Brendan Rodgers responds to Alan Muir being ‘mutually consented’

As reported this week the SFA parted ways with Alan Muir from his VAR role ‘by mutual consent’ following a series of mistakes in the Premiership, with two notable incidents occurring in Celtic matches.

Mistake after Honest Mistake 

In October, Daizen Maeda found the net for Celtic against Motherwell at Fir Park, only for the goal to be disallowed for handball. The SFA’s Key Match Incident panel later concluded that a penalty should have been awarded to Celtic for a foul committed by Motherwell’s Stephen O’Donnell.

In February, Alan Muir faced further criticism when another Maeda goal was disallowed, this time in an encounter against Hibs at Easter Road. After reviewing footage, Alan Muir and his VAR assistant Ross Macleod decided the ball had gone out of play during the build-up, even though there was no clear video evidence to support this claim.

Willie Collum admitted that it was a mistake 

Willie Collum, the SFA’s Head of Refereeing, was compelled to acknowledge the mistake during the SFA’s monthly edition of the VAR review show. The KMI panel also confirmed that the goal should have stood.

When questioned about Muir leaving his role, Rodgers at his Kilmarnock pre-match media conference this afternoon said: “We all make mistakes, absolutely. I’m not sure whether that was Alan’s decision or however it’s come about. I think we’re all in work, we’re all on the job and if we don’t do it quite to the level, we’ll all be moved on.

“You’re giving evidence to people that you’re not quite seeing the game”

“There are very few jobs you go into and work where you won’t lose your job. But I always think up here, so long as the referees are getting the support, the help, the education to develop, if it’s consistent mistakes over long periods of time and you’re giving evidence to people that you’re not quite seeing the game, then naturally you’re not going to be in the position,” the Celtic manager stated.

“It’s a really difficult job and ask for the guys, but like I said, if you’re making mistakes and you’re not quite seeing things consistently, then that’s maybe what can happen.”

“I’m sure he’ll feel free to just enjoy his life now, Alan, and he can walk into the supermarket and have no problems, I’m sure. It’s education, it’s learning, it’s development and we all know we’ll make mistakes.”

Muir’s removal is also a warning to other officials 

The removal of Alan Muir will hopefully be a wake-up call for other officials who themselves have been just as prone as Muir to make what was previously called ‘honest mistakes’. Now there is real peril in making those kind of mistakes going forward so we might actually see some good coming out of an official’s guesswork that conveniently hinders Celtic.

Here’s Brendan’s Media Conference from this afternoon ahead of the Celtic v Kilmarnock game tomorrow lunchtime.