Rangers penalties against record shows there IS 'bias' as Richard Gordon can't explain spot kick stats
The Sportsound presenter can understand why the Light Blues get their fair share of penalties but not zero awarded against them.
Richard Gordon insists the lack of penalties awarded against Rangers suggests there IS a 'bias' towards the Ibrox club, intentional or not.
The Sportsound presenter has been crunching the spot kick numbers, both in terms of pens the Light Blues have been given, and the complete lack of any conceded. 'Penalty Rangers' has become a meme amongst the Govan club's Premiership rivals, with Celtic chief exec Michael Nicholson and chairman Peter Lawwell even poking fun at the club's recent AGM.
But at the other end, Gordon can't fathom how no official has deemed anything worthy of a foul in the Rangers box in nearly 70 Scottish Premiership matches. And he insists that there must be some level of subconscious bias at play to try and explain the anomaly when it comes to fouls in the Gers' box. he wrote in his Press and Journal column: "Having gone back through my own stats for the past few seasons, the issue is not the number of spot-kicks Rangers are awarded. Since the start of the 2021/22 campaign, they have been given 26 in the Premiership while Celtic have had 23.
"You would expect the Glasgow sides to get more penalties, given how they dominate most games, and the pair have similar results. For comparison’s sake, the Dons have been awarded 18. It is the decisions at the other end of the pitch which produce incomprehensible statistics.
"In that same period, Aberdeen have conceded 23 and Celtic ten. Only three penalties have been awarded to teams playing Rangers. Jordan White scored for Ross County in August 2021 and Dundee’s Jason Cummings had his effort saved the following month. When Lewis Ferguson stepped up to net from the spot on January 18 2022 for Aberdeen, that was the last time Rangers faced a top-flight penalty.
"They have now played a staggering 69 matches without conceding one in the Premiership. In that time, it would appear not a single Rangers player has committed a foul in their own 18-yard-box.
"Not once has a referee deemed a challenge illegal; not once, since its introduction in October 2022, has a VAR official highlighted anything of note while the Ibrox side has been defending its area.
"It would hardly be a stretch to suggest there is bias there. I am not suggesting it is intentional bias, that the referees are deliberately ignoring incidents, but for whatever reason, it clearly exists. How else, unless those Rangers defenders are somehow infinitely more disciplined than all their opponents, can that remarkable statistic be explained?
"Incidentally, since the start of last season, Rangers have conceded seven penalties; one in the Scottish Cup, two in the Viaplay Cup and four in Europe. They have played 19 European ties during that time, so the concession of four spot-kicks seems pretty much what you might expect, one every four or five games, and it certainly puts into sharp focus that statistic of zero conceded in 68 league matches."