Charlie Richmond has revealed that Don Robertson is on the SFA fast tracking process for referees.
Sunday’s penalty decision for Ross County against Celtic- and his refusal to consult his assistant- infuriated the hoops support and earned Robertson derision elsewhere as the clip was shown throughout the day on Sky Sports News.
Missing an obvious incident is bad enough for a referee- seeing something that clearly never happened is a different thing entirely with Robertson guilty as charged.
In order to make an impact at international level the SFA have been fast tracking certain referees through the system with the incentive of top matches and first class travel across Europe the incentive to selected referees.
Andrew Dallas has already created chaos with some bizarre decisions but having put him on the FIFA list the SFA are obliged to keep giving him high profile fixtures.
Explaining how 31-year-old Robertson has been given top fixtures Richmond told the Daily Record: “He’s the next up-and-coming ref who got his FIFA badge in January. There are high hopes for him but that’s one you have to get right.
“Does this come from a process of promoting referees too young?
“You have to learn the game, how you can be coasting in a game to the unexpected changing everything.
“How could you think after 89 minutes that game would turn out how it did, yet experience tells you it can and Don has learned a lesson.”
Richmond added: “It’s not even a difficult one. I don’t know what went through his mind when the Dutch striker went down under no challenge from Erik Sviatchenko in Dingwall.
“Don will look at the DVD and wonder how he got it so wrong. Don should have been across with a yellow card, instead, he made a badly-wrong call, the whole tempo of the game changed and Scott Brown’s tackle followed.”
Some have suggested that demoting Robertson is hanging him out to dry but having been given his chance and blowing it the SFA don’t have any other option.
If Robertson loves the game and enjoys refereeing he’ll be happy to go to the juniors and work his way through the ranks back to the top level on merit.
If he’s only in it for the glamour fixtures, the profile and travel then the fast tracking procedure has failed with all respect lost for Robertson as players and fans take advantage of a referee clearly out his depth as Sunday illustrated.