For the second time in two seasons Andrew Dallas has disallowed a Celtic goal in the Glasgow Derby on the most dubious of grounds.
On both occasions it would have been the opening goal, the most important moment in any match. Especially a Derby fixture.
Andrew owes his entire refereeing career to his Dad who was sacked by the SFA in 2010. Shortly after the Papal visit to Scotland.
Willie Collum is also a product of the Lanarkshire Refereeing Association. Now the Head of Refereeing at the SFA, Collum makes all of the appointments for SPFL Premiership matches. He knows exactly what Andrew and Hugh Dallas are.
For seven matches this season UEFA install proper VAR facilities at Ibrox for their matches.
Afterwards the SFA replace them with their own watered down system which is mainly manual.
Fans are 99% in agreement with decisions in UEFA matches. In his last Celtic appearance Kyogo Furuhashi netted three times against YB Berne. No one has any issues with the evidence presented to justify disallowing each of those ‘goals’.
ANDREW DALLAS DECIDES
In domestic matches it is a very different matter.
There are no 3D graphics, you don’t get shown through the move with a still image produced at the point of contact.
There are margins of error in manual decisions. The VAR can decide whether he wants a goal to stand or disallow it.
Dallas gets to choose when the ball is passed forward by Luke McCowan.
Then he gets to decide exactly where Liam Scales is and also the last defender.
Dallas then projects those points to ground level and draws ‘parallel’ lines.
The evidence served up to Premier Sports yesterday was beyond a joke.
Rory Hamilton accepted it in full. Only Michael Stewart in the studio with Charlie Mulgrew and Scott Arfield questioned the evidence offered.
What we do know for certain is that this picture doesn’t show us anything.
Mad random lines. https://t.co/pX9ZQ3ZNJL— Lint (@Zeshankenzo) March 8, 2026
Pointless view.
Pointless angle.
Pointless lines.
Tells the viewer nothing, and essentially, the only point of releasing the picture is to show the viewer how the arrived at the correct decision.As well releasing a pic of Andrew Dallas with his thumbs up saying ‘trust us’ 👍 pic.twitter.com/k3mxIlCYos
— Lint (@Zeshankenzo) March 8, 2026
NO EVIDENCE TO DISALLOW
The evidence is underwhelming, inconclusive.
The image produced offers absolutely no explanation as to why the ‘goal’ by Maeda was disallowed.
Two random lines are inserted with no explanation.
Even with the Scottish version of VAR they should be able to produce an image in line with Scales. Closer to the six yard line than the 18 yard box.
There are a number of players between Scales and Maeda. No effort has been made to identify the last defender.
If that is the best evidence that VAR can come up with it should be binned. It is pointless.
In that case the on-field decision should stand.
Even using the cropping tool in windows you can see that these lines are not parallel and therefore shouldn’t be used to distinguish if someone is offside or not. Someone’s completely at it pic.twitter.com/8e3RRJ0lY2
— The Huddleboard (@huddleboard) September 2, 2024
September 2024, Kyogo nets what appears to be the opening goal of the Derby. Dallas on VAR disallows the goal with a highly dubious image to justify his decision.
The evidence presented to disallow that Kyogo goal was equally inconclusive.
Lines that weren’t parallel were produced. The line down from Nicolas Kuhn was projected slightly towards goal, the line from John Souttar went slightly in the opposite directions.
Those small margins make big differences.
Celtic were denied the opening goal. Fortunately they bounced back to win 3-0.
Quite clearly the VAR system in use in Scotland is pointless. Outcomes are decided by who is operating. Dallas and Greg Aitken have full time VAR jobs from the SFA, paid for by the clubs.
This season proper VAR has been in use at Hampden, Celtic Park, Ibrox and Pittodrie for UEFA matches.
There is no justification for allowing Andrew Dallas and others to decide the outcomes of football matches.
With the amount of cameras Sky Sports provide for their televised matches better coverage and outcomes can be reached.
Only Collum, the SFA and the clubs involved can force the issue.
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3 Comments
by Bhoy4life
As I have already stated earlier, they managed to show a straight line across the park inside the 18 yard box when demonstrating a Sevco decision AFTER this goal was disallowed, and a couple of times more later.
So why is the image so obtuse when it comes to Celtic?
But more to the point, why are professional Scottish football clubs and the SPL happy to accept this sub standard Fisher Price version of a system that is clearly not fit for purpose when there are other better versions out there?
Is it because it does offer ambiguity when required, cis f#%k all else makes sense.
If I were Celtic I’d be offering to pay the shortfall on the price of the better system as it will pay for itself inside half a dozen games.
Shite VAR, shite refs, shitebag chairmen, shitebag suits at the SPL.
Is it any wonder teams like Bodo Glimt make our game look like a joke.
by T Wolfe
Celtic Board pay for something to help the club?
by Bhoy4life
Aye, a should know better, sorry bout that. 🙂