Dougie McDonald has announced his retirement

[pete 2,499]

Dougie McDonald has announced his retirement as a category one referee with immediate effect.

 

The 45-year-old, who has overseen two Scottish Cup finals, has been at the centre of a refereeing row since his controversial penalty U-turn decision.

 

McDonald misled Celtic manager Neil Lennon over his reasons for rescinding a spot-kick he initially awarded at Tannadice on 17 October.

 

Celtic had been calling for McDonald to step down after his admission.

 

McDonald said: "It is with regret that I have decided, with immediate effect, to retire from my role as a category one referee.

 

"My category one colleagues decided rightly to withdraw their services from matches this weekend in response to the outrageous way they have been treated by sections within Scottish football and, in my opinion, the lack of support they have received from the SFA General Purposes Committee in recent years.

 

"However, their united stand, and the position of strength they have established this weekend, has been clouded by one issue, namely the aftermath of the Dundee United v Celtic match on 17 October.

 

 

"I apologised for my role in that and wanted my previously unblemished 29-year career to move on.

 

"Now is the time for all of Scottish football to move on.

 

"My decision will therefore remove that issue from the debate and ensure that the next day of action - which, in my opinion, will undoubtedly come if the football community does not have a massive change of heart - will result in media coverage being concentrated on those who engage in referee bashing and those who condone it."

 

McDonald had received a warning from the Scottish Football Association after failing to properly explain his overturning of the penalty award.

 

He returned to SPL duty to oversee Hibernian's 2-1 win over Motherwell on 13 November and intimated that he had no intention of stepping down.

 

 

 

Craven initiated 'white lie' - McDonald

However, Celtic chairman John Reid then called for the official to resign or the SFA to take action.

 

"If the SFA had any sense of their own integrity, they should look at it again," said Dr Reid on 18 November.

 

"His position is completely untenable. The SFA's position on this issue is also untenable."

 

McDonald went on to suggest that the recent problems facing referees ran far deeper than his spat with Celtic.

 

"It is also important to make clear that just as this issue is not about Dougie McDonald alone, nor is it about Celtic Football Club alone," he added.

 

"The truth is, since I became a class one referee, managers or players - and sometimes directors - at almost every club, at one time or another, have been guilty of such behaviour.

 

"The only difference being the degree and tenor of the criticism and the inferences from it.

 

"The constant has been the unwillingness of the SFA General Purposes Committee to deal with it.

 

"I suggest they check the meaning of phrases such as 'wasn't impartial' used by (former Celtic winger) Aiden McGeady and 'conspires to' used by (Dundee United manager) Peter Houston and consider whether we want those used in Scottish football."

 

McDonald follows Hugh Dallas in departing his role within Scotland's refereeing circles after a turbulent week.

 

Dallas was sacked as the SFA's head of referee development amid an internal probe into allegations that a controversial image relating to the Pope had been circulated via the governing body's official email system.

 

Match officials from Israel, Malta and Luxembourg ensured all four of Saturday's SPL matches went ahead despite category one referees withdrawing their labour in protest at their recent treatment.

 

So the tims got their way after all. Only 5 million masons to go.:smile:

[alexscottislegend 2,057]

Add to this the fact that the blundering SFA lied to the foreign refs about the real reason they were brought in, then it's clear to see that Scottish football is run by cowards and incompetents.

[ascender 352]

I see fans of other clubs are in the main, celebrating this, mainly due to controversial decisions given against their team in the past. While I can see their point on that, they seem to be missing the main one, that he's basically been the subject of a witch-hunt by Celtic. The SFA could have and should have handled this much more professionally, instead they've just rolled over and done Celtic's bidding.

[ian1964 10,409]

By Gordon Waddell on Nov 28, 10 08:45 AM in

 

YOU can only help those who want to help themselves. An age-old saying usually applied to lost causes.

 

But step forward Scotland's referees. Rightly on the cobbles but orchestrators of the worst

PR campaign in the history of labour disputes.

 

"What do we want? Er, we're not exactly telling you.

 

"When do we want it? Oh, we'll let you know in due course."

 

We WANT to help. Really, we do. I wrote four weeks ago that the pressure being placed on them was intolerable.

 

That the constant questioning of why they're giving decisions, not what they're giving, was a disgrace and an affront.

That the SFA needed to have the balls to stand up to Celtic - and make no mistake this is their agenda - to protect Hampden employees from the not-so-veiled innuendo that they've all got it in for the Hoops as part of a greater conspiracy.

 

I still believe these things. That refs have the right to take strike action and that they've been pushed too far.

 

But they have to want to help themselves.

 

And in the middle of the shambles of a farce of a mockery the past few days have become, much of the sympathy has evaporated because they've let events overtake them.

The weekend is no longer about their cause.

 

Not just because the SFA have told such a tissue of half-truths that foreign refs have done a quicker turnaround at Glasgow Airport than the pilots and stewardesses.

 

Mainly because our whistlers haven't actually talked about what their cause actually is.

 

And, more importantly, they haven't had the balls to name names. Neither have the SFA.

 

The biggest thing for officials is that they want more respect, right? They want people to stop questioning their integrity, their honesty.

 

Fine. The notion they give any decision based on prejudice or bias strikes at the heart of the entire game. It's reprehensible.

 

But what about the guy still in their ranks whose lie six weeks ago sparked this month-and-a-half of madness?

 

Dougie McDonald is the bat being used to beat them over the head. They are harbouring a fugitive to integrity and honesty, good guy or not.

 

So the sooner his colleagues put an arm round his shoulder and ask him to look at the big picture, the better it will be.

 

He has to be persuaded to fall on his sword for the greater good.

Because any time a ref claims he made an honest decision you know what the comeback is going to be as long as McDonald is still there.

 

"Oh really? Honest? What about yer man lying to Neil Lennon then?"

 

Sadly he completely legitimised Lennon's later rant about refs "getting their stories straight".

It was as clear a case of bringing the game into disrepute as you will ever hear but the SFA couldn't go near Lennon because they knew lawyers would be able to get the Celtic boss off by using the word veritas.

 

Doesn't matter that McDonald actually got the decision right at Tannadice.

 

Doesn't matter if he gets every other call right for the rest of his career. And it doesn't even really matter now WHY he felt the need to tell the lie in the first place.

 

Why the kind of climate Celtic created made him feel the truth was the second best alternative.

 

He's burnt. And the flames are licking the feet of the other 30.

 

Take him out of the equation? The whistlers have a cast-iron case to stand on the moral high ground and ask for greater respect.

 

And, as the chaos of the last few days has shown, they have the game over a barrel.

 

Without the officials there is no game.

 

The other thing they need to do is make their case clearer.

 

People have to know WHY they are striking. What their cause is.

 

But there's no clarity. There's a PR war to be waged in any dispute and it can make or break it.

 

They simply haven't done it. They think that by just withdrawing they are proving a point.

 

Which maybe they are - the point being that they are indispensable.

 

We knew that anyway though. What we haven't heard is a single one of them on TV, radio or in a paper explaining specifics about their gripes.

 

Most of the people within the game I've spoken to - and I'm talking about chairmen, managers, players - believe Celtic are the root cause of it all. That other clubs are wrongly being tarred by omission.

 

So if they are? Let's hear it. If they're not? Dispel everyone's theories and tell us who is.

 

Either way, the whole episode has become a sorry mess - not helped by Friday's day of the long knives.

 

John Reid must be feeling pretty smug right now. He's watching the SFA implode thanks to a couple of grenades rolled in which have his fingerprints all over them.

 

He said he wanted a fundamental review and restructuring of the SFA at the Celtic AGM and, whether by accident or design, the Parkhead chairman is getting his wish.

 

Should Hugh Dallas have gone for the "Popegate" email?

 

 

Was it anti-Catholic? Was it a hate crime, as someone wanted him charged with?

Or was it satirical? Was it anti-child abuse? I've heard the vehement arguments on both sides.

 

Me? He's guilty of a gross misjudgment, sure, guilty of poor taste - but a sackable offence? A hate crime? Spare me.

 

And what about the five other guys sacked by the SFA because their electronic fingerprints were on it? Is that justice too?

 

Or simply an acceptable level of "collateral damage" to get rid of the primary target, as they might say in the Ministry of Defence?

 

The people celebrating Dallas' demise should at least be familiar with the biblical maxim "Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone".

 

Hopefully their consciences are clear.

 

 

http://blogs.dailyrecord.co.uk/gordonwaddell/2010/11/stop-the-war-now.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheSundayMail-GordonWaddell+%28The+Sunday+Mail+-+Gordon+Waddell%29

[stewarty 1,876]

That's a pretty fair article from Gordon Waddell.

[ian1964 10,409]

Kenny Clark Interview

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/scotland/9238356.stm

[Gazza_8 233]

Thank fuck. Can the tims move on now? Please.