Craig Levein Interview

[wyness_is_god]

Seriously, How bad are referees in Scotland at the moment  :029: And why is it nearly everytime the Old Firm are involved they are on their Highest level of being Sh1te or are they just Corrupt!

Craig Levein is right in everything he says today in his interview about them, sad thing is he'll likely get punished for his outburst and if he is I hope he tells the SFA and SPL to stick their fine where the sun don't shine.

Levein Rant about McCurry

Best interview of the season and best i've heard from any manager in a long time  :001: and the Grocer gets involved too  :001:

We of course are no stranger to dodgy officials ourselves when they come up the A9, we see it almost every game at Caledonian Stadium,

so is there actually any that are decent ? and which officials ? should be given the  :33:

Maybe time for referees to come up from England or even Foriegn Refs for games involving the Old Firm ?

[Caley]

"I thought Mike McCurry had the balls to stand up and give these decisions, but he bottled it"

"I don't give a toss what it means to Rangers"

"We got cheated"

"It's been going on for years, you don't get any decisions here"

Well done to Craig Levein for having the balls to stand up and say what needed to be said. A brilliant post-match interview.

For anyone that missed it you can listen to it here.

[Caley]

Ha-ha you beat me to it by one second!  :015:

[wyness_is_god]

:015: Maybe if the moderators could merge the 2 subjects together ?  :004:

*** Done - The Mantis ***

[Alex MacLeod]

Refereeing in general is bad in Scotland. At the two Glasgow grounds its even worse. I think they are intimidated by the large crowds so are frightened to give controversial decisions.

The SFA really needs to act but they wont. So until the clubs get together, or fans of all teams show solidarity, and protest in the strongest terms it will stay the same.

[KennySim93]

Even though im a caley fan, I want Rangers 2 win the SPL and even I think dundee utd were robbed. Their disallowed goal was perfectly fine, should have had a penalty, add these 2 bad decisions to the 1 goal they did score then it should have been 3-3.  :crazy07:

[caley100]

I'm really glad that Levein has stood up and aired his opinion on referees in Scotland ( again)  but again nothing will be done, week after week we witness inept unfair decisions from do-nut officials, It will die down till the next complete feck up from... errrr... take yer choice ! 

[Alex MacLeod]

I'm really glad that Levein has stood up and aired his opinion on referees in Scotland ( again)  but again nothing will be done, week after week we witness inept unfair decisions from do-nut officials, It will die down till the next complete feck up from... errrr... take yer choice ! 

Sadly Levein will likely get in the sh!t cos the SFA will never admit there ref coaching is cr@p

[Agent N]

Refs have difficult role to play in Football. Not professional, only paid armatures.

My opinion that they are not dishonest, and do not have the benefit of TV replays, assistant referee was heavily involved in some of the more controversial decisions today.

managers and players should be careful when criticising refs, I've never seen a ref , dive, seek an unfair advantage or deliberately attack someone.

Correct my if i am wring, ( i know you will) but was levein not involved in some refereeing controversy involving utd and stmirren?

[Guest Spectre]

I'm with Agent N on this.  Refs do not have replays, half a dozen camera angles and slo-mo.  Yes, statistics show the big clubs get more decisions (I think a study a few years ago found Man Utd got 80% of 50:50 decisions), but unless we go to American football style umpiring, that's how it goes.  Have Dundee United never had a wonrg decision in their favour?  I don't think so.

And some of the pundits are the worst.  Last year Ian Wright and Lee Dixon (I think) were complaining that Arsenal didn't get a penalty because although it wasn't one (the defender got contact on the ball), from where the ref was positioned he couldn't have seen this so should have given one even though it would have been the wrong decision!!!

[Scarlet Pimple]

In North American ice hockey cameras are used to assist refereeing decisions about whether the puck is , or is not , over the goal line.

The ref stops the play goes over to the 'phone connected to the box up above where the film judges are and the judges rule on the issue. Simple, effective and , apparently, neutral.

Modern electronics must now play a part in deciding whether a ball is over the line.

There is too much at stake  to allow for either human error  or for dodgy decisions as in those allegedly constantly happening between old firm teams and the "also rans" in the SPL.

:33:

[CELTIC1CALEY3]

We should experiment with foreign referees for big games to prevent guys like Mike McCurry feeling imtimidated after a big game from the fans on the street. It is fascinating that Rangers began the season with a major let off in Inverness with clear Sectarian songs. That was clear because Rangers in general have stopped singing them. Their season is ending again partly on a religious controversy. It must be nearly impossible for the SPL to find 'neutral' referees in the eyes of the masses. Mike McCurry may well be forced out of the game because of perceived beliefs not necessarily linked to the depths of Rangers Football Club. Who would be a referee?

[Guest birdog]

Referees will never be seen as unbiased. Referees are human and as such will make mistakes, to err is human, these mistakes will always be judged as biased refereeing by one set of fans or the other. People say there is an "old firm bias" this might be true due to the amount of pressure put on refs by players, managers and 30-40 thousand baying fans during a match in which one of the OF play and pressure leads humans to make more errors but at the end of the day I do not believe there is a deliberate bias towards the OF.

Matches which involve Celtic and Rangers are more heavily covered by the media and as such the decisions made in these matches are more heavily scrutinised by the media and mistakes are magnified by slow motion TV replays and still shots accompanied by lazy journalism in the tabloids. An equal amount of human errors are bound to occur in other matches up and down the country but because of the perceived lack of interest by the media these errors are not analysed time and time again in newspapers and on the TV.

We all love to hate the old firm but at times we get as seriously deluded as their supporters.

[hislopsoffsideagain]

A good referee is a referee who remains impartial and unbiased even in the face of, for example, huge pressure by supporters, players or managers.  Howard Webb, for example, is an outstanding ref.  He makes mistakes, but the fact is that he keeps such good control and treats everyone equally, so he gets less s**t from fans and players.  Going back further, Collina had the same gift.

I haven't seen the highlights of the match, but everything I hear suggests that it was actually impossible not to give a penalty, and that United were denied a perfectly good goal; according to Levein, when the ref's reasons for disallowing the goal were pointed out as wrong by Levein, the ref then changed his reason for giving it.  That is pretty **** fishy.

Quite frankly, there should be a question on the application form from now on - "If at a game at Ibrox, a Rangers defender blatantly fouls an opponent in the box while the last man, would you give a penalty and send the defender off?"

Quite frankly, whether due to dishonesty or lack of bottle, I think most Scottish refs would be lying if they answered "yes".  On the other hand, imagine the double glazing bills if McCurry had sent Weir off and Rangers had lost.

I'm disappointed that no-one has a conspiracy theory yet about the fact that McCurry's day job is as a Church of Scotland minister!  :tic01:

[starchief]

They do have foreign (including Scots) for the big match in Cairo, Ahly v Zamalek.  Maybe for Rangers v Celtic but if you start going for Rangers v Dundee Utd - even in such a match for Dundee Utd, where they were pretty much out of the UEFA frame in all reality - then what will Scottish referees umpire?

Myself, I don't think there's a conspiracy towards Rangers or the Old Firm.  However, I do think there's an unconscious bias towards 30 000 fans yelling for a penalty as opposed to 3 000.  It's just human.  Also, the OF tend to attack more.  Naturally, they get more penalties, whilst other teams, if they get turned down in a game, it's a big deal, even though the OF opponent may have had more than one turned down.

The claims:

I wouldn't blame the ref for the lack of sending off for Cousin.  Don't think he could see it from behind.  The assistant ref should have though.  Should be fined and banned.

*The assistant referee should have made the call for the 'goal'.  He was easily in the best position.  Don't know if he flagged  :symbol_question:

Penalty.  First saw it, thought it was just a stumble but second look, definite penalty.  Suppose if I got it wrong, can I criticise?

*Just found out - assistant flagged.  He's got to bear the brunt of that decision.

[Heilandee]

Leveins quite correct in what he says, particularly when he asks "who gives a toss about Dundee United eh?"  :015:

Seriously though ,referreing standards in Scotland have plummeted to all time lows,will anything be done?i doubt it. :007:

[wyness_is_god]

Aberdeen Complain About McCurry v Rangers

Hibs problems with McCurry v Rangers

Dundee convinced McCurry to blame v Rangers

Motherwell accuse McCurry v Rangers

Hearts lose out to McCurry v Rangers

5 occasions just there alone (not counting yesterday's) where McCurry has allegedly had an effect a game against Rangers that Rangers have gone on to win.

Equally shocking is the statistic I found elsewhere of, since 2000 rangers have won 67% of all their league games but when Mike McCurry referees they win 85% of the time.

Now I'm not a paranoid person but that frightens the life out of me that a referee in the league we play in can be that shockingly bad over such a short spell. There's room for Human error on one or 2 occasions but this guy is a serial at it!

[breachofthepeace]

Levein was superb, at last a manager having the balls to speak out. I don't think he is the sort of person to meekly apologise either for his outburst and will hopefully stand up to the league when they no doubt give him a ticking off.

Nice one Craig :022:

[MissICT]

I feel so sorry for dundee united.

this is the second time they have been cheated by a ref against rangers!!

refs are a waste of time!!

[Guest TinCanFan]

:015: :015: :015: :015: :rotflmao: :015: :015:

refs are a waste of time!!

:015: :015: :015: :015: :015: :015: :015: :015: :015: :015: :015: :015: :015: :015: :017:

So who'll control the game then, you??  :015:

[Kingsmills]

Well done to Craig Levein for having the courage to speak the truth. The irony is that he will be the one who ends up being diciplined rather than Mike McCurry who, if he was not being biased, was so incompetent that he should not be refereeing at SFL level far less the SPL.

[MissICT]

they are just all for the old firm!!

[BA]

I'm disappointed that no-one has a conspiracy theory yet about the fact that McCurry's day job is as a Church of Scotland minister!  :tic01:

There was a caller (a Celtic fan) on Your Call trying to make it by casually trying to continually call him the Reverend Mike McCurry to which Jim basically called him a narrow minded bigot

[Guest Arab4Ever]

heres a link to the highlights if your interested http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/scotland/7394889.stm

whole things a joke. de vries's celebration was class though :002:

[CELTIC1CALEY3]

First of all the ex Dundee boy scores two very good goals.

Secondly, Weir makes a hash of a clearance, then panics and carries out the clearest bodged tackle we will se in a penalty box for ages.

Thirdly, Weir is distraught when he scores an own goal.

Fourthly, Cousin should be given a straight red on video evidence. This is twice in less than two weeks that he has stuck the head in - what message does that send out across Europe?

McCurry and his team were  well at fault for three major incidents.