Graeme Murty responds when asked if Rangers will appeal Rob Kiernan’s red card

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Rob Kiernan was sent off in Glasgow Rangers’ narrow win over St Johnstone.

Rangers’ Rob Kiernan in action with Celtic’s Moussa Dembele

Graeme Murty has suggested that Rangers will appeal the red card that Rob Kiernan received in the Gers’ win over St Johnstone on Wednesday, but seemingly hinted that the appeal may perhaps be a tactical one, The Scottish Sun reports.

Kiernan – who has come in for plenty of criticism this term – did little to endear himself to supporters when he lunged in on Graham Cummins when the Gers were leading 2-1 with 12 minutes to go.

Not only was the challenge reckless and arguably needless – Cummins was near the halfway line with his back to the Rangers goal – but it also hurt the home side as St Johnstone equalised soon after. Luckily, Rangers sent the Ibrox faithful home happy with a stoppage-time winner.

The Scottish Sun reports that the 26-year-old is now set to miss Saturday’s Scottish Cup quarter-final with Hamilton and the Old Firm game the following Sunday. While his status for the Celtic clash would remain up in the air regardless, launching an appeal – which would see a hearing take place on Thursday – would make him available for this weekend.

And Murty suggested that is exactly the action the club plan to take.

“I think so, yes,” he said, as reported by The Scottish Sun, when asked whether an appeal was on the cards.

“We will have to put some more meat on the bones of the appeal when we go to the board but I think it is definitely worth an appeal.

“As it stands he would miss this Saturday and next Sunday. If we appeal, it would be heard next week, so Rob would be eligible for Saturday.”

While Murty admits that they would need to look at it before deciding whether to appeal, the fact that he has not questioned the decision or suggested that he is confident that they would win does perhaps suggest that they could be simply lodging a strategic appeal to make him available for the cup game.

Though the governing body may see it differently, it seems unlikely that the red card will be rescinded as Kiernan lunged in from behind. So perhaps sensing that a ban is inevitable, they may have decided that the cup tie is the most important game to have him available for, and an appeal is the only way to make that happen.