RYAN Jack last night insisted Willie Collum should have awarded Rangers a free-kick in the build-up to the Celtic goal on Sunday – and called for referees who make repeated mistakes in high-profile games to be demoted to the lower leagues.

Rangers manager Steven Gerrard was incensed that Collum ignored the advice of his fourth official John Beaton in the Old Firm derby at Parkhead after a challenge on Jack by Celtic midfielder Tom Rogic.

Brendan Rodgers’s side went straight up the park after the incident and Olivier Ntcham netted what turned out to be the only goal of the Ladbrokes Premiership game.

Dermot Gallagher, the former Premier League match official who now comments on refereeing matters for Sky Sports, defended Collum yesterday and suggested that Jack had fouled Rogic by jumping into his opponent.

“That definitely wasn’t the case,” the Rangers player said yesterday after meeting up with the Scotland squad ahead of the Belgium and Albania matches.

“When I was in the air, Rogic took my leg away and swiped me. When I came down I went over on my ankle. You get some decisions, you don’t get some, but that one was costly for us. It was tough to take because that was the goal that won the game.

“We’re the ones that lose the three points and we have to live with that, but if it is a free-kick it’s different. I don’t know if anything gets done about it, if referees get things wrong. I don’t know what it’s in place if referees do make mistakes.”

Asked if he thought referees should go down leagues if they make errors in big fixtures, he said: “I think that’s what should happen. If you’re making mistakes time and time again, why should you be refereeing top games?”

Jack revealed that Collum had refused to speak to him about the flashpoint afterwards and expressed his exasperation at the lack of meaningful dialogue between players and match officials.

“It’s frustrating for players that you can’t actually approach a referee and ask for an explanation,” he said. “I feel like I can’t approach him (Collum), but that goes for most referees nowadays. You can’t approach them, you can’t speak or they’ll book you.

“I said: ‘Willie, I thought that was a foul’. But you get nothing back. It’s ‘go away, get out my face, whatever’. There’s nothing you can say. If you do try to approach to ask why, it’s a booking and another rash decision that’s going to be made on the pitch.”

Jack also questioned the purpose of having a fourth official standing on the sidelines if the referee is going to ignore his advice.

“It makes you ask why he is there,” he said. “He’s obviously watching from the side to give his input and advice to the referee. Obviously, the referee didn’t want to listen and wanted to go with his own decision and what he thought but, as I say, it was us that suffers."

Asked if he thought, like his Rangers team mate Connor Goldson, that Collum had been influenced by the Celtic fans in the 58,865-strong crowd, Jack said: “I don’t know, but it comes back to the point that we don’t get answers. No-one gets answers. It’s brushed under the carpet.

“You’d like to think there could be a relationship where players could give their views. Maybe some refs haven’t played the game or see it different. You have to get on with it and move forward.”

The defeat on Sunday left Rangers with just five points from four Premiership games – their worst start in the league since the 1989/90 season – but Jack is confident that huge strides forward have been made in a short space of time and feels they will only get better in time.

“There is definitely a massive improvement in the squad, in the staff, in the playing style, in the feeling around the club and among the fans,” he said. “ Everything seems to be on the up at the minute. We had a disappointing end before the first week break, but we will dust ourselves down, recharge the batteries and be ready to hit the ground running when we start up again.

“We have made progress. Our first aim was to obviously make the group stage of the Europa League. We have managed to do that. That is a major plus for the club and the supporters and for ourselves as players. It is good to get the chance to play at that level.

“But in the league we haven’t picked up as many points as we wanted to. We just need to focus on every league game when we come back.”