Scottish referee in danger of looking biased towards Rangers




Graham Spiers

Dougie McDonald, one of Scotland's leading referees, has to tread very carefully from now until the end of the season, for the sake of his own reputation. Within the space of two weeks McDonald has given a whole series of contentious decisions to Rangers - two of those against Celtic - and even neutrals have started to worry that it doesn't look too impressive.


First, two weeks ago at Ibrox, McDonald sent off Scott Brown of Celtic, when almost everyone now agrees (including Walter Smith) that Brown's heated tussle with Kyle Lafferty at best warranted a yellow card.


Indeed, replays of the incident showed that Lafferty was just about as guilty in that handbags tussle, yet McDonald showed red to Brown and nothing at all to Lafferty.


The big, lanky, £3.5 million Rangers striker had even performed his old trick of collapsing to the ground, his legs mysteriously giving way beneath him, but even that piece of feigning didn't cause Mr McDonald any duress.


By a minor miracle, in the same game, Rangers defender Madjid Bougherra somehow managed to stay on the field for the whole 90 minutes, despite having been booked in the first ten minutes, and, arguably, having fouled Robbie Keane enough thereafter to earn a second yellow. But McDonald, again, demurred on that decision.



Then came last Sunday at Ibrox, and two penalties awarded to Rangers against Dundee United in the Active Nation Scottish Cup, from which United had to heroically fight back to earn a 3-3 draw. In the first case, Dusan Pernis, the United goalkeeper, seemed to have got a touch before colliding with Kenny Miller in the box, but McDonald was having none of the debate - penalty.


Then, ten minutes later, Sean Dillon collided with Kris Boyd in the box, and once more, in the TV replays of the incident, it looked a 50-50 call by the referee. In the press gantry Craig Paterson, the former Rangers centre-half and now a BBC match analyst, said it wasn't a penalty, though again, McDonald gave Rangers the decision.


Now let's be clear about this. I have never argued - indeed, I have repeatedly lampooned the idea - that there is a pro-Rangers leaning among referees in the SPL. And I stand by that. In lovely, Presbyterian Scotland we have many flaws, but football corruption cannot be cited among them. Our referees, in the main, are good guys, Dougie McDonald among them. It's just that, right now, they are going through a terrible slump in form.


But having said that, McDonald now stands under a special, self-inflicted scrutiny. If he keeps up this momentous form of giving every 50-50 decision Rangers' way then even neutrals among us are going to feel a certain disquiet. As someone once said, it is not just the act, but the perception, that matters.


McDonald, in the near future, could really do with coming upon a 50-50 moment which he somehow decides not to give to Rangers.

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