I wrote in an earlier piece that Michael Stewart berated his Sportscene colleague, Steven Thompson, for not understanding the law of the handball rule.
It was an astonishing exchange that showed the apparently limited open-mindedness that a pundit of the game has to debate one of the most contentious decisions of the season.
But Michael Stewart wasn’t happy with Ange Postecoglou’s comments on the lack of consistency over handball decisions when the Celtic manager claimed we should have had a penalty against Hearts at Tynecastle for the Michael Smith handball.
Speaking on BBC Sportsound, Stewart explains, “I tell you what he’s not agreed with, which I’ve got to pull him up on here, and I’ve got a lot of respect for Ange Postecoglou is he talks about consistency, but almost to a man, Celtic were claiming that the handball at Tynecastle was a penalty kick.
“Now if you’re looking for consistency, I’m not too sure they can turn around and say that is not a handball today.
“I’ve consistently said those are not handballs for the reason that it’s not deliberate and the hand is in a position which is natural because of the movement of the body.
“So I don’t think you can pick and choose and say, ‘Well, I want consistency.’
“But they weren’t consistent.
“And most people weren’t consistent, and that the claim that the handball Tynecastle should have been a penalty, yet they’re saying today how’s that a penalty kick.”
The problem is, the Smith handball was 100% a penalty.
The Hearts defender clearly batted the ball down with his hand which prevented James Forrest from breaking through on goal so the difference between that one and Bernabei’s are clearly stark!
The normally reliable Stewart has dropped the ball on this one and I would love to be a witness to that conversation if he ever did get the opportunity to pull up Ange.
The most knowlegeable honest fearless michael, the rest are cheese nibblers.