Five days after the Scottish Cup semi-final between Celtic and Inverness Caley Thistle the SFA have still to clear up exactly what happened in the first half flashpoint involving Josh Meekings.
Celtic’s letter asking for an explanation appears to remain unanswered with mixed messages coming out of Hampden with SFA chief Stewart Regan silent.
With no answer to the letter and no sign of leadership, or responsibility, the mysteries of what happened on Sunday are intensifying.
Yesterday’s admission that one or more officials had viewed the incident was certainly at odds with the comments of Referee chief John Fleming.
Speaking to the Evening Times on Monday said: “What we do is speak to the officials involved, we take their view on what happened, we look at a freeze frame on the incident in question and we then look at their positioning.
“Alan was a very short distance from the incident when it happened. For him to see properly when the ball was headed goalwards, he would have had to see through the head of the player [Meekings].
“So I can see why in real time it looked as though the ball hit his face. Steven could see through the gap in play as the game unfolded but there was a millisecond, a click of the fingers when his view was not 100%.”
Four days later, after Meekings had been charged and had his one match suspension dismissed, the SFA explained the verdict of the Judicial Panel saying: “Further to the judicial panel hearing yesterday involving Josh Meekings, the panel considered initial submissions from Mr Meekings’ solicitor. In particular it was argued by him that under protocol 13.4.1.1 the judicial panel was not entitled to determine the matter.
“The panel considered that as the incident (but not the actual alleged sending-off offence of handball) had been seen by one or more of the officials it was not entitled to consider the matter further. It accordingly dismissed the complaint without any consideration of the merits of the incident or the decision arrived at by the referee.”
Did McLean and Muir see the incident, perhaps they’d like to explain what happened, as we know McLean isn’t shy with the media, in this clip he was happy to explain about handball to the BBC.