Levein may yet face action over Madden comments

CRAIG LEVEIN faces a sweat over whether he will face SFA disciplinary action after his post-match comments regarding the officiating of Hearts’ 2-1 defeat to Rangers. The Tynecastle boss lambasted an ‘abysmal’ performance by referee Bobby Madden and insisted Rangers had a ‘12th man’ as Steven Gerrard’s side won on Sunday to go top of the Premiership. The former Scotland manager said: ‘I read a quote from (Hibernian) boss Neil Lennon a few weeks ago when they went to Celtic Park and he said: “We were playing against 12 men” — and that’s how I feel today.’ Lennon was not hit with an SFA charge after making those remarks about referee Don Robertson in October and Levein will be similarly hoping to avoid censure. That remains to be seen, however, as

Sportsmail understands compliance officer Clare Whyte is aware of Levein’s comments but is yet to decide whether or not action is taken. Former referee Steve Conroy believes there should be some sanction against the Hearts boss, insisting there was no justification for his ‘personal’ attack on Madden. Speaking to the BBC, the 51-year-old said: ‘I think it’s really quite derogatory and demeaning to us all. I don’t think he’s got any justification in it. ‘In my day, it was a kind of general thing. We were all on the receiving end but it’s certainly individuals and personal now.’ Conroy, who retired as a referee six years ago, is adamant the SFA need to act to prevent the seemingly growing problem of managers making offensive remarks and launching verbal attacks on referees. He added: ‘There has to be something that will prevent, not the criticism about individual decisions — if you get it wrong, that’s fine — but personal insult I don’t think in any place of work is acceptable. ‘Whatever sanction that’s going on just now that I don’t know about or my colleagues don’t know about, certainly doesn’t seem to be putting anybody off. ‘It’s personal insult after personal insult. ‘Fines and things like that don’t seem to matter and I don’t suppose it matters too much to the clubs either, but there needs to be some kind of sanction to stop people acting like that.’