Former St Johnstone defender Richard Foster has been handed a six-match ban by the SFA over radio remarks he made about Rangers’ controversial Hampden goal against his old club.
Referee Matthew MacDermid sparked fury in the Perth ranks after appearing to blow his whistle for a foul on Saints defender Jack Sanders in the build-up to Cyriel Dessers’ League Cup opener last month.
However, after VAR intervention, MacDermid was instructed to review the incident and ended up awarding a goal to Rangers.
Perth players swore they had heard the official blow for a foul and stopped playing before Dessers fired home.
Foster apology
Foster, now head of coaching at Motherwell, called the SFA’s explanation of events leading up to the goal “lies” and later apologised on-air, saying: “I wish I hadn’t said it, but I did.”
At a hearing this week, he admitted breaching disciplinary rule 77 which states team staff, players and officials “must act in the best interests of association football” and shall not “act in any manner which is improper or use any one, or a combination of, violent conduct, serious foul play, threatening, abusive, indecent or insulting words or behaviour.”
The 39-year-old – who had three seasons at McDiarmid Park – was banned for six matches, with two suspended until the end of the 2024/25 campaign.
We told earlier this week how referees’ chief Willie Collum admitted MacDermid showed bad body language in the build-up to Dessers’ strike.
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