SFA are not interested in refereeing concerns, says MacPherson

QUEEN’S Park manager Gus MacPherson has taken aim at the SFA’s approach to referee development, describing the department as arrogant and their relat i o n s h i p with managers as non-existent.

The issue has been playing on MacPherson’s mind for some time, but the performance of the officials – led by referee Barry Cook – against Ayr United on Tuesday night was the final straw for the Spiders boss.

He says that he can accept development referees making the odd mistake as they make their way in the game, but they have now become so commonplace that he cannot stay silent on the issue any longer.

And the most frustrating thing for MacPherson is that the SFA appear to show little to no interest in the concerns of managers about the standard of officiating in the country as a whole.

“The boys were fantastic [against Ayr] but there are bigger questions to be asked,” MacPherson said. “It’s a tough one to take. It was hard to watch what was happening. I’m not going to [specifically] talk about the referee, I would actually talk about the whole picture.

“We see young referees coming through and we see development referees coming through, and sometimes we’ve got to accept that at the level we are at. They’ve got to learn somewhere.

“But we’ve got to ask if someone is watching that? We used to be able to see a performance off them but we don’t see it now.

“The bottom line is that the refereeing department are not interested in our opinion. They might say they are, but I’ve watched some really poor performances with Queen’s Park – again in our opinion, which doesn’t count because they’re not interested – and then two weeks later they are doing televised games.

“There is no accountability, none whatsoever. We’ll see where the appointments come and where they go, the level they go at, but that was hard to watch.

“I’ve told them down in the dressing room what we think of them, and it’s difficult when you have to put up with that. A goalkeeper holding the ball? I’ve not seen that getting pulled up for 15 years.”

MacPherson believes that the aloof attitude adopted by the SFA’s refereeing department when concerns are raised over standards is helping no one, least of all the referees themselves.

In his opinion, all it has served to achieve is a division between the football clubs and the officials.

“We should see the assessor’s reports, we don’t see them. The worst thing is that they are not interested.

“There is a them and an us. We get a reputation for being critical and not tolerant, but wow, it’s hard when you see that.

“I know there is always a reason and that’s their opinion, but some of the tackles. There was a deliberate handball – that’s not a yellow card now, it just depends on the situation? That should have been a yellow card and then the boy [Nicky Devlin] had a heavy tackle, so he should have been off the pitch.

“Then all we get told is to read the rules. There’s the arrogance we get – ‘read the rules’.

“One meeting a year, just because you have to, doesn’t sort anything. They’re not interested in our opinion and that’s the bottom line.”