[0762]

Watching today's Scot Cup semi-final, M'well v the Dons, and my son previously predicting during the week that Clancy is the match ref and 'will play a big part' in deciding who progresses to the final - 'spot on' after Clancy's woeful performance again with some awful decisions that no longer surprise me any more! Well done the Steelmen, deserved winners in the end, but I wonder what Neil Lennon made of it if he was viewing this game!!? And we wonder why there are no Scottish refs taking part in the World Cup finals in Russia!? There's an easy answer to that question! I must say I still can't 'get ma heid around' Clancy wearing a FIFA 'badge of recognition'!

[hibeejim21]

Aberdeen were beyond dire and gifted motherwell all 3 goals. The officials were awful,but it wouldnt have changed the result.

Going by the crowd it should have been played at easter road or the PBS.

[0762]

Definitely another SFA gaffe re venue allocation but what's new eh? Scot footie run by incompetent imbeciles and we've seen it all too often in the past!

[theo_luddite]

There's us thinking we only get shit refs

[0762]

Aye! I believe that again there are no English refs assigned to play a part in the World Cup finals in Russia!? It kinda 'tells a story' re the required standard not being good enough! IMO bring in an improved/refined VAR process asap.

[hibeejim21]

English refs have to declare where their interests lie. In scotland there is no need as we know most of them are blazer wearing,masonic,rotary club arseholes that support sevco.

[0762]

Oh aye! The mandatory affidavit required by the English FA should be easily introduced in Scotland in order to filter out any kinda discrepancies re any ref association or interest in certain Scottish footie clubs. It would also show some form of transparency and reasoning in assigning and not assigning certain Scot footie fixtures to any scrutinised ref - it makes sense and is practised elsewhere, no problem!

[ritchiebaby]

Oh aye! The mandatory affidavit required by the English FA  should be easily introduced in Scotland in order to filter out any kinda discrepancies re any ref association or interest in certain Scottish footie clubs. It would also show some form of transparency and reasoning in assigning and not assigning certain Scot footie fixtures to any scrutinised ref - it makes sense and is practised elsewhere, no problem!

That's the very reason that it won't happen in Scotland.

[St Charles Owl]

Oh aye! The mandatory affidavit required by the English FA  should be easily introduced in Scotland in order to filter out any kinda discrepancies re any ref association or interest in certain Scottish footie clubs. It would also show some form of transparency and reasoning in assigning and not assigning certain Scot footie fixtures to any scrutinised ref - it makes sense and is practised elsewhere, no problem!

I'm not sure the comparison with England is a fair one. The FA in England have far more regions, far more refs and far more potential teams that refs could be affiliated to than Scotland does. Your population is based around 3-4 key regions that really only cover half a dozen teams that a ref is likely to support or be associated with. That will likely make it difficult to find enough good refs to cover a lot of the games if they are not allowed to ref certain teams. In England, there are more refs spread across the country that its much easier to find a ref from the North to cover a London derby or vice-versa, I think you would end up with too many refs from Glasgow or Edinburgh that have some affiliation with the 4 main teams there and therefore would not be able to ref games between those teams.

I don't know what similar sized countries with similar population concentrations do to choose their refs, but you have to imagine Norway, Sweden, Belgium etc must have either no real policy like Scotland or have a different solution that the Scottish FA could look at. Always comparing Scottish football to English football is probably not the best way to learn and come up with solutions in general.

[0762]

I can concur with such a demographic argument but I still perceive the SFA could make such a system work reasonably well with proper numbers appointed accordingly - not all grade 1 refs in Scotland support Rangers or Celtic but there are some who have some kinda link that is certainly worth scrutinising in the quest to make refs more accountable and, more importantly, fully impartial. Couple it with a more streamlined VAR system and we would improve this element of Scot footie significantly IMO.