SFA referee supremo admits that they make mistakes!
Last weekend provided a catalogue of howlers as matches up and down the country were ruined by honest mistakes as the referees returned from a five star training break in La Manga.
Bobby Madden produced a string of baffling decisions during Celtic’s 3-0 win over Motherwell but that performance was surpassed by Brian Colvin’s shocking performance in St Johnstone’s 3-3 draw with Hearts.
Steven Anderson has already had his red card reduced to a yellow but despite his horror show at Perth Colvin will take charge of Celtic’s midweek clash with Kilmarnock.
Discussing the referee’s display at St Johnstone Fleming told the Daily Record: “Every Saturday night I receive a phone call if something controversial involving a match official has taken place.
“Last Saturday I had the SPFL observer, the referee and one of his assistants making separate calls after Hearts had played at St Johnstone.
“Any game that’s regarded as being out of the ordinary contains one or two important decisions for discussion. That match had seven, of which four were correct, two were wrong and one was inconclusive.
“Eddie Smith, the match observer, said it was the toughest one he’d had to handle since he started.”
Fleming added: “In my time there have been six or seven referees who’ve been taken off the top league list because of performance-related issues.
“The Referee Committee met last Sunday to assess the season so far and we’ll reconvene next May. In the meantime every referee’s marks are monitored on a weekly basis.
“If one of them has two bad games on a back-to-back basis that’s enough for me to investigate the reasons why.”
Dougie McDonald has been employed by the SFA as a referee development officer.
