Michael Stewart hits out at what he is hearing from the SFA after Celtic penalty drama vs Kilmarnock

It was a dramatic end to proceedings for Celtic at Rugby Park on Sunday.

Before the game, everybody probably thought that Celtic fans’ protests would be the main topic of discussion post-match, but it wasn’t the case.

Debutant Kelechi Iheanacho dispatched a stoppage-time penalty to help Celtic beat Kilmarnock and return to the top of the table in the Scottish Premiership.

But how that penalty was awarded by on-field referee John Beaton, after the intervention of VAR, has proven to be a major talking point, as well as the Scottish Football Association’s (SFA’s) reaction to it all.

What have the SFA said about the awarding of Celtic’s penalty against Kilmarnock

BBC Radio Scotland were covering the game, and they got some information from the SFA as to why Kilmarnock’s Lewis Mayo was punished for handball inside his area.

‘The penalty awarded for handball by the Kilmarnock defender whose arm is in an unnatural position, a deflection doesn’t always negate a handball offence,’ repeated the BBC presenter when explaining the SFA’s reasoning.

It continued: “He doesn’t know where the ball is going, and his arm is up in an unnatural position to block a shot’.”

Michael Stewart slams the SFA

There is no doubt that there is controversy around this, and let’s be honest, if Celtic were on the end of a call like this, then anyone in green and white colours would be fuming.

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The other issue that stems from all of this is what the managers, players and pundits were told in the summer regarding situations like this.

And Michael Stewart, speaking on Premier Sports, hit out at the SFA and how they are spouting ‘nonsense’ compared to what he was told in the summer.

“This is just bizarre,” stated Stewart. “I tell you what is bizarre as well. The SFA justification, just is absolute gobbledegook.

“Doubling down and trying to cover their own backside. It’s nonsense. It is nonsense. Huts (Alan Hutton), and I, we were there at the start of the season when they were having a meeting with Willie Collum, talking about these types of things.

“Stuart Kettlewell came out and spoke about it as well. These incidents. Deflections. Ricochets like that. The ball’s not on target. There’s so much mitigation in that incident that should lead you to be saying, ‘It’s not a penalty kick.’ It’s unbelievable.

“For them to say that, I think it’s Mayo that it deflects off, that Mayo’s arm is in an unnatural position. No, it’s not. No, it’s not. Because see, all you need to do is right, look at Robbie Deas. It’s literally a mirror image. The two of them are in exactly the same position.

“Now, do you think that’s some weird coincidence that they’re both trying to like, block the ball with their arms? No, they’re both in that action. And this is what really gets my goat: the law is now there. It’s actually good law, but it’s too wordy and we’ve gone around the houses and people are all confused.”

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