There has much been said about the tackle planted on Callum McGregor’s ankle by Andy Halliday in the 2-1 loss to Hearts at Tynecastle on Saturday night.
The referee, Bobby Madden, failed to produce what should have been a red card for a shocking challenge by the Hearts midfielder but Halliday, appearing on Clyde 1 Superscoreboard was unrepentant and although he said he was glad McGregor was ok to carry on, he couldn’t believe all the hype surrounding the challenge, “I mean listen, for me football is a contact sport.
“To be honest I was really shocked at the circus shall I say, around it and that the number of people who are really adamant it was a red card.
“I watched the replay and of course it doesn’t look great. But I know for myself, there was no malice or intent in going into the tackle.
“You know it doesn’t look great when you’re watching it on a slow motion replay and obviously catching Callum McGregor on the ankle.
“Obviously it goes without saying I’m glad that he could continue to play on in the game but there’s certainly no malice or intent for myself.”
No malice or intent. Since when does that matter when dealing with a clearly reckless challenge that Halliday had no control over?
Regardless whether there was no malice or intent, it was a straight red card and the panel danced around it and failed to address it which is strange seeing as every one of them called it a straight red all week.