Chris Sutton has fiercely defended himself against Graeme Souness’ allegations. The dispute arose over Sutton’s commentary on a contentious VAR decision during the game.
Sutton found himself under fire after questioning the integrity of a penalty call awarded to Rangers. Souness accused Sutton of bias against the Gers’ attacker involved in the incident.
The contentious moment occurred when referee John Beaton initially awarded Rangers a penalty for a challenge on Alistair Johnston by Fabio Silva, only for VAR to overturn the decision. Sutton’s vehement reaction to the call led Souness to speculate whether Sutton was attempting to influence VAR officials.
Sky pundit Sutton fumed over the call and Souness accused him of being biased. But the Celtic legend hit back, saying: He said: “I have a lot of respect for Graeme as a player, manager and pundit.
“But he is talking utter nonsense to suggest I was trying to somehow influence VAR. It would have been better if Nick Walsh WAS watching Sky Sports – as the officials might have made the right call rather than rewarding cheating.
“I don’t know what he was watching when he called Beaton to the monitor, but it certainly wasn’t the TV coverage. Even in the unlikely event if they were, I’m not sure what kind of power Graeme thinks I wield. Does he think I’m God?! I don’t have that kind of sway unfortunately – give me another few months!
“In seriousness, it wasn’t a Celtic thing or a Rangers thing, I just called that incident as I saw it. If anything I suspect Graeme has the Rangers blinkers on as there is no way he’d think that was a penalty if any other team was involved. And having watched it over and over again, NOTHING has changed my mind about the incident. It is still not a penalty kick.
“Johnston clearly gets a touch on the ball and redirects its path. Silva sees the leg out and takes his chance to throw himself into it. Silva initiated the slight contact and are we supposed to reward simulation or stamp it out?
“He was rolling around all afternoon and this was another example. His behaviour was embarrassing. Beaton was close to the scene and his initial interpretation was spot on.
“He could see it in real time and he was right to show him a yellow card for yet another dive. I just can’t understand why Walsh got involved. The fact people can even debate it means it wasn’t a clear and obvious error from the referee in the first place.”
Sutton reckons television replays of the clip VAR chiefs sent to Beaton didn’t give the full picture. He said: “The clip shown by Sky is the clip the referee is being shown. And that is where I see a problem as well, as that clip didn’t include the ball being knocked away by Johnston’s outstretched boot first of all. It was totally misleading as it wasn’t the full incident. When you watch all of it, there is not a single angle that convinces me it was a penalty kick.”
On Monday morning on talkSPORT, Souness had said: “I’m wondering, do VAR listen to the commentary during a game? Because I’m thinking, Chris is going that strong here, he’s trying to influence whoever could be listening in the VAR studio? I thought Chris has gone that mad on this, he’s trying to influence someone in VAR.
“I can’t believe how biased Chris is when he’s talking about Rangers. He was saying, ‘It’s embarrassing, it’s not a penalty’. It was a penalty! It’s easily a penalty. It’s not even a discussion to have.”
But Sutton hit back at Souness and stuck to his guns on brandishing Silva a chancer.