Fury at claims Hopkin was ‘manhandled’
Furious Morton last night accused fourth official Kevin Graham of “manhandling” and using “foul and abusive language” towards their manager, David Hopkin.
The Ton were raging after Graham’s technical area intervention saw Hopkin sent off in extrat i m e of y e s t e r d a y ’s Betfred Cup tie with Hibs.
T h e Mo r t o n boss did not perform media duties at full- time, a task which was instead handled by his assistant, Anton Mcelhone, and chief executive, Dave Mckinnon.
Both gave context to Ton concerns over both Graham’s appointment to the game and his behaviour during it.
“We’re going to go to the SFA and ask them about this because no one here knew there was going to be a fourth official,” said Mckinnon.
“He’s been brought in at the last minute and he’s influenced the game in some way. We’re obviously a bit irate about that.
“As chief executive of the club I will phone John Fleming and ask why a fourth official was added at the last minute.
“If the SFA m a t c h delegate doesn’t know why then what chance have we got?
“I also saw the fourth official manhandling our manager during the first half – grabbing him by the arm.
“If the roles had been reversed there would have been an issue. So why a fourth official feels he can grab a manager by the arm and pull him is beyond me.
“I also spoke to the manager at full time, who told me that when he was manhandled in the first half, the fourth official used foul and abusive language, which was witnessed. We have informed the match delegate.”
Hopkin was shown a red card after complaining that referee Alan Muir had missed a foul o n Mo r t o n’s Cameron Sa l k e l d in the build- up to Florian Kemberi’s second goal.
Fo r his assistant, Mcelhone, the incident was a grave miscarriage of justice. “It’s an absolute disgrace the manager has been sent to the stand for no apparent reason,” said the Ton number two.
“H e ’s not done anything wrong and he’s been sent to the stand by a fourth official who we’re not sure was supposed to be there.
“He shouted at him, screamed at him.
“If that had that been David he would have been straight off but nothing happens to the fourth official who came and grabbed him by the arms and told him what to do when he was hardly saying anything.”
Mc K i n n o n added: “The fourth official grabbed our manager by the arm and that’s confrontational in our book.”