Derek McInnes watched Aberdeen lose 3-1 at Inverness Caley Thistle and blamed Willie Collum for the defeat.
The Euro 2016 bound referee retains the full confidence of the SFA despite what appears to be an addiction to making the wrong call regarding penalties.
Collum’s love of the limelight is well established- even before he awarded Rangers (IL) a penalty against Celtic in 2010 when he had his back to play as Kirk Broadfoot hit the ground.
The rise and rise of the golden boy in refereeing circles has outraged many managers down the years with McInnes stunned by the decision to award Inverness a penalty to go 2-1 in front.
“At the time I didn’t think there was anything in the penalty and having seen it again there’s no contact,” the Aberdeen boss said.
“The player has bought a penalty. He’s gone down under no contact and the ref has assumed contact has taken place.
“It’s clearly not a penalty. The same player bought a penalty in the last game and went down easily and it was the same tonight.
“If the ref sees it again he’ll make a different decision. I’ve said bought because he’s gone down under no contact and tried to say there was.
“The ref is peeking round from a position and it’s clearly not a penalty.
“Inverness played well but when the game is there to be won then that decision is pivotal.
“I’m wary it comes across as sour grapes when talking about penalties but if you report it as we were harshly treated in both boxes then that’s how I saw it. Horner swiped Shinnie to the ground and Ash Taylor is pulled down. On both occasions it should have been a penalty.”
In December after drawing 2-2 with Inverness at Pittodrie in a match littered with dubious penalty decisions from Collum, McInnes said: “Their penalty was very soft. Paul Quinn didn’t make any movement towards their player. Ross Draper stuck his hip into him.
“At the time I wasn’t sure about our penalty either. Devine’s arm is definitely up but whether it struck the ball or not, it’s not clear.
“We also should have had a penalty from the last kick of the ball when Carl Tremarco clearly handled to stop it going to Rooney. That was the clearest penalty of the lot.”
In August Robbie Neilson complained about Willie Collum, since then he hasn’t been in charge of a Hearts match.
In December Mark Warburton wrote to the SFA about Collum and got the right answers, since then Collum hasn’t had a Sevco match.
