Rangers fail in Thomson appeal

Rangers have failed in a calculated attempt to make Kevin Thomson available for tonight’s Active Nation Scottish Cup quarter-final replay at Dundee United after the Scottish Football Association dismissed an appeal against his sending-off in Sunday’s Co-operative Insurance Cup final.

The Ibrox club waited until moments before today’s 5pm deadline to contest the red card in a bid to ensure the case could not be dealt with before tonight’s game at Tannadice, freeing the midfielder to play.

However, the SFA were braced for such tactics and had Sunday’s match referee, Craig Thomson, poised to review video footage of the incident.

It took the official less than an hour to decide he was satisfied with his decision to send off Thomson for a second-half lunge on St Mirren’s Steven Thomson, meaning the Rangers star’s suspension will begin immediately.

Had the referee admitted making a mistake, the matter would have been refereed to the SFA's review panel, meaning Thomson would have been available to play tonight.

The SFA said in a statement: “In accordance with the provisions for claims of wrongful dismissal, the referee, Craig Thomson, was requested to review the circumstances of Kevin Thomson’s sending off for serious foul play against St Mirren in the Co-operative Insurance Cup Final match on Sunday, 21st March.

“The referee has indicated that he is content with his decision.

“Accordingly, the claim is dismissed automatically and will not be referred to the review panel.

“The decision of the referee to send off Kevin Thomson is confirmed and the player’s automatic one-match suspension is applied, with 12 penalty points being added to his SPL disciplinary record.

“Furthermore, the player incurs a one-match fixed suspension from 4th April for reaching the disciplinary threshold of 18 points.”

Rangers are not the first club to attempt to take advantage of an SFA disciplinary system that has been criticised in the past for being slow to act.

There have been cases of 11th-hour appeals allowing players to take part in games for which they otherwise would have been suspended.

Equally, there have also been circumstances similar to Thomson’s appeal in which the SFA have successfully pre-empted such action and have responded swiftly.

They were helped in this case by Rangers publicly stating this week that they were considering an appeal.

However, it seemed doomed to fail from the start, with assistant manager Ally McCoist yesterday admitting opinion within the club was divided as to whether Thomson deserved to be sent off.

He said: “My initial reaction was that it was a red card.

“The gaffer (Walter Smith) still thinks it was a little harsh, as does Thommo and a few of the lads.

“I can understand why he got sent off to be honest.

“I thought he should have got a foul 10 seconds before it, which would have solved the problem.

“But I personally don’t have a problem with the sending-off. That’s just my opinion.”

Thomson was adamant the red card was a “poor” decision, and made reference to the fact the same referee had sent him off on two previous occasions.

Team-mate Danny Wilson also saw red on Sunday but the nine men sealed a dramatic 1-0 victory thanks to Kenny Miller’s late goal.