McInnes was given a touchline ban for his ‘disgusting’ Celtic penalty comments

Rangers manager Derek McInnes was handed a four-match touchline ban for calling Celtic’s late penalty against Motherwell “disgusting” in May.

The comments made at the end of last season were linked to a half-time kick that was turned into a handball by Kelechi Iheanacho when McInnes was in charge of Hearts.

Celtic’s 3-2 win at Fir Park On May 13, they were one point away from Hearts, and a few days later they won in the final.

Speaking to Sky Sports after the win over Falkirk at Tynecastle on the same night, McInnes said: “You can imagine what happened when you heard Celtic’s 96th-minute penalty went to VAR and they checked it.

“If I look at it again, it’s disgusting. It is.

“I don’t think it’s a penalty.

But we are against it and we are against it all.

McInnes will be in place when Rangers open the Scottish Premiership away to Dundee United on July 31.

The same conditions apply for the next league game at home to Hibernian and the League Cup tie on the weekend of August 15/16.

The Scottish FA ban will not cover the Europa League qualifier against Poland’s Jagiellonia Bialystok.

Following the late drama at Fir Park, Judge John Beaton’s address was posted online, with police keeping his home under surveillance. A teenager has been charged “in relation to data protection offences”.

SFA Head of Referees Willie Colum supported the call, Citing “clear evidence” of Sam Nicholson’s hand and arm being “unnaturally positioned” and the resulting contact “a punishing handball”.

They have Motherwell and their former midfielder Elliott Watt. He has already been sanctioned. on social media posts on the subject.

Watt, who has since joined Turku club Samsunspor, was handed a four-match ban for what he described as “the worst VAR decision in history”.

Motherwell was fined £5,000 for releasing a video saying: “When the football world mocks our game, we simply need to draw a line in the sand and change our focus.”

The Scottish FA’s compliance officer lodged the complaint with all three parties under Disciplinary Rule 72: “No recognized football body, club, official, team official or other member of team staff, player or other person under the authority of the SFA may interview, ‘blog’ on the internet, on a social networking or micro-blogging site, or in any other way calculate or direct the decision of any or all of them. Match Officials’ performance(s) to demonstrate bias or incompetence on the part of such Match Official, or (ii) make comments about the Match Official(s) affecting their conduct.

McInnes’ ban will come into force if the suspended party breaches Rule 72 before the end of the 2026-27 season.