Rangers ran out emphatic 4-0 victors over St Johnstone at Ibrox on Saturday (24 October), but a controversial refereeing decision continues to generate heavy debate across Scottish football.

During the second half of the contest, St Johnstone substitute Kai Fotheringham was shown a straight red card following a tackle on the Ibrox midfielder Nicolas Raskin.

On-field referee Chris Graham was sent to the pitchside monitor by VAR official Andrew Dallas after initial freeze-frame images showed Fotheringham catching Raskin’s calf on the follow-through after winning the ball.

While the dismissal ultimately had little bearing on the final result as Rangers were already 3-0 up during the 74th-minute incident, high-profile former refereeing officials Mark Clattenburg and Bobby Madden have both come out strongly against the decision, pointing out systemic flaws in how modern video review is managed.

Bobby Madden and Mark Clattenburg agree Kai Fotheringham red card in Rangers vs St Johnstone was wrong

Speaking on the ‘So Near Yet So VAR‘ channel on Sunday (25 October), former Scottish FIFA referee Madden argued that refereeing using slow-motion replays and static pictures distorts the true reality of a tackle on the pitch.

Madden said: “I think people have become fascinated with this ‘point of contact’… The player has slid in, played the ball, and momentum has taken him towards Raskin with a bent leg. You don’t referee with still images. The contact is absolutely minimal. You need to look at the full criteria, and for me, it doesn’t meet it. That’s the danger when people start to become focused on this point of contact.”

Former Premier League referee Clattenburg echoed Madden’s technical assessment, expressing deep frustration with how video review is currently being implemented across competitive fixtures, describing it as “bonkers”.

The expert insisted that Fotheringham’s challenge would have been celebrated a few years ago. He also suggested that Graham would not have shown a red card had the incident happened in a game between Rangers and Celtic.

Clattenburg said: “That, 10 years ago, would have been applauded. Everybody would have said, ‘What a great challenge’, but the game has moved on. This is what destroys me – you’ll see it on Twitter, and that still image. If it wasn’t a red card, everybody would be going, ‘How is that not a red card?’ This is the problem with still pictures. This is the way the game has gone now; it’s bonkers.

“At no point did I feel that he put that player in danger. Would those match officials give that same challenge a red card in an Old Firm game?”

In the grand scheme of the afternoon, the dismissal had virtually no impact on the final outcome of the match. By the time Fotheringham was given his marching orders, Derek McInnes‘ side were already comfortably three goals to the good, controlling the pace and tempo of the game completely.

St Johnstone were already staring down the barrel of a heavy defeat before the red card was brandished, meaning the controversial intervention did not rob the visitors of any realistic chance of mounting a comeback. It remains to be seen if the Saints will launch an appeal against the decision.

Nevertheless, the unanimous verdict from two of the game’s most recognised refereeing authorities highlights a wider, ongoing debate surrounding consistency and common sense in modern officiating. Even on afternoons when Rangers sweep their opponents aside in emphatic fashion, the shadow of contentious VAR calls continues to loom large over the Scottish Premiership.