Killie and Clarke face punishment
KILMARNOCK and their manager Steve Clarke were last night charged in the wake of outspoken criticism of the Scottish FA’s disciplinary process. The Rugby Park boss insisted he knew an appeal against a red card handed out to midfielder Gary Dicker by referee Willie Collum would fail after the match official was appointed to take charge of the following weekend’s Old Firm match. Reading from a pre-prepared statement at his weekly press conference before last month’s trip to Aberdeen, Clarke described the panel’s
decision as ‘strange and inconsistent’.
However, he added: ‘I’m in no way surprised at the outcome of our appeal.
‘As soon as I heard the news, very early in the week, that the referee in question had been appointed to take charge of the first Old Firm match of the season before our hearing had taken place, I — and many other people — knew that the decision would go against Kilmarnock.
‘There is no doubt that the perception of most, and certainly of our club, is that the hearing was pre-judged by this early appointment.’
Claiming ‘small clubs like Kilmarnock may be fair game’, Clarke was also critical of Collum’s decision-making as he showed Dicker a red card for a challenge on Callumn Morrison in a 1-0 home defeat to Hearts.
He said: ‘The period of time between the tackle and red-card decision was ridiculously short and lacked a calm and rational approach from such an experienced official.’
After reviewing his remarks, SFA compliance officer Clare Whyte yesterday charged the Killie boss under rule 72 with making comments that indicate bias or incompetence by a match official.
Clarke was also hit with a second charge of bringing the game into disrepute.
Kilmarnock have been charged with bringing the game into disrepute after publishing the comments — and are accused of breaching rules about ensuring employees act within the regulations.
Clarke and Kilmarnock have until September 18 to respond to the charges, ahead of a Hampden disciplinary date for the former West Brom boss on October 25.
The SFA’s judicial process has been in the spotlight recently after a string of high-profile incidents.
Last week, Celtic assistant manager Chris Davies expressed his surprise that Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor had escaped punishment for a kick at Parkhead defender Kristoffer Ajer.
The decision to charge Clarke and Kilmarnock came just 24 hours after Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes branded the appeals panel ‘incompetent’ following the Dons’ failure to overturn a red card issued to Mikey Devlin.
The defender was sent off by referee Craig Thomson during his side’s 2-0 home defeat by Kilmarnock earlier this month.
The match official ruled that Devlin had denied Eamonn Brophy a goalscoring opportunity when he brought the striker down 30 yards from goal.
But Aberdeen were adamant that Brophy had fouled Devlin first and that they also had players in position to cover their centre-half, including right-back Shay Logan.
The Pittodrie side duly contested the red card but their case was thrown out by the SFA.
McInnes said: ‘It’s nothing about bias and I want to make that clear. I think every club gets punished or gets some leeway at some point. ‘For me, it’s the incompetence of these panels that calls it into question. ‘It just means people lose confidence in the process and it will make you think twice about appealing.’