A phone call offering his apologies will not spare Gary Teale from a rap across the knuckles from the disciplinarians at the Scottish Football Association.
The St Mirren manager's post-match girns and groans in the heated aftermath of his team's controversial 2-1 defeat to Dundee last Saturday have been referred to the SFA's compliance officer, Tony McGlennan.
Teale's anguish was ignited by a Dundee equaliser from Gary Irvine, which he initially thought was offside, before the flames of his fury were stoked by the ordering off of Yoann Arquin for a dive by referee, Steven McLean.
Arquin had the red card he received on his debut against Ross County prior to last weekend's match rescinded and Teale based his angry analysis on that particular turn of events after watching his new signing pick up two yellow cards in the reversal to Dundee.
"I'm not sitting here saying it was pre-empted, but I thought his other booking was very soft as well," said Teale at the time. "Is that because we had the red card rescinded last week? I don't know. It's a very cynical view to take, but when you're looking back on it again you can understand my frustrations."
Having had time to view television footage of the Dundee equaliser, which showed that Irvine was onside, Teale has accepted that he got it wrong and even contacted McLean to apologise. Speaking ahead of tomorrow night's match with Partick Thistle at Firhill, Teale let the cat out of the bag by revealing that a charge has been put against and he will be summoned next week to explain his comments.
"I'd like to draw a line under it," he said. "I spoke to them after the game and I've had a charge put against me for that. I spoke to Steven McLean regarding the offside decision, I had a go and I phoned to apologise for that because it looks like they got it right. So I hold my hands up because it looked like he was onside on the television when they slowed it down. I'm man enough to own up and admit I got it wrong and apologise and that's what I've done."
Having been sent off twice in his first two games, Arquin's introduction to life at St Mirren has certainly been eventful. At least he's been getting the best of the bath water. "I've told him to be a bit more careful," added Teale. "I don't think it was a dive (against Dundee). I'm not sure how much contact there was but for me he's not trying to win a penalty given the nature of the fall and how he goes down. For me, it suggests there was no hint of trying to cheat or con the referee. Maybe he is overeager. He was obviously very low because he got sent off in his first came for his new club and then again at the weekend. You are dealing with things you don't expect. You're not anticipating someone being sent off two weeks in a row. That will be a quiz question one day."
With Arquin unavailable for Friday night's fixture, Teale's morale has at least been lifted by the return of the talismanic figure of Steven Thompson following a hernia operation. "He trained a couple of days last week and he's been clear this week so that will help us," reported Teale, of a key player who had spent three months on the sidelines earlier in the campaign with a niggling groin problem. "Hopefully that's him back now. He's missed a big part of the season so fingers crossed he gets an injury-free run until the end of the season. He's a big player for us, a big focal point and we have missed him. To have him back and available is a big boost.
"As a player, you just want to play football so he's obviously been frustrated. He's a big personality and to have him back among everybody is great. You look to try and get anything to gain an edge and lift the spirits. Having him back is another step in the right direction."
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