The Rangers media continues to defend Alfredo Morelos

A former Rangers player called out for less harsh treatment of Alfredo Morelos and reckons Celtic forward Leigh Griffiths gets an easier ride. Well, what else would you expect?

Derek Ferguson was reported by the Glasgow Times remarking on the unfair treatment of Alfredo Morelos after this week’s match where the Rangers played Hibernian. During the match, the Colombian had a coming together with Ryan Porteous. The sort of coming together where he ended up stamping on the opposition player but remained unpunished.

Most observers saw the incident but no card was shown. An odd situation where even Ferguson himself felt it could easily have been a red card for the striker but not even a yellow one came out of the referee’s pocket.

Ferguson goes on to reflect on how Morelos is harshly treated and for some reason, even ends up involving Griffiths in the midst of all this:

"“I watch loads of games, see other incidents, and it just seems to get pushed to the side. As soon as it’s Morelos, boom.“Griffiths, was it last season on an Aberdeen player? Stamps on him, nothing done. I’m not wanting to pick out Griffiths and have a go, what I’m just saying, I’m giving another example there was an incident and it was pushed aside, nothing happened.“Morelos last night, boom, everybody is on him like a ton of bricks. But that’s what you get when you play for Rangers.”"

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Why is the Rangers striker always involved though?

Ferguson’s point is less about any actions during the game itself, but seems more aimed at a follow up afterwards where an incident is punished retrospectively by the SFA compliance process. His view of a harsher treatment is where Morelos is later cited and banned for an incident during a game which wasn’t penalised at the time, allowing him to remain on the pitch and have an impact on the result.

Morelos went on to score later in the Hibernian match. He has now been issued with a notice of complaint by the SFA and faces a 3 match ban at a hearing on Tuesday. He was also cited for a red card incident by the compliance process after the December match against Dundee United, another match which the Rangers had finished with everybody on the pitch.

Here, the issue should be about questioning why Morelos keeps getting cited after the games rather than penalised during them. It’s not from a viewpoint of any harsh treatment, the examination should focus on why referees are failing to punish these incidents during the match.