McInnes slams ‘incompetent’ appeals process

ABERDEEN boss Derek McInnes has hit out at the “incompetency” of the Scottish FA appeals process.

McInnes was angered that the club’s appeal against Michael Devlin’s early red card in the 2-0 Pittodrie defeat to Kilmarnock was dismissed last week.

The Dons felt they had produced compelling evidence that Devlin had his shirt pulled by Eamonn Brophy before the defender was penalised for pulling down the Killie striker more than 40 yards from goal.

Referee Craig Thomson produced a red card for denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity but Aberdeen felt Shay Logan was in a covering position.

McInnes told the club’s Red TV platform: “It really angers me, and saddens me really, that we can’t come to what I feel was the only verdict.

“Referees make mistakes. We have been victims in the last couple of games of referee mistakes, and we accept that. But when there’s an appeals process there, you would expect that to get to the right outcome.

“In the last four or five appeal processes with different clubs, there just doesn’t seem to be that common sense conclusion. That goes right across the board – managers, supporters, journalists, people in the game, everyone is of the same opinion that we are baffled by some of these decisions.

“It’s nothing about bias towards certain clubs, I think every club gets punished or gets a bit of leeway at some point. But for me, it’s the incompetency of these panels and it really puts into question when you come up with the outcomes that’s been made over the last while.” it