Speaking after full-time on Sunday, Celtic boss Martin O’Neill said “I’ve just had a word with the referee. He said he was going to just have a word with the two players then VAR intervened and said it was violent conduct.
“You can’t do this if that’s the rules now. It doesn’t matter if someone is holding on to you. You can’t, in an attempt to break away, you can’t thrust down in the manner in which he did.”
St Mirren defender King, 24, was sent off in his side’s 5-0 defeat by Motherwell in Paisley on Saturday. With his team trailing 3-0, the centre-back was involved in an incident with Callum Slattery and the Motherwell player fell to the ground.
Referee Calum Scott did not see the incident, issuing the red card on the advice of his assistant, and VAR did not intervene to ask him to review footage.
The independent panel ruled King should not have been dismissed and he will be available to face Livingston in Saturday’s league game at Almondvale.