text: 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 don't see it you can'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 weren'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 don'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.
target: 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 three trophies due to poor officiating .
  But Brown says that Celtic's complaints about the incident are 'sour grapes'