Levein: Don’t silence bosses about stuff that needs fixed

CRAIG LEVEIN reckons silence has been deadly to the relationship between managers and Scottish referees.

The SFA rule that bans freedom of speech for frustrated gaffers and gags officials has led to a “them and us” scenario.

The Hearts boss believes it’s unhealthy so it would have been music to his ears when he heard SFA chiefs had scheduled a summit to start a dialogue between clubs and whistlers.

Levein, who has hit out over decisions in his side’s last two games, said: “The rule says you can’t criticise referees in a way that would suggest incompetence or bias.

“But every other industry is searching for those people within their organisation to get rid of them. It’s 2018, fairness and equality.

“We shouldn’t be forced to keep quiet about stuff that needs fixed. But we keep doing this.

“This is a situation that flares up every couple of years and all we do is throw the book at managers for making comments.

“It flares up, the referees circle the wagons, wait for it to go away, it goes away and then it flares up again. It’s unhealthy.”

Levein also insists we are forcing experienced refs to retire too early.

He said: “They are the best referees because they’ve gone through all of this and stayed at the top of their game. They throw them away too quickly at a certain age.”

Levein wants to see VAR introduced and added: “Refs don’t speak to you but in rugby they do. Why can’t we copy that? They’ve got VAR and you hear everything the ref is saying.”