Mark Clattenburg and Bobby Madden deliver verdict on Rangers red-card controversy

Kai Fotheringham may feel hard done by after being sent off during Rangers’ 4-0 victory over St Johnstone on Saturday, with former referees Mark Clattenburg and Bobby Madden questioning the decision.

The 23-year-old was shown a red card in the 74th minute after referee Chris Graham reviewed his challenge on Nicolas Raskin following a VAR intervention.

Playing in heavy rain at Ibrox, Fotheringham slid in on the Rangers midfielder while the hosts were comfortably ahead. Although the St Johnstone forward made contact with the ball, his follow-through caught Raskin around the shin, leading to a dismissal for serious foul play.

The incident appeared to justify the decision when viewed in a still image, and many Rangers supporters may have felt the referee made the right call. However, Clattenburg and Madden have offered a different interpretation of the challenge.

Clattenburg and Madden question Fotheringham’s red card

Fotheringham protested his innocence after the incident, but Graham stuck with his decision to send him off after being directed to the pitchside monitor by VAR official Andrew Dallas.

Madden, a former FIFA referee, believes the challenge did not meet the required threshold for a red card. Clattenburg, who spent more than a decade officiating in the Premier League, shares that view and argues that a single freeze-frame can give a misleading impression of what happened.

Despite Graham’s apparent belief that the challenge endangered Raskin, both former officials have challenged the decision.

Speaking on So Near, Yet So VAR on 25 October, Madden said the contact was minimal and argued that the incident did not satisfy the full criteria for a sending-off.

Clattenburg also criticised the way still images are used to judge such incidents, explaining that a freeze-frame of the point of contact can make a challenge look worse than it appears when viewed in real time.