As a Rangers diehard who once saw Treble dreams evaporate in the wake of a refereeing error that favoured Celtic , John Brown takes a predictably wry view of the anguish emanating from Parkhead in recent days . In 1989 , Brown was part of the Ibrox side which contested an Old Firm Scottish Cup final with two trophies already banked . He was involved in a touchline tussle with Roy Aitken that saw the Celtic skipper seize the ball and take a throw-in that should have gone the other way . Ten seconds later – following a defensive blunder from Gary Stevens – Joe Miller had fired home the only goal of the game . Rangers legend John Brown says Celtic have a case of 'sour grapes ' about their recent Scottish Cup exit . Twenty six years on , Celtic have seen their own hopes of a clean sweep disappear amid intense controversy . They have written to the SFA seeking 'to understand ' how the match officials failed to spot the hand Josh Meekings used to block a Leigh Griffiths shot in their semi-final defeat to Inverness . Brown views the whole furore as ' a bit of sour grapes ' that speaks of the frustration within his old rivals . 'It 's hard for officials given the pace of the game , ' said Brown . 'Celtic have been frustrated because they have not managed to win a Treble and Rangers have not been in the league for a number of years . I 'm sure if Rangers were in that position they would have won a Treble in that time , probably two or three ... ' The last comment was delivered with a grin . Brown could rant at refs with the best of them during his time in charge of Dundee , not least when Alan Muir was fooled by a Peter Pawlett dive and awarded Aberdeen a penalty that effectively relegated the Dens Park side . Muir was the extra official behind the goal on Sunday and has shared the brunt of Celtic fans ' wrath with ref Steven McLean . 'It basically put us down that day but it was one of those things , a referee 's interpretation , ' reflected a more sanguine Brown on his own brush with Muir . 'It is crazy now . The boy Steven McLean is a right good referee . Results went against me when he was refereeing and I was at Dundee . But he is a good ref , an honest guy . If he had seen it he would have given the penalty . 'If decisions went against me at Dundee , I would say to him through frustration . But when I thought about it , he never did it intentionally . I don ' t think any of the officials do . Inverness defender Josh Meekings blocks a goal-bound header with his hand but no penalty is given . 'It is impossible for the guy on the line to see it ( Meekings ' handball ) . You see the angle of the ref , there is a defender in front of him . It is that quick a reaction . You have to judge it on what you see and if you do n't see it you ca n't give it . ' And what of 1989 ? Despite the impact of that throw-in call , Brown still believes Rangers only had themselves to blame . 'Bob Valentine was the ref - that 's why I 've never sent any Valentine 's cards , ' he quipped . 'But Rangers were bad that day . Celtic were n't much better but we did not deserve to win it , we were poor . 'The throw-in should have gone to us , but fair play to big Roy , he grabbed the ball . The officials let him away with it and Celtic won the game , but these things happen do n't they ? ' John Brown was speaking to promote fan ownership group Rangers First which has over 13,400 members . Fans can sign up at www.rangersfirst.org .
Celtic were knocked out of the Scottish Cup semi-final by Inverness after officials failed to award them a penalty for a blatant handball . Their Cup exit ended any hopes of securing a domestic Treble this season . Rangers legend John Brown experienced similar frustration in 1989 , when the Ibrox side also missed out on winning 13,400 trophies due to poor officiating . But Brown says that Celtic 's complaints about the incident are 'sour grapes '