John Beaton Booking Draws Barry Ferguson And Charlie Mulgrew Fury
john beaton drew anger in Rangers’ 2-1 loss to Hearts on 4 May after booking Emmanuel Fernandez during a move that had Rangers on the attack. The call came while Rangers were trailing 2-1 at Tynecastle Park and, by the end, they were seven points behind the William Hill Premiership leaders.
Tynecastle Park booking
Beaton booked Fernandez after the Rangers defender challenged Hearts striker Claudio Braga. Ferguson said, “He has won the ball clearly there, Fernandez. I don’t know what John Beaton is seeing here. John Beaton, talk to me. Rangers are on the attack there.”
The booking landed in the 80th minute, when Rangers were chasing the game and the attack was still alive. Charlie Mulgrew, speaking in the same moment, said, “Unbelievable. And it’s mental. Honestly, that’s a tackle you would love your defender to make. That’s unreal. Rangers are on the attack and then it changes the whole momentum.”
Ferguson and Mulgrew react
Both men focused on the same point: the challenge looked clean, and the whistle stopped Rangers while they were pushing forward. Ferguson’s objection was direct, and Mulgrew tied the decision to the swing in momentum that followed.
The timing mattered because Rangers had already had a first-half lead through Dujon Sterling. Blair Spittal’s substitution at half-time changed the complexion of the game, and Derek McInnes got the better of Danny Rohl in the second half.
Rangers' title gap
The loss left Rangers seven points behind the William Hill Premiership leaders. That gap adds weight to every call inside the final stretch, especially one that arrived with Rangers still in the contest and the ball at the other end of the field.
For Rangers, the issue now is less about the booking itself than the sequence around it: a challenge won, an attack stopped, and a game they could not recover before the final whistle.
