The only thing we know for sure is that if that pull had been done to a Sevco player the media would have been all over it for weeks. Their club would have issued a statement with the obligatory letter of complaint winging it’s way to the footballing authorities within minutes of the final whistle.
Diomande does nothing but foul players for 90 minutes he’s rotten to the core. Well protected by the lodge men on VAR and on the pitch.
Editor: He managed to get suspended twice during the Europa League due to bookings from those pesky UEFA appointed referees.