Brendan Rodgers could face punishment from the Scottish FA following his comments about officiating during Celtic's loss at Hearts.
The Hoops manager unleashed a stinging rant about Don Robertson and, in particular, John Beaton on VAR following the 2-0 win for the hosts at Tynecastle.
In an uncharacteristic outburst post-match, the 50-year-old blasted decisions made by the on-field referee and Beaton, who was operating as VAR.
The two particular incidents that irked Rodgers were Yang Hyun-jun's red card for a high boot on defender Alex Cochrane early in the game, and then the penalty given against the champions, with Tomoki Iwata penalised for a rather harsh-looking handball.
Rodgers was adamant that the officials cost Celtic the game with their incompetence, as he praised his players for putting up a good fight with 10 men for much of the Premiership encounter.
Now, it's understood the SFA's compliance officer, Martin Black, is aware of the comments and is in contact with the club over the matter.
At this point, though, it's not yet known if the Parkhead boss will be cited.
Rule No72 Article 96.1 states: “No recognised football body, club, official, team official under the jurisdiction of the Scottish FA, shall in an interview or in any other manner calculated or likely to lead to publicity (i) criticise the decision(s) and/or performance(s) of any or all match official(s) in such a way as to indicate bias or incompetence on the part of such match official.”
Should he be brought before the SFA's disciplinary panel, then he could face anything between a two-game to a 20-match ban, with the latter clearly on the extreme end of the scale.
The club could also face a potential fine of between £1,000 to £100,000.
Asked if Sunday was as bad as he's seen in Scotland, regarding the officials, the Irishman said: “I think so.
“I try to respect decisions and give the benefit of the doubt. But I think when I see that level of incompetence, which is the only word I can use, then that makes me worry for the game.
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“In such a tight title race that can make the difference. I also think that VAR is not the problem here. That’s clear. It’s competence.
“I think the first one is a great example of the game being refereed outside of the pitch. The referee made the decision and someone outside made another decision to say it was a sending off.
“That’s the game being refereed outside of the field and in big games that costs you.
“I’m not one who comes crying about referees, be it here or the English Premier League because I understand there will be mistakes made.
“But that today was awful officiating in what was a big game for us. My feeling is that the game was decided by the officials - on the field and outside of the field.
“The first one is the sending off when there is no force. Show a still image of that and of course and you will see a foot up with the head near it, but it’s not the reality of the move.
“Don got it actually right on the field. It was a high boot, so it’s a yellow card – no malice or force.
“For John Beaton to actually look at that in VAR, supposedly under no pressure, and say that was sending off? I find that incredible.
“The second one is worse. If you have a penalty go against you for that then there will be penalties every single weekend and midweek."
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