Brendan Rodgers charged by SFA as Celtic manager hands Rangers title advantage

Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers could be in the stand for his side’s trip to Rangers in April after being charged for a refereeing outburst over the weekend.

The Parkhead manager was left furious after Korean winger Yang was shown a red card for a high boot in the first half of Celtic’s eventual 2-0 defeat to Hearts.

Rodgers was also annoyed at a first half penalty which was awarded to Hearts following a handball from Japanese midfielder Tomoki Iwata.

The controversial comments, which lamented refereeing “incompetence” and named whistler John Beaton, have now led to Brendan Rodgers being charged by the SFA under disciplinary rule 72.

Specifically, this states that no player or member or staff shall “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; or (ii) make remarks about such match official(s) which impinge on his character”.

Brendan Rodgers charged
Remarkably, with March 28th the earliest date an SFA panel are unable to convene on the matter, should Brendan Rodgers be found guilty he will miss the Old Firm trip to Rangers.

This is because the minimum punishment for being found guilty of such a breach is a two-match ban, which would see the manager miss Scottish Premiership clashes v Livingston (31/03) and Rangers (07/04).

Celtic – who saw an appeal for the Yang red card thrown out this week – have obviously intimated their intentions to defend their manager.

They’ve also raised an eyebrow over the timing of the tribunal, but it is believed this is the earliest date Hampden bosses have been unable to organise it.

Whilst we’ve got to give kudos to the SFA, let’s hope they follow it through with this pretty much an open and shut case given the language used by Brendan Rodgers in the interviews.

Celtic manager to miss Rangers clash?
All things being equal, it suggests that Celtic will be without their manager in the dugout when they visit Ibrox come the beginning of April.

We suspect someone might be regretting coming out all guns blazing following the defeat to Hearts, which saw Celtic blow the chance to go back to the top of the Scottish Premiership.

There have been accusations of “dog-whistling” to pro-Rangers conspiracies by bringing John Beaton into the equation, with others suggesting Rodgers was deflecting from the poor result.

Whatever the case, the comments were certainly ill-judged and give the minimum punishment is a two-game ban we fully expect the Celtic manager has just disadvantaged his team for the trip to Rangers.

But now Brendan Rodgers has been charged, we don’t suspect the timing of the tribunal will do anything to quell those conspiracies surrounding the SFA, Rangers, and Celtic.

As things stand, should Rangers and Celtic win all their games running up to the Old Firm clash the Gers can go five points clear with victory in the match.