Celtic call on referee Dougie McDonald to resign
Celtic chairman John Reid has stated that he wants a review of how the Scottish Football Association is conducted and the chairman also called on referee Dougie McDonald to resign from his position.
McDonald failed to award Celtic a penalty in a Premier League match with Dundee United after he overturned his decision.
The referee later admitted to lying to Celtic manager Neil Lennon about how he reached the decision.
McDonald originally told Lennon that his assistant Steven Craven had signalled that there was no penalty, but the referee later admitted that he realised his decision was wrong and awarded the decision himself. Craven resigned over the incident, but McDonald
is not expected to do so.
This has led to Reid questioning the SFA and McDonald. The chairman told reporters, “If the SFA had any sense of their own integrity, they should look at it again. His position is completely untenable. The SFA's position on this issue is also untenable."
Reid suggested that Celtic were being treated differently by referees. The chairman also stated that MP Peter Wishart’s suggestion that referees should be forced to declare who they supported was a good idea. "We're not asking for special treatment, but
neither will we be treated as less than anyone else. Those days are gone. Maybe Peter Wishart's proposals about referees declaring their allegiances should be considered as part of the process," said Reid.
Celtic chief executive, Peter Lawwell defended Reid’s comments and stated that Celtic would continue to query bad refereeing decisions. “We lost the league last year because we weren't good enough, but we reserve the right to query decisions. It's not sour
grapes or paranoia,” said Lawwell.
The chief executive also stated that the SFA would review their stance on referees in light of the incident during the match between Dundee United and Celtic. “Stewart Regan [the chief executive of the SFA] has promised us a full review of referee procedures,
but not just that, a full review of the SFA as a whole," said Lawwell.
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