The real Barry Ferguson on Willie Collum officiating Rangers vs. Ayr United

At Ibrox, where both teams will be vying for a spot in the competition’s quarterfinal, the seasoned whistler will be the man in the middle. Over the years, Collum has infuriated Rangers supporters, but it reached a boiling point during and following the Old Firm derby loss to Celtic at Parkhead.

While on VAR duty, he amazingly chose not to suggest an on-field review to Nick Walsh following Alistair Johnston’s obvious foul inside the penalty box. Rangers listened again to the VAR audio in private and said there was “no mention of a potential offside,” despite the fact that Abdallah Sima was later revealed to have been in an offside position prior to the incident.

Then, Rangers officially complained to the SFA and SPFL, requesting that Collum not be assigned as an official for any future Gers games. Collum has been selected to officiate this afternoon’s Ayr United match after that request was denied. Although Philippe Clement was furious that VAR failed to identify that Celtic had committed a handball in the Old Firm match, he is unconcerned that the official will be officiating at Ibrox today despite his club’s request concerns Collum.

When asked for his opinions, Barry Ferguson spoke with The Go Radio Football Show on Collum’s decision to officiate the Scottish Cup fifth-round match. “I’ve got no problem with Willie Collum managing the game tomorrow,” Ferguson acknowledged. Look, people make errors, but the manager was 100% correct in what she said.

This is not something I believe ever occurs with referees; they are impartial. They set out and attempt to accomplish it as best they can.Is the quality of the refereeing up here good? No, I don’t believe that. However, I don’t believe they go out there deliberately try and create mistakes or anything like that. Since they are simply human, who would choose to officiate games?

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