THERE can be no doubt what the huge talking point in Scottish football was over the weekend. Rangers beating St Mirren 4-0 was probably a scoreline that many would have expected, given the respective league positions of both sides, but what nobody could have predicted was Rangers being awarded four penalty kicks in the match.

I can’t recall a team being awarded that many penalties in one match and it again shone the spotlight on officials in this country and in this particular case, Andrew Dallas.

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I have looked back at the penalty incidents and tried to put myself into Dallas’ shoes. It is common knowledge that a referee has to be completely certain before he can give a penalty kick or else he just can’t give it.

In my opinion, for at least two of the penalties, Dallas guessed and has been swayed by the Ibrox crowd. Most would agree that the first Rangers penalty was a definite foul on Jermain Defoe. There’s no debate on that one.

But the other three decisions are very contentious. Two handballs that are just outside the box in my view, and a disputed foul by Paul McGinn on Defoe which wasn’t a penalty. A lot of Rangers fans argued a later foul on Morelos should have been another penalty, which I agree with, but to give a fifth penalty to Rangers would have taken a near-decapitation in the box. So, all in all, Dallas got one decision right out of five, in my opinion.

That is completely unacceptable and once again shows the lack of ability from our supposed top referees. St Mirren are fighting for their lives and I feel sorry for them being on the end of such dreadful decisions.

I mentioned the word ‘swayed’ and there is no doubt in my mind that some referees, when they go to Parkhead and Ibrox, are influenced by the roar of the crowd. It’s a high-pressure environment and when 50 or 60 thousand people are screaming for a decision, some referees crumble under the pressure.

I think it is only human nature that refs would take the easy option and go with the shouts but it is in situations like this that they need to be mentally strong. Every 50-50 decision becomes a 60-40 in the home team’s favour because of the crowd. Borderline decisions always seem to go the home side’s way. I know this from personal experience of playing in Glasgow on many occasions.

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Back in 2002, I travelled to Ibrox with Hibs to face a Rangers side who were neck and neck with Celtic in the title race. We went 2-0 down early on to a very good Rangers side but I managed to pull a goal back just before half-time to get us back in the game.

During the second half we dominated the game and pushed hard for an equaliser, and with 15 minutes left we were denied a stonewall penalty kick when Bert Konterman handled the ball in the box.

The referee Mike McCurry actually gave a corner kick and said it wasn’t deliberate, which confused us. Big Bert nearly caught the ball, never mind handled it. That led to our incensed coach Bobby Williamson being banned for claiming that the treatment other clubs get against the Old Firm in Glasgow was a disgrace. This followed on from another game for Hibs against Celtic at Parkhead, where we were on the receiving end of two decisions that ultimately cost us the game.

The first was a goal I scored that was at least two yards onside that would have got us back in the game. It was a shocking decision by the linesman but as we reached the 90th minute, the game was level at 2-2.

The referee decided to add on four minutes, even though there was hardly a stoppage. Celtic scored the winner in the 95th minute. Again, we were fuming and felt hard done by and it felt like whenever the Old Firm were struggling at home, they always seemed to get extra time added on at the end of a game.

I have said countless times that I don’t think referees in this country are biased towards Celtic and in particular Rangers. That is despite me being on the end of horrendous decisions, especially at Parkhead and Ibrox. I just think the pressure gets to referees at the big stadiums and they can get swayed by the screams.

But events like Saturday’s at Ibrox make it harder for me to back up those claims and only increases paranoia among other clubs and their supporters. Dallas had an absolute shocker and for me, followed the crowd’s shouts. It seems as if we are saying this every single week, about referees all over the country. The standard has got to be improved, whether that means refs going full time or VAR being introduced. Too many games are being decided by refereeing decisions and not the standard of play, and that simply has to stop.