Former top referee Keith Hackett, who had a lengthy career working in England and on the International stage, has today claimed it’s a certainty Steven McLean will be investigated by the SFA and should expect to be relieved from duty over the next week or two after a stunning error during Celtic’s weekend Scottish Cup victory at Parkhead.
In the dying embers of the game McLean awarded Celtic a penalty for a clear handball as Jota’s goal bound effort was blocked by an arm of a Raith Rovers player inside his own box. With Sean Mackie having already picked up a caution for a clumsy tackle earlier he should have been sent off but instead the referee booked his teammate, Ross Matthews, who was actually behind Jota at the time of his strike.
Hackett, who after retirement also worked as a referees’ assessor before being appointed general manager of the Professional Game Match Officials Board, compared it to an incident at the World Cup in 2006 where English referee Graham Poll was also involved in a case of mistaken identity when Croatian Josip Šimunić escaped getting sent off for two yellow cards although it ended up third time unlucky for the player when he finally got his marching orders after picking up yet another yellow card and getting sent off later in the game.
“The administration of a referee is massively important,” Hackett told Football Insider. “We had it years ago when Graham Poll issued three yellow cards to the same player. Mistaken identity is easily done.
“In the Premier League, we requested the number on the player’s shirt to be on the front of their shorts to gain recognition. The one thing you don’t do in refereeing is go by physical features. Numbers are easier to remember than faces. It was an administration error and it would have been prevented by VAR. That is why the Scottish Premiership needs VAR.
“The matter will be investigated by the Scottish FA, of that I am sure. I have no doubt the referee can expect a weekend off, or maybe two.”
Two points here. Keith Hackett may be a former top referee with a magnitude of officiating experience both on the pitch and in administrative roles thereafter but I doubt he has ever dealt with a association so inept on these matters as the SFA. He’s convinced this matter will be investigated and McLean will be handed the next few weekends off but as we well know in Scottish football it would be folly to fully believe this.
Refereeing as a whole is a decisive matter in Scotland with fans of certain clubs regularly being handed the privilege of officiating games involving the team they support, which is almost unheard of in other countries. The process of disciplining officials after a poor performance during a game is also notoriously secretive, with supporters often being kept in the dark about punishments, if any, handed out to referees.
Hackett does make a good point in advising that mistakes such as these could easily be rectified by introducing VAR into the game here. This is something that is gaining traction from supporters, managers and pundits involved in the Scottish game but we are yet to see much movement on it so far. VAR definitely has its advantages but it would be imperative that we got capable people monitoring the VAR and making the decisions otherwise the technology would be pointless.
Luckily for McLean his mistake was at the end of a match that was already over as a contest so it has escaped receiving as much scrutiny as it perhaps deserved. Can you imagine the aftermath if such a decision was to effect a tight game involving a team in the midst of a close title battle during the run in? Lets be honest, none of us would be overly surprised if something similar was to negatively impact us over the next few months. Let’s hope not.
Conall McGinty
What were his linesman and the 4th official doing. The fourth official in particular should be noting cautions. No excuses here what do ever they are now able to speak to each other. All of them are culpable