Craig Brown was given a chance to air his views on the threat to next weekend’s games when Jane Lewis phoned him on Sunday for his comments. Our leader suggested that he knew what had prompted the threatened action but he was too diplomatic to name anyone from Celtic. The full interview is on the BBC website.
The main thrust of his comments were that Motherwell were innocent bystanders and that it would be unfair if the club was to suffer the financial penalty that would follow if the $ky game against Hearts was to be postponed. We would certainly lose gate money and the corporate budget would suffer but the TV money would come eventually.
Everyone loses their cool with officials!
He felt that the strike was a step too far and that the offenders should be penalised rather than the Motherwell – leaders of the Fair Play league. “We have been victims of erroneous decisions but we have to accept it”. His sympathy for referees “would dissipate” if they took action.
Former whistler Kenny Clark has said “Referees are at the end of their tether, and it's not just how it's impacting on them but it's the impact it's all having on their families and business lives”.
It should be pointed out that a year ago it was Motherwell who were leading the furore against the refereeing establishment when Jim Gannon (and Craig Levein) started a spat following the ‘Well v United game when is was suggested that Alan Muir didn’t know the difference between a foul and a tackle. (remember Gannon bites back?). As it happened he was in charge at Paisley on Saturday.
No doubt the SFA refereeing department will have a busy week ahead as it tries to bring some sanity to the dispute.