MacPherson: Ref rants in vain

Gus MacPherson has told colleagues who are calling into question the standard of Scottish referees - you are wasting your time.

The St Mirren boss has clashed with officials on several occasions in the last couple of seasons and has watched with interest as Hearts boss Csaba Laszlo and Motherwell manager Jim Gannon have displayed their own frustrations.

MacPherson said: ""I've been a manager for six years and in the last year I have thought, 'it's not going to make any difference', and just got on with it."

He added "I haven't been a lone voice, there have been other managers who have criticised referees but it has been blown up again because it is different managers.

"Jim Gannon is new into the Scottish game, as is Csaba, and they are highlighting issues they have had in recent weeks, as has (Dundee United boss) Craig Levein, who has been involved in the game for a while. But there comes a point where you sit back and say, 'what's the point?'

"The problems just haven't suddenly appeared this season. Is it any unhealthier than it was two or three seasons ago? I don't think so.

"There is one meeting before the season starts that you have to attend due to UEFA guidelines. The manager, coach and captain must attend. I said two or three seasons ago that one meeting a year wasn't the answer. That doesn't solve all the problems."

Laszlo revealed he had written to the Scottish Football Association expressing his "serious concern" about the displays of David Somers and his assistants in Sunday's Clydesdale Bank Premier League defeat by Hamilton at New Douglas Park, in which captain Michael Stewart and defender Ismael Bouzid were sent off during the game, with Somers issuing a further four red cards following a mass brawl in the tunnel.

The Hearts boss called for a summit between all the major stakeholders in the game, saying: "Alone, you don't change anything. You must take all parties - managers, club officials, referees, somebody from the SFA."

Gannon is currently embroiled in a public spat with Hugh Dallas, the SFA's Head of Referee Development, and said: "It's up to other people who control the game to ask the questions that need to be asked. Why the standards are low? Have they been improved? Are they deteriorating? What is being done about it?"