UnionMen

Then it's not random then is it?

Nobody is defending McCulloch. We're criticising the ref for making the rules up as he goes along to our detriment. In any other game, the match would have been stopped and the offending player sent off. But in our case, not only did we get the red card, we almost conceded a goal thanks to some extraordinary refereeing.

He can pull it back if no advantage transpires. So if Hearts are tackled within 1 or 2 seconds he can say there was no advantage to be played and give the foul. If Hearts play the ball out wide and he decides there is an advantage to be had, then that's it, the game will continue from that point until it's next natural stop.

Exactly, the rules if you click the link state the official wording and is followed up with more layman explanations. The referee is allowed a couple of seconds to see if an advanatage develops or not. If he decides to allow the advantage then that's, the game will continue as normal until the ball is out of play. He isn't going to simply stop the game if the team wit hthe advantage lose the ball a few minutes later. If that was the case it would happen all the time. could you imagine Messi was fouled in his own half, the ref allows an advantage, 2 minutes later Barca are playing tippy-tappy on the edge of the box. They eventually lose it after 30 -passes or so, and the ref stops the game because of the foul everyone's now forgotten about!? Absurd.

Stopped reading there, eh, but had to reply to the thread to tell everyone where you stopped reading. GTFOH

IT doesn't say he can. The referee has no mandate to just randomly stop the game after he's allowed it to continue with an advantage.

I agree, but we sunk so low under McCoist giving our new manager some leeway here is fine with me for now. I also tend to think the days of a football manager are dead unfortunatly, I think we're looking at 'Head Coaches' and Directors of Football

FROM OFFICIAL RULES: http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/afdeveloping/refereeing/law_5_the_referee_en_47411.pdf Point 1 "The referee: - takes disciplinary action against players guilty of cautionable and sending-off offences. He is not obliged to take this action immediately but must do so when the ball next goes out of play." ^ So this proves my scenario right that a team could gain the advantage only to end up being countered with the offending player scoring a match winning goal. The game is only pulled back if a the advantage doesn't develop over the next couple of seconds (instantly), after an advantage has been granted, the game flows until a natural break. Point 2: "Referees should consider the following circumstances in deciding whether to apply the advantage or stop the play: - the severity of the offence. If the infringment warrants an expulsion, the referee shall stop play and send the player off unless there is a subsequent opportunity to score a goal." I guess that's open to interpretation but it was hardly a "clear goal scoring opportunity", it happened in the middle of the pitch. Point 3: The rules then go on to state the game should be stopped instantly if the foul causes in a injury. The sending off was a result of an elbow to the head in which the Hearts player stayed down.

huh? So you are telling me when an advantage is played the referee will stop the game if the team with the advantage lose possession? That is wrong. The game is continued and not stopped until it reaches a natural break in play. I've often seen it that players get booked a good 5 minutes after comitting a foul. If you play FIFA on the video games it's the same, play continues to a natural break. And there was even a recent example in the Premier League this season, I think a West Ham match actually, where 1 team was given the advantage only to lose a goal on the counter attack.

Not sure I ever seen this before until yesterday. Shocking piece of refereeing. I don't have an issue with the red in itself, that clown McCulloch seems to be on some kind of Thug Life crusade to see how much shit he can get away with. In fact he's already had a 2 match ban for a horrible, needless stamp (vs Alloa or Livingston if i recall?). Part of me thinks maybe he wants to see out the remainder of his contract on his couch. Anyway, I digress. Playing an advantage then issuing a straight-red card is a horrible piece of referee work. You play the advantage if it's a booking, if you plan on giving a guy his marching orders then the game needs to be stopped there and then, period. And if it isn't obvious enough as to why then consider a couple of hypothetical scenarios; 1. The advantage is played, the team who gain the advantage smash the ball off the post and then find themselves defending against a counter-attack. The offending player scores the match winning goal. During his celebrations he is red carded for the challenge he made. Essentially a player who should not have been on the field, a player who is only still on the pitch by virtue of the other teams "advantage" has scored the match winning goal. 2. The player getting sent off knows he is getting his marching orders for foul #1, so he catches up with the play and rugby tackles the attacker, knowing he is getting sent off anyway, may as well make sure nothing more than a free kick on the edge of the box is the outcome. If you end up playing advantages where the ref is going to come back and issue a redcard he essentially is creating a lawless martyr in that passage of play. Yesterday we could have conceded a goal in the "advantage" Bobby Madden played. A straight-red card incident waved play on, Hearts goal & a red card for a defender for a challenge he committed in up in the middle of the field. Like I said, in all the years I've spent watching football I have never seen that. Infact, I could give you an example on the biggest stage of all. The 2010 World Cup final. Arjen Robben was clean through on goal and fouled by Carlos Puyol who tried to bring him down. Robben stumbled his way through the challenge but his effort was saved by the Keeper. He was incensed by the fact he never got a foul though, and wanted Puyol sent off. Ofcourse, nothing was forthcoming, "you can't have it al your own way" proclaimed the commentry team. You take the foul or your play your advantage, you don't get both. Bobby Madden however would have allowed Arjen Robben the advantage to see if he could score then pulled it back for a Puyol red card after Casilles made the save. Looks like Rangers are a historical, global refereeing exception, once again.

which is what exactly? He's pretty nippy and sharp around the box but there's a hundred players we could pluck out the youth systems like that, Boyd's hold up play & flick-ons is much more valuable, and funnily enough that's the biggest contributing factor to the successes Clark has had this season. Most of our players look improved already after only a couple of weeks under McCall, a proper manager who knows what he's doing. I'd like to see Boyd get another few outings. Most fans have given up on him completely, and I can understand that, but an on-form Kris Boyd is our best player, by a distance.

You might not like Boyd and his attitude but he's miles better than Clark. Clark was free in the box today and didnt even have the composure to take a touch. Not to mention his shot was embarrassing. I want to like Clark, but he's nowhere near Rangers class. An absolute dud.

Boyd is miles better than Nicky Clark anyway. Fuck knows how Clark gets a game, he's a poor man's David Healy.

I'm impressed with Joshua. His physicality speaks for itself so it's more his physique and punch selection I'm impressed with. Given Joshue was such a late starter, 18 i think before he laced a pair of gloves, i have my cynicism as to how far he can go. How many exampls in any sport can you find true top-level success from such a late starter? The Johnston fight doesn't interest me at all, may as well watch videos of Joshua hit a heavy bag on Youtube. Would much prefer to see how he handles someone like Chisora who's on a downward spiral. Del Boy is durable and at his best beat Helenius and gave Vitali some problems and certainly brings more to the table than Kingpin. A fight against Price would be fireworks though. David Price is in limbo a bit at the moment, he's avoided by a lot of guys because he's probably the biggest puncher in the world, but he's cautious himself of being overmatched since he has no stamina and no chin.

Don't write off Kris Boyd yet. The goal machine just needs re-oiled.

they probably left some working class Lithunians needing payday Wonga loans. Their stadium should have been auctioned off to the highest bidder in an effort to recoup some of the funds their spiv owner stole.

Gets worse every time you see it. I mean, just look at the fucking state of that. What possible good does he think is going to come of that anyway? He leaves an elbow on the boy, gets away with it, then from then on the other boy goes into a shell or something? GTF Lee you fuckin idiot, just play the game properly and in the manner expected of a Rangers captain.

Aye, because we used a legal tax-avoidance scheme that is being used by practically every corporate accountant in the UK. We were hounded for a phantom debt in a era were our financial prudence had reduced actual debts from £80m to less than £18m. They baught themselves a diddy wee cup & a 2nd place finish off the back of stolen Lithuanian pensions & savings, classless cheating scum and diddy wee team that will soon level off to mid-table SPL mediocrity, again.

There's no point in sticking on that game. This group of players performing att heir best should still be losing the smellies. They've got a higher wage bill, good scouting system, better players. Getting rid of McCoist & his cronies was step 1, it's very much onwards and upwards from here.

Didn't do damage!? You at the noise up? We didn't even have scouts under his tenure. He's set us back a decade. We should have been the 2nd best team in Scotland competing for cups by div 2.

Hearts are disgusting cheats that epitomise whats wrong with modern football. Ran up disgusting debts chasing silverware, went insolvent then walked away leaving thousand of ordinary Lithuanians out of their savings and pensions. now they just crack on as if nothing happened having walked away from the money they stole. Trampy shitey wee club.

Not even up for debate. I'm not sure why Lee thinks trying to do someone with his elbow is worthwhile. Does he think if he gets away wae it we sit and think "well in big jig for elbowing that cunt top stuff, what would we do without you".

Having a bit of dig is never enough. Boxers win fights via training, sparring and studying opponent tapes/strategy. Players are simply tools, the manager is the workman. The tools need to be used in the right way.

He was on a rolling contract. Whoever kept renewing it deserves just as much blame. The damage McCoist did has set us back years.

A liability and a shite player to go with it. Seems more interested in how many sneaky elbows or stamps he can get away with than winning a game. Hope to never see him in a gers strip again.