With predictable drama Dougie Dougie McDonald has stepped down as a referee.
Having helped engineer a strike by referees in support of his lies to Neil Lennon Dougie Dougie has decided to retire.
If McDonald had owned up to his lies or been properly punished by his friends on the SFA’s Referee Committee the weekend strike action would never have taken place.
Lennon has not received an apology for the lies told to him at Tannadice but the Celtic manager won’t be overly upset about that knowing that Dougie Dougie will never disallow another Celtic penalty or send off another Celtic player.
Six weeks on from the lies and cover up of Tannadice the three main culprits have all left Scottish football.
Assistant referee Steven Regan left with self respect after feeling that he could play no part in a cover up after the Celtic manager was lied to.
His story opened up a can of worms exposing McDonald and Hugh Dallas.
Head of Refereeing Dallas has been sacked in disgrace after being found guilty of sending an offensive email from his place of work.
And today, on the weekend of a strike from referees, McDonald has decided to retire after presumably being granted his last wish of taking charge of Hibs-Motherwell in his final appointment. Dougie Dougie is reportedly a Hibs fan.
With Dallas and McDonald gone SFA Chief Executive Stewart Regan has a real chance to drive through changes with only the Referee Committee of the SFA standing in his way.
A new attitude and approach is needed, referees can join the 21st century with accountability leaving the vows of silence and secrecy that surrounds them in the history books.
Recognising referees as an essential part of the game is required and the refs can do a lot of good by distancing themselves from the attention seeking drama queens that have apparently been stating their case over the last week.
Let Kenny Clark and Stuart Dougal keep their ramblings for the newspapers that pay for their opinions.
As McDonald leaves with the satisfaction of creating a refereeing strike a new era of transparency should be ushered in giving the many young referees with a genuine love of the game the chance to reach the top in their career without having to curry favour with the old boys network that have dominated refereeing matters for too long.
Craig Thomson: It’ll be difficult to continue without Dallas
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Kevin O’Donnell keep up the good work,
your teaching them well up in Paridise
I still think all grade 1 referees should go
They’ve been brought up in an environment to cheat Celtic at all costs. I would say use grade 2 referees but I believe there is a Dallas at that level.
Use grade 3 referees or junior refs as long as there honest.
Glad to see Dougie Dougie go with his dignity intact.
Dignity a very strange meaning it has in Scotland.