Brendan Rodgers is set to appear before a Scottish Football Association hearing following charges brought against him for his outspoken criticism of officials following Celtic’s loss to Heart of Midlothian on Sunday.
Celtic’s manager explicitly named VAR official John Beaton while denouncing what he termed as “extremely poor officiating”.
Beaton had summoned referee Don Robertson to the monitor, resulting in a penalty for Hearts and them taking a 1-0 lead. Prior to this, Celtic’s Yang Hyun-jun had his yellow card upgraded to a red.
Rodgers asserted that “the game was officiated off the pitch today” after VAR intervention led to winger Yang receiving a red card and Tomoki Iwata conceding a penalty for Hearts’ first goal when the ball struck the midfielder’s arm.
Despite Celtic’s appeal against the red card, which was rejected by the SFA on Wednesday, the governing body has summoned Rodgers to a hearing on Thursday, 28 March, for contravening disciplinary rule 72.
This rule prohibits criticism that insinuates bias or incompetence on the part of match officials or impugns their character.
Should the independent tribunal rule against Rodgers and impose a minimum two-match suspension, he will be confined to the stands for Celtic’s match against Livingston on 31 March and a potentially crucial derby against current Scottish Premiership leaders Rangers a week later.