STEVEN GERRARD has thrown his weight behind Ibrox Managing Director Stewart Robertson’s criticisms of the Scottish FA disciplinary protocols and claimed Rangers have been ‘over-analysed’ at times this season.

Rangers called for a review of the SFA system as a matter of ‘extreme urgency’ last week after Alfredo Morelos saw his red card appeal dismissed and Allan McGregor was hit with a two-match ban following a controversial Premiership clash at Pittodrie.

The situation escalated further on Monday when Robertson conducted an interview with RangersTV and expressed his belief that significant changes need to be made to the procedures around how players are cited and dealt with by the Compliance Officer.

Ibrox chiefs have held informal discussions with their Hampden counterparts and remain open to further dialogue in an attempt to address the issues they believe exist within the current disciplinary framework.

Rangers were left furious earlier in the campaign when Daniel Candeias was sent off against St Mirren, with the Portuguese forced to serve a suspension despite television evidence later appearing to exonerate him in the incident with defender Anton Ferdinand.

Robertson also spoke about the so-called ‘trial by Sportscene’ scenario and Gerrard has backed the comments from the Ibrox chief as the SFA come under the spotlight once again. Gerrard said: “I don’t think it’s a test for my man-management. Stewart’s come out and done a statement on behalf of the board.

“It’s obviously something the board feel very strongly about and this is something that must have been going on a long time before I walked in the door. But on my evidence over the past six or seven months I certainly support the statement.

“I’m not really getting involved in the politics between the BBC. It’s out of my control. My focus is just to coach and manage the team, and deal with the media that’s in front of me.

“But hopefully there is an outcome from the statement, and we all move forward. But it is certainly something I support.”

The role of Compliance Officer Clare Whyte has increasingly come up for debate in recent weeks as managers, players and supporters have questioned a series of disciplinary decisions at Hampden.

Robertson queried the new way of dealing, or not in many cases, with players for a range of on-field incidents and backed proposal to introduce VAR in Scottish football.

Rangers have been at the centre of a number of incidents so far this season and Gerrard reckons the system should revert to its previous incarnation.

He said: “Yes of course, I think that’s more down to the Compliance Officer than the majority of what’s involved in the statement.

“I think all the managers in the league have been really strong in trying to find a level of consistency and trying to help the game, and the referees, and the officials.

“We do feel at time that Rangers have been over-analysed at certain times and there have been more eyes on us. We are live more than most of the teams.

“So yeah, I definitely support Stewart in his views there. So I think all we are trying to do is help Claire and help the SFA for it to be a better spectacle for the supporters.

“Maybe the old way of doing it is the best way because I don’t know what lands on her desk on a Monday morning, but I wouldn’t like to see what lands on that desk because you leave yourself wide open if anyone can cite anyone at any given moment. I think it needs to go back to the old way where it’s more consistent.”

One of the main areas of concern for Robertson is the way in which cases are brought to the attention of Whyte and the coverage that certain incidents receives.

The Ibrox chief highlighted Rangers’ ongoing issues with BBC Scotland as a potential problem and the situation is no nearer to a solution at present.

The Corporation has insisted, however, that their coverage of Rangers is ‘editorially fair’ as they defended their stance on Tuesday.

A BBC statement read: “The central part of this dispute is that Rangers is continuing to operate an exceptional ban of one of our journalists.

“We have offered to return to Ibrox to provide commentary, as per our contracted rights, while we try to find a permanent solution to the overall dispute, but Rangers have said this is unacceptable.

“Our coverage, including analysis and comment, is editorially fair. We will continue to speak to both Rangers and the SPFL about the situation as we believe it’s in the best interest of our audiences to restore the ability to bring commentaries from all SPFL grounds.”