Rangers statement: 'Whilst our national sport faces an unprecedented crisis, it is baffling that resources are used to charge Rangers' manager based on a flawed and inaccurate interpretation of Steven Gerrard's remarks'
Wednesday 23 September 2020 20:13, UK
Rangers say they have been left "bemused" by the "bizarre" charge after boss Steven Gerrard received a notice of complaint from the Scottish FA for comments about a challenge on Alfredo Morelos.
Morelos was stretchered off during Rangers' 4-0 win at home to Dundee United earlier this month following a heavy Ryan Edwards challenge.
The incident left Morelos with a gash in his leg, while the forward was one of four Rangers players who suffered injuries during that Scottish Premiership match.
Without referring to Edwards, Gerrard said after the match: "I don't want to make headlines and say a kid should have got this or that, don't want to be that type of manager.
"But I'd be very interested to see what the decision would've been from the officials had the shoe been on the other foot and Alfredo had made that tackle."
Although the SFA did not clarify which comment led to the charge, Gerrard has been accused of breaching rule 72, which stipulates that managers - as well as other players and staff - cannot "indicate bias or incompetence" regarding match officials during interviews.
Rangers said they will support Gerrard, with a hearing set for October 8, while the club have said it is "baffling" the SFA are using their resources during an "unprecedented crisis" to charge the Gers manager.
"Rangers are bemused that a notice of complaint has been raised against Steven Gerrard, for comments relating to the challenge which caused injury to Alfredo Morelos.
"This is a bizarre charge which we will robustly contest at the scheduled hearing.
"As is often the case, Steven Gerrard was asked for his view on a flashpoint in the match, with leading questions relating to the challenge that caused the injury and whether it should have been deemed a red card. On several occasions, he refused to do so.
"Given the wide range of incidents in Scottish football so far this season, we are perplexed that this issue has been raised and cited for complaint.
"Whilst our national sport faces an unprecedented crisis, it is baffling that resources are used to charge Rangers' manager based on a flawed and inaccurate interpretation of Steven Gerrard's remarks.
"Rangers will fully support its manager against this charge during the scheduled hearing."
Gerrard later warned that a repeat of his side's poor defending in their 2-2 draw with Hibs over the weekend could lead to trouble in Thursday's Europa League qualifier against Dutch side Willem II.
Rangers kicked off the new Premiership campaign with a British record seven straight clean sheets but that streak ended at Easter Road on Sunday.
Full-backs James Tavernier and Borna Barisic have both come under fire from fans for their failure to do more in the build up to goals scored by Drey Wright and Christian Doidge.
Gerrard - whose side stand 180 minutes away from qualifying for the group stage for the third year running - said: "It's very difficult to predict how a game might pan out but one thing is for sure at this level - if you're passive and stand off good players, even more than domestically, you'll get hurt at this level for sure.
"A big part of our performance and success throughout these qualifiers in the last couple of years and our journeys in Europe have really stemmed from a solid base defensively, our organisation and what we've given out of possession.
"But that's just one side of the game - you've still got to have the players and the talent in your team to go and hurt the opposition when the ball is turned over.
"To get a successful result both sides of our game will have to be good, but certainly from an out of possession point of view we have to do much better than the weekend.
"We've got to use the experience and tap into the knowledge of the two journeys we've had in Europe over the last couple of seasons.
"The players know what's needed and what it takes to get a result away in Europe."
