Forum List | Football Forum
| Topic: Referee response |
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| 1. Author: jake89 Date: Thu 30th Oct 2025. 18:35 From the Press: Dunfermline have said that they have received feedback from the refereeing department at the Scottish Football Association following Saturday`s game at Ross County. The Pars were beaten 3-2 by the Staggies in Dingwall, thanks to Ronan Hale`s winner, having fought back from losing two goals in the opening three minutes to level. Manager Neil Lennon was furious with the performance of referee, Duncan Nicolson, post-match, accusing him of being "out of his depth". He said he was "apoplectic" with the man in the middle, and said he "cost us the game" with decisions that were made. There were a number of contentious calls made, with Lennon referencing, in particular, what he felt was a shirt tug on his defender, Nurudeen Abdulai, moments before County`s first goal; the lack of a foul, or red card, for the home side`s Declan Gallagher for Matty Todd being "elbowed in the face"; and Jeremiah Chilokoa-Mullen having a free-kick given against him, which led to the decisive goal, an incident which Lennon said was not a foul. Additionally, he was also unhappy with comments made to a member of his coaching staff by one of the assistant referees, slamming them as "totally unacceptable" and "totally unprofessional". Lennon said he would be taking matters further, commenting that he was "not accepting that as the manager of this club", whilst questioning: "Where`s the fairness for us? Where`s the fairness for my club and my team?". It remains unclear as to whether the Athletic gaffer will face punishment from the governing body for his comments but, speaking ahead of tomorrow`s match at Ayr United, his assistant, Iain Brunskill, confirmed that they have had a response to their points of view. "Yeah, we`ve had the feedback, and we`re obviously satisfied with what`s come back from them," he said. "You get these things in games sometimes, but, no, we`ve had the communication back, and we`re happy with that and happy to move on." It is not the first time that the Pars have sought answers from the SFA`s head of referee operations, Willie Collum, this season. Nicolson was at the centre of the most recent incident, against Partick Thistle in September, when Dan O`Reilly pulled the shirt of Chris Kane in the box, which Lennon felt should have resulted in a penalty and a red card. The Pars had previously sought answers over the lack of a penalty award for a foul on Chris Kane against Partick Thistle. (Image: Craig Brown.) Neither were given, but Collum subsequently agreed that a spot-kick should have been given. Additionally, Athletic also wanted an explanation after referee, David Dickinson, only gave a booking against Raith Rovers` Lewis Stevenson after his challenge on Andrew Tod saw the youngster suffer concussion and whiplash. The refs chief then agreed with the Pars that a red card should have been given. Last season, Lennon was given a warning from the SFA after hitting out at the standard of refereeing following a defeat to Hamilton Academical in April. Reply |
| 2. Author: wee eck Date: Thu 30th Oct 2025. 19:00 Referee operations at the SFA under Willie Collum seem to be much more tolerant of criticism than they have been in the past. In previous years I think they would have thrown the book at NL for his comments whether they were justified or not. Reply |
| 3. Author: Dave_1885 Date: Thu 30th Oct 2025. 19:21 Think thats an admission of error again but we’ve been more coy this time and kept it under wraps to avoid bringing the game into disrepute. Got to wonder why we seem to be on the receiving end of numerous errors from officials…… Reply |
| 4. Author: pars no1 Date: Thu 30th Oct 2025. 19:33 I think its more worrying that they have admitted so many mistakes against 1 club, than the fact they are not being given on the pitch at the time. if it happening to us so many times how many other games have the same issues? There needs to be more action rather than just admitting the mistakes. There needs to be more training and support available to the referees to assist. we will never find this out but hopefully that is already being actioned. We should certainly not get Duncan Nicholson again this season Reply |
| 5. Author: Bertie Paton Date: Thu 30th Oct 2025. 20:12 That`s an awful lot of blunders from the same referee against one team in the space of three games since August. This guys needs downgraded or investigated. Reply |
| 6. Author: Jeffery Date: Thu 30th Oct 2025. 20:14 Shirt pulling is really ripping my knitting. There is no legitimate reason to do it. Reply |
| 7. Author: Jock Par36 Date: Thu 30th Oct 2025. 20:23 There is no doubt whatsoever, that the standard of refereeing in the Championship is getting worse season by season Reply |
| 8. Author: desparado Date: Thu 30th Oct 2025. 21:21 Topic Originator: Bertie Paton like Date: Thu 30 Oct 20:12 That`s an awful lot of blunders from the same referee against one team in the space of three games since August. This guys needs downgraded or investigated. Two refs. Same Ref v Partick and Ross Co. Different one against Rovers. What an opportunity we missed in 2014. Reply |
| 9. Author: Kba990309 Date: Fri 31st Oct 2025. 13:53 Does anyone know what was said by the assistant ref to one of our coaches?? Keith allan Reply |
| 10. Author: TAFKA_Super_Petrie Date: Fri 31st Oct 2025. 14:14 Not sure, however i watched the SPFL stream of the Airdrie game which comes with no commentary, coupled with the small crowd you could hear Lennon and the backroom team being pretty `vocal` shall we say pretty much non stop the entire game at players & officials alike If the lineo at Dingwall told them to STFU or something similar i could quite easily understand why ! ---------------------------------------------------------------  [b]"People always talk about Ronaldinho and magic, but I didn't see him today. I saw Henrik Larsson; that's where the magic was."[/b] Post Edited (Fri 31 Oct 14:15) Reply |
| 11. Author: neils Date: Fri 31st Oct 2025. 14:26 Yes, Neil Lennon seems to be one of these managers that shouts throughout the game. That`s just his thing I guess, Owen Coyle was like this too, even trying to direct his teams free kicks , I`m not a fan of this approach, but I`m not a football manager. I always wonder what the need is, surely the training during the week is enough, or the players surely should know, but each to his own I guess. Reply |
| 12. Author: Higgys Mohawk Date: Fri 31st Oct 2025. 14:45 Kba990309, Fri 31 Oct 13:53 I read that he’d told one of the coaching staff to go back to organising the water bottles or something like that. Reply |
| 13. Author: GG Riva Date: Fri 31st Oct 2025. 15:14 Higgys Mohawk, Fri 31 Oct 14:45 That made me smile, but I would have been raging if that was said to me in the coach`s position. Very arrogant and unprofessional. Some folk have a very inflated opinion of themselves. I wonder how he would have reacted if the coach had told the official to stick to holding up the board for the substitutions?  Not your average Sunday League player. Reply |
| 14. Author: parsmad68 Date: Fri 31st Oct 2025. 15:28 neils, Fri 31 Oct 14:26 As a player I liked it. It was immediate and I knew that something had to be rectified quickly. But as you say, each to their own. Reply |
| 15. Author: GJS93 Date: Fri 14th Nov 2025. 11:28 "It remains unclear as to whether the Athletic gaffer will face punishment from the governing body for his comments" took them two weeks but Lennon has been served a notice of complaint for his comments after the Ross County game. https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/sport/football/5368315/neil-lennon-sfa-ban-dunfermline-athletic-pars/ "If found guilty, the punishment can stretch on a sliding scale from a four-match suspension at the ‘lower end’ to eight games at the ‘top end’." what isnt mentioned though is he should be banned for the Morton game after getting his 3rd yellow against StJohnstone. Post Edited (Fri 14 Nov 14:21) Reply |
| 16. Author: Bandy Date: Fri 14th Nov 2025. 12:04 it`s always seemed bizarre to me that football governance cracks down on managers calling refs incompetent, but doesn`t really seem to care about the actual incompetence of the referees. I get it - refereeing is a tough job, and I make mistakes in my job every day. But I always acknowledge my mistakes and try to learn from them. People calling out my mistakes helps me to get better. The current approach applied both here and south of the border seems to be to try and find reason to justify the mistakes - like the nonsense show where Howard Webb talks to Michael Owen about why the refs are always right. It`s abysmal. Reply |
| 17. Author: Bucuresti Par Date: Fri 14th Nov 2025. 12:23 I am sure that referees performances are assessed every game. Likewise I am sure that based on these judgements referees are either promoted/demoted up or down the leagues. That this takes place in private is correct, as it should in any place of work. Reply |
| 18. Author: Bandy Date: Fri 14th Nov 2025. 13:08 if they are being assessed properly and learning from errors I`d expect standards to be improving. The standards are not improving. Reply |
| 19. Author: sadindiefreak Date: Fri 14th Nov 2025. 13:25 Im of the opinion that if a manager complains about a referee and they are shown to have been justified in their complaints then no action should be taken against the manager. If the manager complains and is shown to have been talking bollocks then disciplinary proceedings are then used. Reply |
| 20. Author: Dave_1885 Date: Fri 14th Nov 2025. 14:13 Bandy, Fri 14 Nov 13:08 They aren’t just not improving - they are getting worse! Is the Partick game not the game that Gollum apologised to us for because the refs got things wrong? Surely this should be thrown out? Reply |
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