The Referee Tonight

[NorthernLights 2,526]

There's bad referees in this world. I'm used to it. Then there's some who are clearly just cheats.

Bougherra's challenge was stupid. The guy was clearly in pain, so I can live with that as a sending off. Whittaker's? Again. Stupidity. But it's a booking. Nothing more. Then their player kicks out at McCulloch RIGHT IN FRONT of the ref and he just lets him walk off the field to get treatment. That was when it started getting stupid.

But all of those could be classed as opinion.

The corner? That was a fact. It didn't touch McCulloch so therefore should have been a goal kick. One guy appealed for a corner and was probably close to a heart attack after he saw that it was given. They then score (not directly) from the corner.

It's disheartening. It really is.

[SugarPlum 6]

If you are calling him a cheat then its suggesting that he wanted us to lose and Malmo to win and made decisions accordingly. I accept the Malmo player absolutely should have been sent off, no doubt about it. But he either didn't see it, or bottled it. But he didn't cheat.

[ScottBF2 3,540]

He was pish. Our red cards were correct. Should have ended 9v9 - Ricardinho should have been off sooner.

[sassaaaa 11,406]

The referee done exactly what FIFA hoped he would ........play to the crowd . He was fuckin shocking , but its our own fault , the damage was done at Ibrox ...........

[AldoKrfc 106]

Jelavic got fouled before the goal

Naismith clearly wins the ball in a tackle, ref gives the freekick and he gets booked for decent.

Papac "handball"

Dodgy Corner

Malmo players kick out - no yellow card

Thought bougherra's red was harsh.

Whittakers a wank and probably was a red.

[DougieRFC 36]

The ref was fucking atrocious, but i've never seen anything as bad as the barca vs Chelsea display a few years ago, fucking robbed of the game by a cheating cunt

[King Jela 20,687]

Terrible referee and person. Hate him.

[Boingboing 0]

If it's any consolation,the only thing consistent about the referee was his inconsistency

[Thermopylae 15,287]

At the end of the day if he wanted to send our players off then they gave him the chance ... poor poor discipline has cost us dear tonight

[BazzaB 8]

He was pish. Our red cards were correct. Should have ended 9v9 - Ricardinho should have been off sooner.

In all fairness, I genuinely think McCulloch and Naismith were very lucky to still be on the pitch at FT. It should have ended 7v9.

The referee has had a poor game, but to blame him for our own faults is just taig like behaviour. Ally has been completely inept tactically so far, and the lack of discipline on display tonight would have had drastic consequences under Walters regime.

Fuck it. Bring on the Europa League!

[McBoyd 355]

Then their player kicks out at McCulloch RIGHT IN FRONT of the ref and he just lets him walk off the field to get treatment.

Terrible call from the referee, definite red.

We only have ourselves to blame for a slow start at Ibrox, but someone should bring up the diving and cheating from their players. There is too much of it from foreign teams these days and it's taken as "the way they play", it even stems as far as Barcelona in the CL final last year, jumping around the floor.

Look at the game before Whittaker is sent off, Larsson rolling around the floor like a fish out of water, then whoever kicks Whittaker does the same.

Same for the McCulloch tackle (bad tackle fair enough) but their player is on the floor holding his knee, gets up, and then kicks McCulloch, then gets back on the floor, not only is this lieing, it's cheating.

Like I said, the loss is our fault. But someone needs to sort out these European teams and the diving. It's embarassing for the football game.

[AndBoydScores 8]

I'm not one to complain about referee's but that was quite the shocking performance, wouldn't call him a cheat though. The decision that REALLY pissed me off was the corner which led to their goal, he seemed to wait until somebody claimed it and then made the call. Think he bottled it a few times because of the crowd as well.

[BlueDaughter 172]

The ref was shite..but I would only have made one change..I think our players made terrible mistakes which lead to them going off..rightly so. Loss is our fault. Change needs to happen.

[nachothelegend 1,932]

The ref was fucking atrocious, but i've never seen anything as bad as the barca vs Chelsea display a few years ago, fucking robbed of the game by a cheating cunt

Yes this is true ,but we as a team put ourselves in this position and we just walk in to the referees book .

The tackle from McCulloch was just asking for it ,and wee Naisy was a bit lucky not to go also.

But all in all we really put ourselves in this position.

They do cheat that's obvious and its part of their game .

But we are just suckers for it and walk right in to it.Eyes closed.

They are clever.

[ScottBF2 3,540]

In all fairness, I genuinely think McCulloch and Naismith were very lucky to still be on the pitch at FT. It should have ended 7v9.

The referee has had a poor game, but to blame him for our own faults is just taig like behaviour. Ally has been completely inept tactically so far, and the lack of discipline on display tonight would have had drastic consequences under Walters regime.

Fuck it. Bring on the Europa League!

McCulloch deserved his yellow and afterwards did his traditional invisible man routine, Naismith can't have been booked for hitting him with the ball. He'd kicked the ball before the whistle, and you don't get booked for kicking the ball off someone who's in midair - it would be insanity.

I'd disagree that Ally's been tactically inept. Against Hearts he changed it around at half-time and it worked for us. Against St Johnstone he set out with an unusual tactic and again it worked for us, and he switched it around with the strangest formation I've ever seen late against St Johnstone.

Even tonight, I think his tactics were spot on. Hassle, attack and close down in numbers. When we went down to 10, same thing - he switched it around and had us play on the break mostly.

Ally's showing signs of being a good manager to me.

[WeeBlue 39]

He was shite but we still had chances to win that match.

It's our own fault.

[Thermopylae 15,287]

It also has to be said not having any supporters there will have had an affect on the referee ... a big noisy section of the crowd will always make a difference

[Blue corn flakes 1,282]

Right here it is, Ref was pish! Rangers were shocking and got beat at Home to Malmo, yes Malmo! shocking isnt it. No one to blame but Rangers, Malmo are on par with Kilmarnock-D utd.

Rangers got embarrassed by a very very mediocre side and can only blame themselves.

We Rangers fans need to wake up and see that outside 4-5 players in that Rangers team there is some mediocre players and Rangers need to get at least 4-5 good players in. Players who can actually help and improve our better players.

It will get better but if we dont sign any quality it wont get much better.

Blame the ref all you want but it was the team who let everyone and themselves down.

[Ger for life 199]

Yes it can be argued that the Ref had some poor decisions but over both legs Whittaker was significantly culpable. His error cost us the first goal at home and his stupidity tonight left his colleagues with a mountain to climb. Added to which he was responsible for allowing Obua to drift into space and score the opener for Hearts.

He comes out in the press about almost costing us £15m (which he has helped to do)and stating how he planned to make up for his previous errors.

A public apology to his colleagues and supporters might not go amiss. Isn't strange how some players can suddenly go off the boil when a long term deal has been secured?

Transfer situation should be interesting though. What now the lure of Champions League football?