DUNDEE UNITED last night cranked up their battle with the SFA by insisting that manager Craig Levein has no chance of being given a fair hearing when he’s called in front of their General Purposes panel.
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Craig Levein
Chairman Eddie Thompson was incensed to see SFA President George Peat
publicly slate his manager for criticising referee Mike McCurry in the
wake of United’s 3-1 defeat at Ibrox earlier this month, and has
threatened the Hampden office-bearer with legal action after describing
Levein’s outburst as ’criminal’.
The United boss rounded on McCurry for
refusing to award his side a blatant penalty, chalking off a legitimate
goal and then deciding against red carding Daniel Cousin for a headbutt
on Lee Wilkie. He accused the official of being unable to handle the
size of the occasion, as three points for Rangers were at that stage
crucial to their hopes of landing the championship.
United have already made an official complaint to the SFA about McCurry’s performance but
were infuriated to see Peat preempt the committee’s meeting by
criticising Levein.
In a statement the club said: "The use of the word
"criminal" by the SFA President has meant, unfortunately, that we will
now have to seek legal advice on this matter. The question is –
should the SFA President prejudge what is going to happen at a General
Purposes Committee and go public before any action has been taken? We
would strongly suggest that this would breach all the rules and would
be prejudicial to a fair hearing.
"Dundee United wish to record our
deep concern that the SFA President has spoken out before the General
Purposes Committee and has decided if there is a case to answer. In our
opinion, his comments will undoubtedly influence the General Purposes
Committee’s view on this matter and are highly prejudicial in the
extreme. Dundee United see this as a massive breach of procedure on
the part of the SFA."
United lodged their complaint about McCurry to
the SFA last week but have so far heard no response from the
authorities.
The statement said: "We wrote to the Scottish Football
Association lodging our official complaint on the standard of
refereeing. We have not yet received a reply from the SFA to our
communication. Our communication, of course, was backed by the
referee’s own report and the SPL Delegate Report, which supported
everything Dundee United Football Club had stated previously."
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