Don Robertson has told The Sun that he is going to phone Brendan Rodgers to apologise.
Rather than say sorry the referee could perhaps give Rodgers an explanation as to why the penalty was given
a) Was Robertson unsighted
b) Did he see Sviatchenko lift his feet to Alex Schalk
c) Why did he not consult his assistant about the decision
Without answering those questions and staying on the phone for an hour then Robertson is simply going through a PR exercise.
Sorry isn’t good enough.
Some decisions are borderline and can be viewed two ways. Schalk’s dive wasn’t one of them.
Gareth Law of The Sun has did a number of cosy interviews with referees down the years to show them up as nice good guys doing a hard job to the best of their ability for the love of the game.
Whenever their mistakes have just gone way too far the process is to leak it out about how upset they are at an honest mistake.
Right on queue this morning we have: “SunSport understands the whistler has watched reruns of the incident and is horrified at his mistake.
“It’s thought he is also annoyed at the way he was conned by Schalk.”
The Ross County player isn’t to blame for yesterday’s penalty.
Robertson is that man. With such appaling decision making he has to be sent down the grades to learn his trade a little better. If he is sorry and loves the game he can look forward to refereeing Arthurlie, Cumnock and others and if he shows promise he can step up to do the Lowland League with Cumbernauld Colts and Stirling Uni.
If Robertson isn’t swiftly demoted then the blame lies with John Fleming the SFA’s head of refereeing.
He has promoted Robertson- is that the example for aspiring officials to aim for.
After today’s staged apology we can expect to hear later in the week how Robertson and his family have been threatened and abused.
It’s the same script as Dougie McDonald used, Dougie Dougie is now has a coaching role with referees.