Rangers Manager Derek McInnes Banned for Four Matches Over VAR Comments

Derek McInnes, the new Rangers manager, is poised to begin the season in the stands after being handed a four-match ban for his comments on Celtic’s controversial penalty at Motherwell last season.

The then-Hearts manager described the VAR decision to give Celtic a stoppage-time spot-kick – which proved crucial in the Scottish Premiership title race – as “disgusting”. On Wednesday the Scottish Football Association announced McInnes would receive a four-match ban, with one game suspended until the end of the season.

McInnes watched Hearts beat Falkirk 3-0 in the penultimate game of the league season, which looked like they would have had to avoid a three-goal defeat at Parkhead on the final day to win the title for the first time since 1960. However, the scenario changed later that night when Celtic were awarded a penalty by the referee John Beaton – after an interjection by VAR Andrew Dallas – deep into added time at Fir Park.

Kelechi Iheanacho scored to secure a 3-2 win that meant Martin O’Neill’s side needed any victory at all on the final day to keep the title in the east end of Glasgow for the fifth successive time, which the Hoops clinched with another late winner.

Asked for his view of the penalty decision after beating Falkirk, McInnes described it as “disgusting” and he was charged with breaking rule 72 of the SFA disciplinary guidelines and issued with an official notice of complaint. A hearing at Hampden on Wednesday found the charge proven and McInnes was given a four-match suspension, with one match suspended until the end of the 2026-27 season.

Rangers begin their league season with an away game against Dundee United on Friday week. The suspension would mean McInnes is banned from the touchline for that game, as well as home matches against Hibernian and St Mirren.

The then Motherwell midfielder Elliot Watt received a four-match suspension after using his X account to describe the same incident as “the worst VAR decision in history”. Watt, now at the Turkish club Samsunspor, was charged with breaching the Scottish FA’s disciplinary rule 72, which says players should not “criticise” decisions made by officials or make comments that “impinge” on the character of a referee.