BRENDAN Rodgers last night called on Scottish referees to provide greater protection for his Celtic players - and claimed the horrific foul which Kieran Tierney was subjected to last weekend could have ended the left back’s career.
Tierney suffered a cut knee after being scythed down by a shocking high challenge from Motherwell substitute Ryan Bowman during a Ladbrokes Premiership match at Parkhead last Saturday.
However, Rodgers, who has described a challenge which match official Don Robertson only punished with a yellow card as "horrendous" after watching a replay of it, felt the prodigiously-talented 19-year-old defender could easily have suffered a serious injury.
The Northern Irishman was reminded of the career-ending injury which John Kennedy, the current Celtic first team coach, suffered after a foul by Ionel Ganea when he was playing for Scotland against Romania at Hampden in 2004 when he saw it again.
He believes the Tierney incident isn’t an isolated one either – Scott Sinclair had been brought down by David Raven in a league game against Inverness Caledonian Thistle the week before - and appealed to Scotland’s referees to do more to ensure his squad members are unharmed by their opponents.
“My only worry at this moment in time is the protection I want for my players,” said Rodgers. “I didn’t see the tackle on Kieran Tierney until after the game, but when I did see it, it was a horrendous challenge. And we had one the week before on Scott Sinclair that was a horrendous challenge.
“I need the officials to control if something is a bad tackle, they have got to see it. I have a brilliant young coach on my books called John Kennedy who lost his career on the back of an absolutely disgraceful challenge and I don’t want that. That could have happened to Kieran Tierney last week if his foot was planted – easily.
“It is the responsibility of officials to protect players – that is their duty on the field. Not just the referee – all four of them – and how that was never seen I don't know. The same with Scott Sinclair the other week. They are awful challenges. That is my only worry at the minute. I worry for the players.
“We play an aggressive game and we have lots of games like that that are great – away at Aberdeen, tough games where you fight and tackle and are aggressive. But when it goes over the top we need the help of the referees otherwise you are going to lose talented players and you may lose careers because of it.”
Asked if he had spoken to SFA Head of Refereeing John Fleming about his concerns, Rodgers said: “I’ve not spoken to them yet. We’ll see.
“I don’t know what it is. I know a player like Sinclair is quick and dynamic and that can affect timing. But a bad challenge is a bad challenge. I don’t care who it is. There is a duty from others to make sure the laws of the game and the welfare of players are looked after.
Rodgers added: “I ask my players to respect referees. We are not a team that goes charging after official, moaning and groaning. We say this is a man’s game. You expect to get hit with challengers, you take it, you get up and you fight.
“But I’ve just seen a couple of things lately, whether it’s because we are on a run and are a target for teams, that means we need to be careful.
“The last thing I want to be sitting here talking about is a serious injury to Kieran Tierney. If his foot was planted last week, with a straight leg coming in on a 19-year-old, I’m frightening to think what could have happened to him. There’s no deterrent.”
Rodgers admitted he was disappointed that retrospective disciplinary action wasn’t taken against Bowman. “This is a country that does it well,” he said. “I have to say it took me until afterwards to see it. But when I saw it again it was naughty. Kieran is fine, he’s trained, but he has a few marks on him, but that is my overall concern.”
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