Sir Kenny Dalglish: This handball rule really has to go. It’s ruining our game

Michael Beale’s decision to tell his players to allow Partick Thistle to score last weekend has dominated the headlines.

Personally, I thought it was the right thing to do.

Given the circumstances of the situation in the Scottish Cup tie, he was left with no option.

Michael, his players and Rangers, would have been vilified had they not taken that action to allow the score to go to 2-2.

Some of the Ibrox supporters inside the stadium weren’t happy with the decision and they are entitled to their opinion.

But anything else would have shone a poor light on Rangers and left young Malik Tillman in an unwanted degree of negativity.

It was good sportsmanship from Michael and he should be applauded for it.

If anyone wants to criticise him then they are free to do so. But I don’t think it reflects well on anyone who says it was the wrong action to take.

Rangers eventually won the game 3-2 and made it through to the quarter-finals. They play at home to Raith Rovers in the last eight.

As I said this has made the headlines all week and dominated the conversation.

It has deflected away from another poor round of calls from the match referee and VAR in that game.

Partick Thistle got a penalty for handball against Antonio Colak. It was never a penalty.

This handball rule really has to go. It’s ruining the game.

Rangers were also awarded a spot-kick when Tillman was fouled. The offence was outside the box. Again, a poor decision by all.

It is alarming the amount of calls our officials are getting wrong on a regular basis.

But this is not exclusive to Scotland. The English Premier League had their own howlers last weekend.

Poor decisions were made in the Arsenal v Brentford game and the clash between Crystal Palace and Brighton.

Both were horrendous.

Referees chief, Howard Webb, came out immediately and apologised. He offered transparency and showed leadership.

It was good to see and there should be more of this.

The officials who made the mistakes were also taken off their next games.

Now, I’m not sure about that call. What does that mean exactly?

Does it mean they don’t know the rules? Does it mean they can’t be trusted but only for one game? Were they taken out for their own good?

I don’t necessarily think the guys had to be punished. Listen, mistakes were made and they were criticised in public by the clubs involved and by their superiors.

Unless they have been wrong many, many times then I wouldn’t have banned them.

I just hope there are fewer controversies in the weeks ahead as we reach the business end of the season.

Next weekend is the League Cup Final between Celtic and Rangers.

Nick Walsh is the match referee and John Beaton is the VAR.

Both have had their difficulties this season but they need to be bang on in the Old Firm game. They need to bring their A-game to Hampden.

I am in favour of VAR and I want to see it remain in the game. It is there to help our officials, not embarrass them.

But technology isn’t the problem.

The problems are arising from the humans making the decisions. It needs to be better.

I also wish they could speed up the decision-making process. It’s taking far too long, sometimes three or four minutes. That’s totally unacceptable.

So, still lots of work to be done. Everyone must do better.