Former Rangers man Lee McCulloch has launched a scathing attack on the standard of refereeing in Scottish football in the wake of his former club’s controversial late 1-1 draw against Aberdeen on Sunday.
The Scotsman, who is now assistant manager of Lechia Gdansk, did not hold back in his column for the Glasgow Evening Times after the opening weekend of the season.
A red card for Alfredo Morelos, Dominic Ball avoiding a red card for a professional foul in the first half and Stevie May’s challenge on Ryan Jack were just some of the flashpoints at Pittodrie.
On the back of Kevin Clancy’s performance, McCulloch wrote: “I think the officials in this country are a problem, a massive problem.
“I don’t think they are consistent enough, I don’t think they are fit enough and I don’t think some of the linesmen can keep up with play.
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The biggest worry for me is the level of consistency from them. I think Steven was emotional after the game, but you can see that the standard of refereeing isn’t good enough.”
He picked out two of the big incidents in Sunday’s game and insinuated that the wrong decision was made due to a relative lack of training.
“In England, you have full-time referees and they are training every day but our guys are maybe training Tuesday and Thursday and have a game at the weekend.
“We are used in this country to [seeing] referees make howlers every week and how Dominic Ball didn’t get sent off at the penalty, nobody will ever know. It is one of the most blatant red cards you will ever see.
“At the Morelos one, it is easy for refs to say ‘he has got a short temper’ and even though they might not have seen it that clearly they still give it. They think Morelos is that sort of player so they give it and gamble on it. That is wrong.
He was keen to emphasise the impact this prolonged issue could have on Scottish football in general.
“The game here is in a healthy state and the fact that our teams are doing well in European competition this season is a pointer towards that. But something has to be done about our officials because that could kill it.
“When I was manager at Killie, I saw linesmen that weren’t able to keep up with play and they were gambling on whether it was offside or not because they weren’t fit enough to get up and down the line.
“That was a big frustration for me and I know I wasn’t the only one that thought that. I would go in with other managers after games and I wasn’t the only one that was concerned about fitness levels.”
It’s clear that McCulloch empathises with Steven Gerrard’s frustrations after Sunday’s game, and that also adds to the sense that the club is uniting together.