SPFL Prem boss claims referee has turned Scottish football into a laughing stock with ‘unacceptable’ decision
STUART KETTLEWELL claims rotten referees have turned Scottish football into a global laughing stock.
The Motherwell gaffer will appeal the red card shown to defender Dan Casey by whistler Chris Graham – and says the whole world could see it was a nonsense.
Graham stuck by his decision to send Casey off for a tussle with Killie sub Danny Armstrong despite being sent to the monitor by VAR David Dickinson.
And Kettlewell said: “Our media guy’s told me the pictures are trending on social media, not just in Scotland but worldwide, so fans of the game of football will be laughing and scoffing.
“It’s completely unacceptable that in our top flight you brandish a red card for that incident.
“What compounds it is that you get the opportunity to look at it again, you’ve been sent to the monitor.
“I just laugh at it now, I really do, almost out of boredom, out of frustration.
“You can question VAR, but without it the referee would still have sent Dan off.
“We haven’t discussed an appeal yet, but I think you can guess what we’ll decide.”
And rival boss Derek McInnes was just as harsh on whistler Graham for refusing to give his side what looked like a stick-on penalty for a foul by home midfielder Andy Halliday on Brad Lyons.
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He said: “If the referee gives a penalty, as he should, then we win the game, no doubt about it. He’s in a brilliant position to see it.
“I spoke to Andy after the game and he knows he got away with one – it’s not a bad tackle, but he’s mistimed it and caught Brad and it’s a penalty kick.
“Why not send him over to see it again? It’s incumbent on the VAR official to send him across, but now the ref has a Get Out Of Jail Free card because he hasn’t.
“He was asked to come across for the red card incident as it was supposedly violent conduct, but penalties should always be checked as well. If he saw it again, I think he’d see what I saw.
“I actually don’t think there was enough in the red card incident for it to stand. We were actually getting ready for Casey to come back on from what we saw on our monitor.
“The referee then maintained it WAS a red card, but I can think of three or four refs off the top of my head who would have dealt with it differently because talking to the players.”
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