POST-MATCH discussions between referees and managers have taken on an analytical air. Where once any argument over a contentious decision would simply involve a heated back-and-forth about whether it was correct or not, managers are now chapping on officials’ doors armed with information and often also video evidence to back them up.

John Fleming, the Scottish Football Association’s head of referee operations, will today lead a 42-strong delegation of officials to La Manga in Spain for their annual winter training camp. He acknowledged referees and their assistants now need to be on their game when dealing with queries, as those asking the questions are now more clued up than ever about the rules and how they ought to be interpreted.

“Managers call me on a regular basis but it is changed days,” he said. “When I was refereeing, the manager would chap the door with his boot after a game. He'd say: “That was a shocking decision”. That was the conversation: “Aye it was, no it wasn't”, and so on.

“Nowadays the managers are much more switched on to the laws of the game. They'll ask the referee to explain why an incident was serious foul play or where the player was endangering his opponent. They'll ask about speed, intention, things like that.

“The conversations go like that now. Managers in today's football are far more knowledgeable. They have the material now as I give them it every year. If a player is red carded, the question they should ask is: “Why did you send my player off?”

“The referee should give them an answer that's in the book I hand out to managers at the start of the season. To just say “it was a shocking tackle” is not an answer that holds up any more.

“We're blessed right now with the managers we have in Scotland. They're less experienced but more knowledgeable. Gone are the managers who'd shout a complaint with no substance. It was only a loud, intimidating complaint. If you look at the average age of the managers in Scotland it's probably the lowest it has ever been and they're the future.

“Robbie Neilson, for instance, would always have dialogue with me. He'd send me an email explaining why he thought a decision was wrong. He'd say: 'Here's a clip, can you call me?' They've all got analysts working with them so managers can tell you at half-time now whether an incident is on or offside. They know.”

While the prospect of goal-line technology and video assistant referees shaping Scottish football in the near future remains very much cost-dependent, one change that could come into effect in the coming weeks is the deployment of a fourth substitute for Scottish Cup ties that go into extra-time.

The experiment has been running since the start of the season but has yet to be put into practise. “The reasoning behind it was there was a document put forward by Fifa on tiredness and fatigue of players,” explained Fleming. “Pro rata you get a substitute for every 30 minutes of play so if there is another 30 then maybe you should get a fourth.

“I am helping measure its success so will be asking coaches who use the fourth sub whether they felt it was useful or not. Statistics would suggest that when a sub is put on in extra time, in 28 per cent of occasions the club will score a goal.”

With rule-makers Ifab [International Football Association Board] devolving certain issues to the individual governing bodies, the SFA could decide to introduce an extra substitute in league games, too, further down the line. “That would have to also go through Uefa but it is possible, yes,” added Fleming.