Why Brendan Rodgers SFA hearing can’t be fast-tracked as Celtic boss faces Ibrox ban

The possibility of an SFA charge against Brendan Rodgers for his remarks regarding John Beaton’s VAR display at Hearts might be a major blow to his chances of winning the forthcoming Glasgow Derby.If the Celtic manager violates the SFA and is punished by the national organisation, he will not be allowed to take the dugout for the Glasgow Derby on 7 April at Ibrox.

When you combine that with Hyunjun Yang’s suspension, Celtic will be significantly down against the best team in the Scottish Premiership going into the match.

Therefore, why doesn’t Celtic request that the SFA move forward the original March 28 deadline? Rodgers might therefore very well be in the dugout for the Ibrox game if he is proven guilty.

Sadly, it is not possible, and radio host Gordon Duncan explains why.

According to Duncan, [Superscoreboard], it is simply stated in the [SFA] protocol. Yang’s appeal and similar appeals for the red card are referred to as “Fast Track” appeals so that the player doesn’t have to worry about it and can attempt to resolve it before the following round of games.

“Fast Track” refers to appeals such as that. Remarks such as those made by Brendan Rodgers just do not expedite that accusation. It never was.It doesn’t matter if Brendan Rodgers is involved, Darren Young is involved at Stirling Albion, or Marvin Bartley is involved at Queen of the South. The procedure is very explicit.

“This is not a pressing matter; rather, the goal is to improve teams’ equity. This is done so that Celtic will have X days from the date of the charge to turn in the supporting documentation.

“After then, the compliance officer has X days to handle it. After that, they set March 28th as the date for the hearing.

“And that might actually result in Brendan Rodgers missing the Rangers game from behind the dugout.”

It will be devastating to go to Govan without Rodgers in the dugout if he is proven guilty. When it comes to making crucial decisions at Ibrox, Rodgers has demonstrated that he is fully aware of the steps to take in order to get the desired outcome.

That was evident during his first stint as manager, and we saw it ourselves during this season’s 1-0 Glasgow Derby victory in Govan.

However, I have no doubt that the Hoops coach will have his Celtic team ready and assured of winning whether or not he is in the Ibrox dugout.

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