Rangers handed five SFA charges

The Scottish Football Association has taken action against the Ibrox club, after they criticised match official Willie Collum in the wake of their clash with St Mirren last weekend.

Striker Daniel Candeias was given a red card during the game in November, the appeal for which was rejected, and as such, Rangers voiced their outrage that Collum had been handed such a big Scottish match this weekend (Aberdeen- Hibernian).

Rangers submitted a formal complaint against Collum and publicly criticised the official and the SFA appeals process in the press after the fixture, and the governing body has taken the opportunity to reinforce their control over the club.

Steven Gerrard's side have been charged with critisicisng a match official in such a  way as to indicate bias or incompetence; bringing the game into disrepute, not acting in the best interests of football, and two other breaches of the SFA code of ethics, which relate to sportsmanship and cooperation with the SFA.

The club have been given until Tuesday to respond, with a hearing scheduled for December 19.

A subsequent statement released by Rangers regarding the incident seems not to have been acknowledged at this time. 

It read as follows: 'Furthermore, it is understood that a number of people within the Scottish FA are in no doubt Mr Collum's judgement was flawed and Rangers shall also now be submitting a formal complaint about the performance of this referee. The manner in which he reacted to an incident involving our player made it obvious he did not give due consideration to his decision.'