Referee Callum Murray has apologised to Terry Butcher for awarding a penalty to Rangers against Inverness Caley Thistle on Saturday.
There was minimum contact between James Beattie and Stewart Duff before the Rangers striker hit the deck with Murray racing dramatically to the scene and pointing to the spot.
Despite the protests of the Inverness defenders there was to be no ‘Dougie Dougie’ moment for the referee to consult his assistant despite the widespread belief after the Tannadice fiasco that assistant are best placed to judge these incidents.
Fortunately Kenny Miller missed the gilt edged chance provided by Murray with ‘keeper Ryan Esson saving the striker’s penalty.
Butcher revealed: “The ref came up to me after the match and said sorry.
“Another official had got in touch to say it might not have been a penalty. But I have no problem with it.”
Perhaps if Miller had scored and Inverness were fighting against relegation Butcher might have had a problem.
It’s not known whether Murray apologised straight after the match or whether he did so after watching the incident again on television.
While Murray is likely to be praised for his honesty in admitting to the mistake the underlying problem needs to be addressed by demoting the referee off the SPL list for at least two months.
There is no point praising referees for their honesty and continuing to pick them for top matches. Demotion is likely to give a younger referee a chance to show that they have the nerve to get the big, title changing, decisions right.
The cynic may suggest that Murray’s apology is to keep him in contention for taking charge of the Rangers-Celtic January 2 fixture which is going to cause the SFA a severe problem.
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With Steve Conroy yet to referee any Celtic or Rangers match so far this season and Dougie-Dougie taking early retirement Murray is one of only four referees to have been in charge of a Glasgow derby.
Conroy can be dismissed as a contender for the January 2 fixture while eagle eyes Willie Collum won’t be asked to referee consecutive games between the top two.
That leaves the SFA to choose between Murray and Craig Thomson who had a nightmare performance at Ibrox last season denying Celtic two penalties, booking Shaun Maloney and Mark Wilson for simulation and allowing Kyle Lafferty to go unpunished for an x-rated attack on Celtic debutant Zheng Zhi.
Apologies from referees in recent seasons have been very rare although Kenny Clark and Craig Thomson, via Hugh Dallas, have apologised for not awarding Celtic penalties against Rangers at Ibrox with both incidents occurring in front of the Copeland Road stand.
After their recent strike and the impressive performances of the foreign referees brought in to replace them the last thing that Scottish referees need is more high profile honest mistakes.
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I don’t think we should be looking for demotions every time a referee makes an honest mistake, as opposed to an “honest mistake” ;o), but i think there should be a system of points – similar to the cumulative disciplinary points for players – and at a certain point, demotion for a coule of games could force the ref to sharpen his game…
Never mind the ref…( tosser )….what about Butcher ??
Until people like him stop toeing the party line ( IE …backing Rankers all the time)….then refs. will get away with murder…….
I just hope that there’s a repeat incident in a game with us….we’ll see his comments then…(tosser)…
Oh, he said sorry so i guess that makes everything alright then!
I bet he wouldn’t have admitted he’d made a mistake if Miller DID score the penalty.
I agree with a points system to keep refs on their toes… but then would certain refs (huns) deliberately use up their allocated number of ‘mistakes’ against certain teams? Nah, actually they should be heavily punished (lethal injection) for big, costly errors ¦-)
This does my head in, apologising, ‘ Oh refs are Human, they make mistakes ‘ That boils ma blood. They think they untouchable still.
Step aside Timmy, While their heal is still lodged firmly down on our throats.(Refs,Media,SFA,)
What If Miller scored would he have still apologised ?- What if Miller missed at Celtic Park when Brodfoot dived, would Collum have then apologised?
Another thing that gets me, if the ref apologises then he is saying he was deceived by a player who committed simulation.
So why is Beattie not being hauled up in front of the SFA for cheating ??
Why wasn’t Broadfoot hauled up for his theatrical dive at Celtic park ?
In future refs who make blatant mistakes like that- Final Warning- 2nd mistake then its division 3 for him for a month.
When is the last time a SPL club suffered because of an honest mistake that favoured Celtic FC ??
How can these diddy teams not see this, They continue to whine its an Old firm thing, but when you ask for examples you get well 30 years ago, Derek Johnstone got a penalty giving against him and Nakamura dived for a penalty and eh Hearts suffered at Celtic Park, It wasn’t off-side but it was a close call.
That’s some of the nonsense I hear on a regular basis, so far this season the darkside fc have had well into double figure controversial decisions go in there favour.
I thought with maybe Dallas gone, this would maybe stop, how naïve of me.
Get prepared for a controversial season finale, they going to bend over backwards to get next years Champs league monies into the mordor bank account.
SeltikBhoy67.
Hail Hail
Celtic more penalties than Rangers this season, same last season
yet you still moan
Youze all saw how well we performed with foreign referees in the Champions League- live with the success of Walter the master plumber.
Incredible stuff
I look forward to the first honest mistake that actually cost the rearangers some points and we,ll see if dignity fc hold there tongue and accept it in silence.
The corruption in the Scottish game isn’t going away. We did get rid of the cancerous Dallas, but he has many only too willing to avenge his demise of shame.