SFA president George Peat wants managers to take the blame for their teams poor performance before they criticise referees. Several managers have clashed with match officials in the SPL this season and Peat harbours fears that such high-profile criticism could lead to problems with recruiting referees of the future.

He said: "Referees are under more pressure because there are more televised matches and close incidents are examined. Listen to some of the pundits looking at incidents three or four times and still not making their minds up yet they expect the referee to get it right straight away. The criticism they get is over the top. The people in the game realise how hard a job it is but managers criticise referees to deflect their own team's deficiencies. It's difficult because kids thinking of taking up refereeing will look at the criticism and think it isn't for them. There is a recruitment drive on just now and we just hope it comes off."