[hibeejim21]

The offside goal he allowed was a beauty too. The turkish fans are understandably raging but at least they are only likely to encounter this idiot once. He should be nowhere near top games in scotland never mind europe.

[0762]

I just watched the tv video highlights of this game on BT Sport and Thomson has been rightly 'slaughtered' for ruining what should've been a close fought final group match as well as indirectly destroying the quali chances of Benfica in one of the 'tight' CL groups that 'went to the wire'! I 'point the finger' directly at the SFA officials who have persisted in assigning Thomson to officiate UEFA matches and yet his record is downright dreadful!!!! Surely UEFA officials must discreetly 'deal with it' themselves in order to improve this level of officiation? Thomson should've been sussed out a long, long time ago as most of us know only too well!!!

[hibeejim21]

He will surely never officiate a CL game again.

Former Italian referee Graziano Cesari gave a blunt assessment, saying: “Craig Thomson is always a disastrous referee.”

[0762]

An easy observation for Cesari Jim as he's had bad moments at quite a few other Euro matches and didn't we all know that for a very long time indeed!!

[hibeejim21]

He's reffing the nights game with thistle and Celtic. I'm sure Sutton will rip the pish out him as per.

[0762]

I look forward to that one but didn't the SFA approach BT Sport to 'muzzle' Sutton lol? What a joke as they should be dealing with their ref probs directly!

[0762]

Thomson 'at it again' this afternoon with an astounding pk decision, a potential 'game changer', against Saint Johnstone at a time when the Saints were 2-1 ahead v the Hoops and just previously denied a pk when Swanson fouled. I listened to an 'emotional' Willie Miller (very rare indeed!) on bbc Sportsound, who slated Thomson in poss denying the Saints any 'share of the spoils' after them playing so well!! FT 2-5 for the hoops with Dembele back and 'on fire' with a 'hat trick'! This latest ref fiasco conveniently follows on from Chris Sutton's scathing remarks yesterday after a dreadful display by ref Andrew Dallas during the M'well v Hearts match - 'LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON'! I'm sure that'll 'ruffle up a few more feathers' at the SFA!
Just listening to Saints' manager, Tommy Wright, and he is rightly livid in his post match interview but 'kept the heid' reasonably well after such a disgraceful episode of refereeing!
What next with this whole shit Scottish refereeing fiasco eh!?

[HerefordBull]

Aye watched the game 0762 and was waiting for one of his decisions...........wasn't disappointed with the penalty award .....if the linesman couldn't see it from being wider how did he?....guy is a complete waste of space, just how he is considered to be one of Scotlands top refs and speaks volumes about standards up here.

Mind you was relieved when our ref yesterday chose to ignore Darren Macs handball and was lenient on Keatings for running 15 yards to deliberately chop one of their players down.  

Now who will get next weeks derby.........

[0762]

It also begs the question - What happened to the SFA ref observation/vetting system? The years pass by and yet, as a footie fan, I rarely see any evidence of this formal scrutiny being used to demote rogue/incompetent referees! IMO it just confirms that the SFA group of referees is nothing more than a 'select club'. In the case of the previously mentioned Andrew Dallas, this ref has been awful on many occasions preceding yesterday's match at Fir Park - scathing criticism raised often enough in post match reports! As Chris Sutton subtly hinted - Hugh Dallas' son and possibly an 'untouchable' because of that association!

[St Charles Owl]

It also begs the question - What happened to the SFA ref observation/vetting system? The years pass by and yet, as a footie fan, I rarely see any evidence of this formal scrutiny being used to demote rogue/incompetent referees! IMO it just confirms that the SFA group of referees is nothing more than a 'select club'. In the case of the previously mentioned Andrew Dallas, this ref has been awful on many occasions preceding yesterday's match at Fir Park - scathing criticism raised often enough in post match reports! As Chris Sutton subtly hinted - Hugh Dallas' son and possibly an 'untouchable' because of that association!

Maybe you are seeing the results of the refs simply not keep up with the changes in the game. Football is much faster these days, the ball pings around a lot and players are prone to faking challenges etc. All of this makes it more difficult for a ref, and then we now have the benefit of a 100 different angles to analyse the decision!!

The refs are poor, but demoting the current top ones would just probably promote even poorer refs, the whole system needs to change, we need to look at maybe 2 refs, more use of technology and better coaching for refs from a young age. I think everyone would accept a short delay in a game to make sure the decision on the pitch is correct, in fact in some cases this could happen while the game is still going, bit like playing an advantage, then bringing it back. Look at sports like tennis where technology has completely taken away the bad decisions or watch the Super Bowl today and first notice the number of officials, all with eyes on the play, their communication and the way they use replays to check decisions. Not saying we want to stop the game as much as they do, but if its 15 seconds, 2-3 times a game then I would prefer to see that.