Hugh Dallas does not disagree that there continues to be work to improve the standard of refereeing in Scotland
 There are problems with officials in Scotland today and the man agreeing with this is Hugh Dallas. The SFA head of referee development Dallas has become involved in a a war of words with Motherwell boss Jim Gannon most of which has taken place in the media spotlight. Gannon publically complained that he took exception to several decisions made by officials this season. Dallas responded and the strong words between the two have entertained the watching football public. The Fir Park manager claims the SFA's policies and procedures on referees were not working. Dallas took the huff claiming he was "insulted" by Gannon's comments. But Dallas adopted a more conciliatory tone on Saturday saying: "I'm the first to admit that refereeing is going through a period at the moment, which we wish it wasn't. But, trust me, we are working hard behind the scenes to try and improve things. I appreciate that the managers are frustrated and get upset. I don't know what kind of pressure they're under because I've never been a manager, but we try to handle things internally. We analyse games on a Monday and a Tuesday with the referees, we take in the referee observer's comments and we have a seminar this weekend because, apart from improving the standards of referees, we also have to improve the standard and the coaching of our observers who are passing on the advice. So, we're working away quietly in the background." Despite the recent war of words between Gannon and Dallas, the referee head is willing to have a meeting with Gannon. He said: "I just feel, over the last week or so, that I've come under fire, which I did when I was a referee and a lot of times it was justified and I just feel that at this moment in time that it's totally unjustified and it's affecting family. I don't know Mr Gannon that well, he's obviously new into our set-up, he's got issues with the SPL and with the delegates - he's got issues with various things. If he has an issue with the referee standards then we have got a lot to learn from former players and managers - we need to be more aware of tactical issues on the field of play. We're always willing to sit down and listen to people who are willing to sit down and talk to me." When Gannon was asked if similarly minded to the idea of a meeting, he said: "Of course we should, but why does it take all this chaos and confusion before we do? I think we've moved on and we're talking about responsibility and accountability and those questions he hasn't answered. The most important thing now is that we discuss the standards of refereeing and decide who is responsible and who is accountable for that." A year ago, SPL manager agreed not to publicly criticise officials after games. This cooling off period held for a number of weeks only to be broken by Gannon, Dundee United's Craig Levein and Csaba Laszlo of Hearts. Dallas, who succeeded Donald McVicar in June, claims last season's arrangement was never formalised. He said: "There was never any mention of a vow of silence at the pre-season meeting of the managers, coaches and referee development department. What we did say was that we appreciated the way the managers conducted themselves in the latter part of last season. At that time, any concerns were voiced privately with the referee development head of department, which was Donald McVicar at that time. I thought it worked well and I asked them if they could afford me the same privilege and they have been doing that up until a few weeks ago." |
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