George Peat u-turn: Some of the criticism of referees was justified

The SFA have performed a u-turn to introduce an independent review of claims for wrongful dismissal.

The farce that saw referees review their own sending’s off was highlighted when Dougie McDonald threw out Celtic’s appeal against Scott Brown’s sending off at Ibrox.

To no-one’s surprise McDonald stood by his decision despite television evidence showing that his view was obstructed, Kyle Lafferty’s over reaction and McDonald bursting into a sprint as he reached to his pocket to brandish the red card at the Celtic skipper.

Celtic’s initial lobbying behind the scenes was thrown out by the SFA but the support of SPL Chief Neil Doncaster quickly brought about a change of mind from the SFA.

SFA President and former Airdrie director George Peat admitted: “We have agreed that an independent review panel will sit to determine any Claims for Wrongful Dismissal.

“A similar system will also be in place for investigations into incidents missed by a referee.

“This should significantly reduce the time it takes for investigations to be completed and I think everybody will be in favour of an independent panel.”

That begs the question as to who will make up the independent panel. Will it consist of former referee’s and SFA yes men or be made up of respected former players and managers from clubs that aren’t directly effected by the decision.

Peat added: “I understood some of the criticisms of the procedures last season but we have moved to rectify them. Some investigations into incidents missed by the referee took too long to be completed.

“Also, given the relentless criticism of our referees last season – some of it justified, a lot of it over the top – I think it was becoming unfair, in Claims for Wrongful Dismissal, asking referees to review and possibly change their own decisions.

“It put them under a lot of pressure and unnecessary media scrutiny. They will still have input under the new procedures but the final decision will be made by the independent panel.”

The workings of the mysterious Independent Review Panel remain under wraps despite Celtic openly challenging the criteria chosen.

Glenn Loovens and Scott McDonald were singled out to explain their actions following consecutive games in May 2009 with other incidents escaping the attention of the SFA.

Peat hasn’t been so chatty since commenting on reports that Celtic had been critical behind the scenes of refereeing decisions and is clearly under pressure from the SPL.

He claimed: “I have a good relationship with Neil Doncaster, the SPL chief executive, and there have been no problems whatsoever. We both realise things have to change and we are working towards that aim collectively.

“I think there is now a realisation on both sides that everybody needs to work with each other to improve Scottish football.

“The only way we can improve the standard and image of Scottish football is by doing it together and not fighting with each other. ”

Reducing the number of honest mistakes would also go a long way to improving the image of Scottish football.

Any neutral Sky Sports viewer watching last season’s Glasgow derbies would surely have been amazed at the decisions of Craig Thomson and other members of the Hugh Dallas clique.

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