ALLAN McGregor was once banned indefinitely from playing for Scotland by the SFA for making V signs to the watching world. So perhaps it was appropriate that the question, in the minds of some Rangers fans at least yesterday, was whether the national association was essentially sticking two fingers up at the Ibrox goalkeeper yesterday when compliance officer Claire Whyte decided to throw out his appeal for the two-match violent conduct ban he had been offered for catching Aberdeen’s Lewis Ferguson painfully on the shin with his studs.

While hopefully it remains a giant leap from all this to the doomsday scenario of the Rangers goalkeeper, who has re-emerged as Scotland’s No 1 custodian in the last 12 months, voluntarily making himself unavailable for the national team as a result, it seemed instructive to assess whether there was anything here for McGregor to have any complaints about. He will miss Saturday’s meeting against St Johnstone and the Scottish Cup replay against Kilmarnock.

In my opinion, McGregor’s misdemeanour is fairly clear. While referee Bobby Madden didn’t see anything particularly untoward about the way the goalkeeper slid out to beat Lewis Ferguson to Gary Mackay-Steven’s over-hit through pass, TV cameras make it pretty plain in my opinion that he deliberately extended his leg in order to catch Ferguson with his studs on his leg. This he successfully achieved, making it for me a clear case of serious foul play and precisely the kind of incident which the compliance officer should be looking at.

While everyone swears blind that each case should be taken on its merits, it should be pointed out that McGregor has got a bit of form when it comes to such incidents. While he escaped censure for a kick at Celtic’s Kris Ajer off the ball in the 1-0 Old Firm defeat at Celtic Park in September, plenty of others – perhaps including Scotland’s refereeing fraternity – will have picked up on it.

So no complaints then … apart from the fact, that is, that so many other incidents past or present don’t seem to be punished in the same manner. All the best goalkeepers zealously guard their penalty area, and plenty of good ones also go on the offensive from time to time to fire a pre-emptive strike across their opponents’ bows. With officials under pressure to crack down on this area, McGregor’s biggest problem this time around was simply being caught.

READ MORE: Rangers keeper Allan McGregor loses SFA appeal bid

And then there is the immediate context of the chaos of the SFA’s disciplinary department, which only yesterday saw Kilmarnock’s Alan Power and Paul McGinn escape further censure for misdemeanours against Rangers and Dundee United respectively. Both men were booked at the time, Power for catching McGregor’s team-mate Ryan Jack with a kick to the head and McGinn for catching Dundee United's Cammy Smith in the face with his arm. While Power at least seemed to have his eyes on the ball throughout, the McGinn case seemed more troubling, particularly as -despite fairly clear TV footage - it was ruled that there not enough evidence for the compliance officer to raise a fast-track notice of complaint.

With Jozo Simunovic and Scott Brown escaping further censure for challenges in the recent meeting with Hibs, yet Alfredo Morelos facing a three-match ban after his recent red card against Aberdeen was upheld, fans of the Ibrox side feel SFA justice is not on their side right now. Taken in isolation I feel McGregor can have no complaints, but context is everything. That is why not everyone down Govan way will agree with that assertion.