Scottish FA CEO Ian Maxwell talks VAR, Celtic-Rangers League Cup fallout and pyro problem at Hampden Park

Scottish FA chief executive Ian Maxwell insists “human nature” dictates that officiating mistakes will happen as the fallout from Rangers’ penalty snub at Hampden Park continues.

It follows new Rangers CEO Patrick Stewart wanting an explanation over the non-award of a penalty in Sunday’s League Cup final defeat by Celtic, after Liam Scales brought down Vaclav Cerny on the edge of the penalty area.

Referee John Beaton adjudged the incident to have taken place outside of the box, and VAR did not intervene. Gers boss Philippe Clement described the non-intervention by VAR Alan Muir and assistant Frank Connor as “really weird” – and neither VAR official will reportedly be involved in Premiership action this weekend.

“We’re now in the middle of December and this is the first time I’ve been asked on camera about a VAR decision, so I think that tells you something,” said Maxwell, who was speaking at the launch of Pitching In, a campaign to raise £50m over the next five years to improve football facilities across the country.

“Since football began, we’ve wanted to get as many decisions right as we possibly can and that will continue for as long as football does because there will always be things that people might disagree with.

“Decisions will be wrong, that’s a given. We’ll eradicate them as much as we possibly can.

“VAR has done that in a vast majority of cases. There are always going to be one or two that will fall out with that, because there’s people involved and in anything that involves a person in any walk of life, there will be decisions made that don’t go the way we want them to go or are incorrect. That’s just part of human nature.

“I think that since Willie [Collum, head of refereeing] has come in, the transparency, the way he’s dealt with things, has been a breath of fresh air, and made a real difference on and off the pitch and we want to drive that forward.

“Since football began, people have been talking about refereeing decisions, and we will talk about them forever more. And that’s part of the game.

“There will never be a point where there isn’t a contentious decision because people disagree on decisions.

“That’s the beauty of the sport. You get 20 football fans in a room. You’ll get 25 different views on whether a decision or a foul was right or wrong. But we’re never going to change that.”

‘A growing problem’ – Maxwell on pyro at football

The 49-year-old also condemned supporters’ use of pyrotechnics at the Old Firm clash which led to a delayed kick-off. The SPFL is working with Police Scotland to investigate what they called “illegal behaviour” on Sunday.

“I’m really disappointed, it’s a growing problem, there’s no doubt about it,” Maxwell added.

“The vast majority of football fans don’t want it, the clubs don’t want it, the players don’t want it, it’s starting to have an impact on them.

“When you see kick-offs being delayed and the potential for injury, it’s something we need to try and eradicate.”

Rangers, Celtic and Motherwell were all charged by the SPFL for the use of pyrotechnics during their League Cup semi-final matches and Maxwell is prepared to work with other parties to prevent a reoccurrence at this season’s Scottish Cup final at the National Stadium.

“It’s a worldwide football problem, it’s not Scotland specific, it’s going to take a collaborative approach to fix it,” he continued.

“It’s not something we can fix, or the clubs can fix on their own. We need to work in conjunction with the police, with the SPFL and with the clubs to understand the measures we can take to try and eradicate it.

“We engage on a regular basis with the Scottish Government. They are very aware of the work that we are doing.

“The Scottish Government also have a part to play from a legislative perspective in terms of football banning orders and we’re working with them to make sure that we’re as joined up as we can be on it.

“We’ve seen how much it was used at Hampden for the League Cup semi-finals and finals. Hampden is a neutral venue; football supporters probably don’t have the same affection and feel the same level of responsibility that they would at their own stadium.

“We need to be cognisant of that and myself and the board will sit down and look at the measures that we can take to positively impact it.”