Steve Clarke has hit out at the SFA for trying to push responsibility for refereeing chaos into the lap of managers.
The Kilmarnock boss turned down an invite to the recent referee summit at Perth which seemed to be a PR exercise designed to deflect attention away from the real issue with match officials.
Back in August Clarke found himself in hot water after criticising Willie Collum for issuing a straight red card to Gary Dicker in a game against Hearts. When the appeal against that decision failed the Kilmarnock boss stated that the SFA couldn’t undermine Collum in the week leading up to to the first Glasgow derby.
Yesterday Kilmarnock lost an appeal against a red card given to Kris Boyd at Aberdeen with Clarke at a loss to understand the way that referees and the SFA hand out justice.
“I’m not sure why the onus has been put on the managers to change things,” the Killie boss told the Daily Record as he reacted to the Boyd decision and the recent summit. “We don’t get paid to change it, people get paid to do that, they should change it.
“I got the invite [to Perth] late on the Tuesday to go to a meeting on Thursday, but I had already made plans. I couldn’t go but I’m also quite sure of the fact that the people who are paid to run the game in Scotland should be capable of running the game in Scotland instead of going around and canvassing managers who are not paid by the SFA.
“They should do their own jobs. It’s up to them to put their house in order and get things right. They can ask the opinion of managers, but the SFA and people in charge of the game have to take responsibility.
“I don’t know if your input means anything or not. You don’t know how they are going to proceed. I know they asked Lenny [Neil Lennon] to join a panel.
“I’m not sure he will want to do that any more but like I say, it’s their job, they have to put the game right. That’s what they are paid for. You can try to affect change, but unless the people at the top are going to change it, nothing will change.”
Boyd will miss Killie’s match against Hearts tonight as well as Wednesday’s trip to Dens Park to face Dundee.
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