Auston Trusty’s sending off continues to generate considerable debate.
When someone of Ally McCoist’s stature comes out as critical of a refereeing call, it lends weight to the argument that the Celtic centre-back was harshly treated against Hibernian on Sunday. Former FIFA referee Chris Foy, however, takes a very different view. Foy believes Trusty deserved to be dismissed and questioned why the American felt the need to be so forceful toward Jamie McGrath in the first place.
The incident took place during a Celtic corner, with Trusty bringing his arm down sharply onto McGrath, and Foy was prepared to defend the decision in a direct exchange with McCoist.
McCoist opened the debate on talkSPORT by telling Foy that everyone he had spoken to felt the red card was wrong. Foy was unmoved, pointing to the force Trusty used when making contact with McGrath’s arm as the key factor. It was notable that Trusty himself offered very little protest as he made his way off the pitch.
McCoist also raised the point that had McGrath remained on his feet rather than going to ground as dramatically as he did, the red card would never have been produced. Foy pushed back on that too, arguing that the officials were reacting to the action of the player striking down with force, not to the reaction of the player who was struck.
The exchange was lively, with McCoist noting that even Kris Boyd’s agreement with Foy only strengthened his own confidence that the decision was wrong. Foy acknowledged the decision would divide opinion but maintained he had few complaints with the way it was handled. He was clear that for VAR to recommend a review, there needed to be a clear and obvious error in the original call, and in his view no such error existed. His conclusion was straightforward: the player must reflect on why he chose to act the way he did.