STEWART Regan, the SFA chief executive, has mounted a defence of the standard of refereeing in Scotland and warned managers and players to lay off the nation’s beleaguered match officials. A controversial weekend in the action in the Ladbrokes Premiership saw Robbie Neilson, the Hearts manager, reveal that he had instructed his side to train with ten men when he saw Willie Collum was refereeing his match against Hamilton Academical, while Inverness CT manager John Hughes said he felt Andrew Dallas wasn’t ready to be a top flight referee after the 1-1 draw with Dundee. In Sunday’s Championship match between Queen of the South and Rangers, the intervention of fourth official Crawford Allan to dismiss Derek Lyle also drew the ire of rival bosses James Fowler and Mark Warburton.

While the SFA compliance officer Tony McGlennan already has the tools at his disposal to punish players or coaches who make personal criticisms of referees, the SFA chief executive defended the reputation of Scotland’s match officials and told managers to look closer to home when it comes to apportioning blame following a poor result.

“Our refs are a very high standard but they makes mistakes, that’s how it is, and I do think that at times it’s unduly focused on, perhaps as a deflection tactic,” said Regan. “I don’t see same amount of coverage when players make mistakes or coaches.

“It’s difficult to comment on what could be live cases, so I can’t go into the specifics of the two instances in the weekend just past,” he said. “But what I would say, in the case of Andrew Dallas for example, is that he’s done 11 Premiership matches. At what point do you become good enough to referee in the Premiership?

“The language can be harsh and obviously we have rules in place that allow us to take action if managers or coaches make comments that become personal,” he added. “But I think it’s at times it is very unfair, as players and coaches also make mistakes and that doesn’t get the same coverage. I accept that there’s a lot at stake, financially, qualification, they’re all really important and that’s why managers and coaches are all really passionate about their teams performances. But at times referee is a good deflection tactic to take away from their own teams’ performance.”

Whether or not Scotland make it to Euro 2016 next summer, he is confident that one of the nation’s match officials will. “If you look at the number of Fifa refs Scotland has we’ve got seven, two elite.,” he said. “That puts us on par with England, Germany and Holland and it’s more than France.”

Regan was speaking as the SFA announced a major new sponsorship with beer brand Tennent’s. The chief executive, who formerly worked in the drinks industry, said he was relaxed about accepting sponsorship cash from this sector. “A brand like Tennent’s has a long-standing association with Scottish football, so it’s really positive that they’ve come back to the table,” he said. “It’s really about acknowledging that football fans drink beer. But it’s about being responsible. That’s the view of those in the sport and it’s what Tennent’s encourages as well.”

The national team and the Tartan Army travel out to Tbilisi this week for Friday’s crucial Euro 2016 match against Georgia and Regan said he had no security fears ahead of the match in the Boris Paichadze Stadium. The former Soviet state’s Group D match with Germany in March had to be halted twice when supporters invaded the pitch. “We’ve carried out an operational recce and no problems have been flagged up,” he said. “It’s a very exciting weekend coming up. We’re all looking forward to it.”