Ally McCoist reckons the decision to send off Robin Propper against Athletic Bilbao was ‘absolutely nonsense’ – even if it was correct by the rulebook.
Rangers were up against it with the La Liga high-flyers in town for the Europa League quarter-final first leg but their task got even tougher when Propper was given his marching orders early in the first half.
He dived in late on Inaki Williams on the edge of the Rangers box, and while whistler Istvan Kovacs was initially content with a yellow card and a free-kick, he was called over to his monitor to review a sending-off for denying a goalscoring opportunity.
After a pitchside review, he decided to upgrade it, and a bemused Propper was given his marching orders.
But few were more irked than Ibrox hero McCoist who blasted the decision on TNT Sports commentary.
He thought the Romanian officials had reached the correct decision ‘by the letter of the law.’
But he also felt some ‘common sense’ should have been applied to let the Dutch defender off with a more lenient decision.
McCoist said: “Well, by the letter of the law, it’s probably the correct decision. But you ask anybody that’s played the game at any level whatsoever ‘should that be a red card?’ and the answer, emphatically, will be no.
“I actually think it’s a lack of common sense by the officials. They’ll say they’re going by the laws of the game… By that interpretation, he’s made the correct decision.
“But common sense there, it’s wrong.
“Here’s my question to you: if that’s in the box, he doesn’t get sent off, correct? So how daft is that? You’ve effectively got two different laws. Nonsense, absolute nonsense!”
