Kenny Macintyre has been exposed for his role in the SFA’s VAR cover up.
Now in place as the anchorman for Sportsound with the state broadcaster, his lack of ability and contacts outside of Ibrox makes him an easy target for misinformation.
On March 2 Macintyre was in the depths of despair as Motherwell won 2-1 at Ibrox but the following day the combination of John Beaton and Don Robertson reduced the damage with Celtic losing 2-0 at Tynecastle.
After that match Brendan Rodgers described Beaton as incompetent in his VAR role, an issue that the media were all over with Rodgers in the spotlight rather than the man from the Crown Bar in Bellshill and his accomplice, Robertson.
Muddying the waters and circling the wagons are essential tactics when it comes to defending the secretive Refereeing Department of the SFA, in that context Macintyre and BBC Scotland can be relied on to be staunchly on message.
On Wednesday the SFA admitted that two mistakes were made in Celtic’s defeat at Tynecastle but on March 30, after Rodgers was given a one match touchline ban, The Sun reported:
Previewing his Sportsound show on BBC Off the Ball, host Kenny MacIntrye revealed that he had been informed that Beaton was applauded for his performance on VAR.
On a day full of controversial decisions, Don Robertson awarded a disputed penalty for Celtic for a coming together between Yang and Alex Cochrane.
On the advice of Beaton, he then upgraded a yellow card against Yang for a high foot on the same player to a red.
Beaton then directed match official Robertson to VAR as the referee agreed that Tomoki Iwata was guilty of a handball which led to a Hearts penalty against Celtic.
Asked about how VAR and the inconsistency of it’s implementation was affecting the Scottish game, MacIntyre said: “Unfortunately it is affecting some big calls.
“For example, in the game you are talking about, at Tynecastle, the one that Brendan Rodgers was hauled in front of the disciplinary board for, I am told that the VAR that day got full marks for his decisions.”
The benefit of spinning to someone like Macintyre is that he isn’t going to question what he has been told and will loyally parrot out the required message without any follow up questions.
Radio Scotland will be providing coverage of the SPFL from 2pm on Saturday, two months on from the incompetence at Tynecastle that match is unlikely to be one that Macintyre revisits.
Since his mistakes at Tynecastle Robertson has refereed Celtic against Livingston and Aberdeen with Beaton in charge for the matches at Ibrox and Dens Park, in neither game has Celtic’s opponents received a yellow card.
Back in December 2021 after Kris Boyd and Robbie Neilson got upset over a goal scored by Kyogo against Hearts, Crawford Allan broke into a holiday to appear on BBC Scotland to claim that the Celtic striker was probably offside.
With True Blue Macintyre hosting Sportsound listeners know exactly what message is being pushed on them when he gives it ‘I understand’ or ‘I’ve been told’.
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John Beaton got ‘FULL MARKS for his Hearts vs Celtic VAR display, claims BBC host
— Scottish Sun Sport (@scotsunsport) March 30, 2024
