Don't Blame The Referee

MY friends of a Celtic persuasion - yes, I have a couple - have been somewhat jubilant since Peter Lawwell was voted onto the new SFA Professional Game Board; feeling that after what they have perceived as generations of por-Rangers bias within Hampden's corridors of power, bringing a Celtic big wig on-board would mean a new and better future for Scottish football.

Well, at least, in the wake of Saturday's disappointing draw agbainst the Czech Republic, we can sign-up for Celtic-style revisionism and excuse-making. It was indeed a conspiracy, we were unable to win because of a perverse follower of the Princes of Oranje - Dutch referee Kevin Blom.

Mr Blom might not agree - he came across during his time in Scotland as the sort of arrogant prat who is ideally suited to life as a referee - but he didn't have the best of games at Hampden. To me, he got the really big calls - the Czech penalty he awarded and the Scottish one he didn't - wrong. But, that said, I thought he also got it wrong on an earlier possible Czech penalty. So, not the match official's best game.

But, at least his inadequacies allow us to play the old Scottish "We wuz robbed" card.

After around 50 years of such post-match bleating, I'm a wee bit fed-up with reading how Scotland was robbed, didn't get the rub of the green, was shunned by Lady Luck. Poor us, it's no fair, we never get the breaks.

Maybe, in not getting the benefit of so-many contentious calls, we get what we deserve, which maybe isn't a lot. Perhaps it's time for us to to stop feeling so hard-done-by and realise: we get the luck we deserve. I honestly don't think we here in Scotland exactly buy-into Gary Player's old aphorism: "The harder I work, the luckier I get".

Take a look at our team yesterday. Hutton didn't look match-fit; Fletcher got bye on sheer class; Naismith wasn't fully-fit; Scott Brown proved, yet again, at international level he's a liability - with a silly booking. Kenny Miller also copped a stupid yellow card - but, don't worry - it was all the referee's fault.

OK, the Berra booking was a joke, but when are we going to stop self-harming through picking-up needless bookings? When are we going to realise, the sort of clumsy challenges which are allowed every week in the SPL will not be tolerated in Europe.

Rugby internationals today are so-often settled by what the referees will and will not allow: fair enough, that's rugby's problem, but, when will our football teams, like our rugby teams, start playing the referee? Have him watched, find-out his wee foibles, what he will jump on, what he will allow. It's called preparation. You know what they say: "Fail to prepare - prepare to fail".

There is one way to avoid the sort of situations like yesterday, when refereeing errors cost us. That is, simply, take the referee out of the equation. Control the tempo of the game, take your chances, score your goals and the referee cannot influence matters with his mistakes.

But that would call for players with technical qualities over and above those of the current Scotland squad. It would call for greater concentration on the essentials of football - ball control, touch, vision, team work, the ability to make your passes, your crosses and your attempts on goal matter.

These are qualities Scotland hasn't shown, when it matters, much of late. Until we get back to playing the game properly, we aint gonna qualify for the major trophy finals.

Blame our own inadequacies, the way we've allowed Scottish football to stagnate, deteriorate and repeatedly fail; the way we've stopped producing truly world-class players - but, don't blame the referee, that's no excuse for our own failings.