Former Celtic hero’s bizarre change of mind over Taylor ‘handball’
Soccer Football - Champions League - Group H - Celtic v Real Madrid - Celtic Park, Glasgow, Scotland, Britain - September 6, 2022 General view inside the stadium before the match REUTERS/Russell Cheyne
I’m nailing my colours firmly to the mast on this one.
The penalty that St Mirren got on Sunday was never a penalty. Never in a month of, well, Sundays.
For too long Celtic have been victims of this crazy VAR handball rule where Bernabei and O’Riley have both been penalised for supposed handballs.
Both of which were so close to the players body that they could not do anything to get out of the way of the ball.
And the same happened with Greg Taylor against St Mirren yesterday.
When you look at the footage below, Taylor is not even looking at the ball when the St Mirren player plays it off his arm.
But it was former Celtic star Peter Grant’s take on the penalty, and his subsequent change of mind that really caught my ear.
Grant said on the live BBC commentary when the penalty was awarded, “It’s interesting to see what he was going to give here because it was so close and sometimes they say if they are that close then they don’t give the penalty kick.
“But he’s decided to give it because Greg’s hand’s, more for balance than anything else, he’s (the St Mirren player) flicked it over, he’s tried to flick it over his head.
“It’s definitely hit his arm. Whether it’s a penalty kick, I’m not sure because usually when it’s as close as that they usually say no.”
Here is the footage of the penalty:
St Mirren penalty v Celtic for handball.
St Mirren player sending off. pic.twitter.com/TWBZFWEaum— Lint (@Zeshankenzo) March 5, 2023
After reviewing the footage, Grant seemed to change his mind, “When you look at it now, it looks like a penalty kick.
“His hand is high. It’s the right decision, the referee has made the right decision.
“He’s stopped the ball going through.”
I’ve said on here often enough that I have a lot of time for Grant. One of my favourite pundits out there but he has got this one completely wrong.
In his original argument he claimed that usually when the ball to hand is that close, penalties are denied. So why then when a ball is played from half a yard to Taylor’s arm was this penalty given?
We all know the answer to that question but it is yet another example of how VAR is benefitting only one club in Glasgow whilst the other continually gets punished by it.