THE row over the standard of refereeing performances intensified last night, after the Inverness manager John Hughes insisted that he has "no faith" in the Scottish Football Association's judicial panel. His comments came following the decision to cite him for his criticism of referee Andrew Dallas. The Hearts manager Robbie Neilson is due to face similar censure.
Hughes found himself cited by the compliance officer Tony McGlennan for saying that Dallas was "not ready for the top flight" after Inverness drew 1-1 with Dundee on Saturday 29 August. For his part, Hughes says he has no intention of withdrawing his comments and will fight the charges.
"I stick by my comments because my comments weren't personal and we will be fighting the charge," he told STV. "I don't usually do that because I have no faith in the system or trust in the system and I think that is fair to say. Sometimes when you feel you've been hard done by, you go and fight."
Having been landed with the charges, Hughes made a phone call to McGlennan to discuss what had been said but found little in the way of compromise on the other end of the phone.
"I was quite intrigued," Hughes continued. "I actually phoned up the compliance officer when I got it [the charge] through and had a long chat with him. It brought a smile to my face because he was at pains to tell me that he was the man and no-one presses his buttons."
Hughes is not alone in his grievance at the performance of referees. Hearts are also expected to challenge the charges made against head coach Robbie Neilson for stating that his side had "trained with 10 men" after learning that Willie Collum was the referee for their match against Hamilton in which Callum Paterson was shown a straight red card.
The Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes was "extremely disappointed" with Craig Thomson showing winger Jonny Hayes a straight red card for a challenge on Mikael Lustig against Celtic on Saturday and is sure to be dismayed at the SFA's decision to reject the club's appeal against the decision yesterday.
Hayes will now miss trips to Edinburgh to face Hearts in a crucial league match on Sunday and Hibs in next Tuesday's League Cup third round.
McInnes had previously stated his confidence that the red card would be rescinded by the disciplinary panel. Speaking on Monday, he said: ''Having seen the incident again, I don't even think it's a foul. I think he's won the ball. When you look at the criteria for serious foul play, other than speed, and Jonny goes into the challenge at pace, other than that we are confident that the decision will be overturned."
The Dunfermline manager Allan Johnston raised his own concerns over the standard of Scottish refereeing yesterday as he counts the cost of losing two defenders to leg breaks in the space of a month.
Johnston revealed that he has spoken to the SFA's head of referee development John Fleming after both Callum Fordyce and Ryan Williamson sustained horrific injuries in challenges that were not even regarded as fouls.
He said: "I've spoken to John Fleming just to get his thoughts on what's happening and the standard of refereeing as well – it's boys' careers at stake.
"There was not even a foul for the challenge on Callum, and it was the same with Ryan Williamson as well.
"It's a bad one and in all my time in football I don't think I've seen that. I've been involved for 25 years and that's two leg breaks we've had. I don't think I've had one before that."
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