John Fleming: Our refs performed very well

The SFA’s Head of Refereeing, John Fleming, believes that his whistlers performed very well last season.

While there was no repeat of Dougiegate or a refereeing strike the showpiece occasions were dogged by controversial refereeing decisions.

Euro 2012 referee Craig Thomson was roundly criticised for his Scottish Cup Final display, allowing Ian Black off scot-free despite an early elbowing incident then red carding Hibs defender Pa Saikou Kujabi and awarding Hearts a penalty with any contact clearly falling outside the penalty box.

Willie Collum booked Anthony Stokes for an injury time ‘dive’ in the League Cup Final with Euan ‘spot kick’ Norris confronted by Neil Lennon after the Celtic v Hearts Scottish Cup semi-final when he awarded the Edinburgh side the softest of penalties to take them into the final.

Fleming spent last weekend at St Andrews with the nations referees and feels that things are moving in the right direction.

He told the SFA website: “The annual Senior Referee Summer Training Camp is an excellent opportunity for us to review and discuss the positive elements of last season and also to look at areas where we could do better.

“I believe the referees performed very well last season and there are encouraging signs on the recruitment front, too, with an increase in our referee pool. We have also witnessed an increase in our retention levels.

“We will be introducing a referee pathway for the new season, which will provide a clear and transparent structure and will help us identify and nurture talented referees as early as possible with the assistance of our development categories.

“The camp also allows us to go through the pre-season guidelines with the referees which will soon go all the clubs with meetings planned over the coming weeks in order that everyone is aware of the guidelines which help deliver consistency.”

Steve Conroy and Charlie Richmond were amongst the refs to retire last season after their sub-standard displays saw them eased out of the high profile SPL fixtures.

Thomson will referee his first match at Euro 2012 tomorrow when he is in charge of the low profile Denmark v Portugal match in Group B.

CLICK HERE for Burley issues sack warning to Neil Lennon

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