It’s fair to say that linesmen should not be elbowing players yet, despite the many angles showing Andy Robertson clearly being hit, Mark Clattenburg has come out with a remarkable backing of Constantine Hatzidakis.
Writing for the Daily Mail, the former Premier League referee said: ‘I have studied the footage that the PGMOL will look at and all the angles suggest Andrew Robertson initiated contact with Constantine Hatzidakis before the official reacted by swinging his arm.
‘In doing so, Hatzidakis’s elbow appeared to catch Robertson on the chin. Webb will now speak to Hatzidakis to get his side of the story. He should ask Robertson what happened, too’.
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It seems clear here that the 48-year-old is trying to reason with the decision from the match official to elbow a player in the face, by shifting blame towards our left-back for starting the confrontation.
All footballers don’t treat referees with the respect that they perhaps deserve and so to say that the captain of Scotland is doing something normal by approaching an official at half-time is a slight on the game, rather than our player but the altercation didn’t seem to be anything to out of the ordinary.
It’s highly unlikely that our No.26 said anything more than to criticise decisions or ask a question, nothing that would warrant being struck.
The Durham-born ref is obviously backing one of his own, something that most people in his position seem to do.
This is typical of the refereeing fraternity, whether current or ex, they go into this laager mentality and close ranks to protect their own. We have already seen what happens when the roles are reversed and to not punish the assistant would be blatant hypocrisy. Robertson has already received a yellow card.