News
RESPECT TO CRAIG LEVEIN
By Mal Content
Our utmost respect to Dundee United manager Craig Levein for his accurate and honest post-match assessment of this afternoon's Huns versus Dundee United match at Ipox, which ended in a referee-assisted 3-1 win for the Huns.
Indeed, on the scale of post-match interviews, Craig Levein's scores 10 out of 10 as the Dundee United manager effectively questioned the honesty and impartiality of match referee Mike McCurry and by so doing the honesty and impartiality of Scottish football.
Craig Levein will no doubt be punished by the SFA (president George ‘No Surrender' Peat, chief executive Gordon ‘Catholics are the enemy' Smith and referee supervisor Don ‘We arra peepel' McVicar), but the United manager will find no shortage of Tims and Arabs alike willing to contribute to any fine.
Craig Levein had watched his Dundee United side, trailing 2-0 to first-half goals by Nacho Novo, being denied a stonewall penalty kick by referee Mike McCurry when David Weir blatantly fouled Noel Hunt on the hour mark. The woeful whistler would have been compelled to red card the Rangers defender, but “bottled it” according to Levein.
United then had a perfectly legitimate goal disallowed for offside, when it was patently obvious to all, except McCurry and Main Stand-side linesman Stuart MacAulay, that Swanson's 25-yard shot had deflected off David Weir, and the marginally offside Noel Hunt was not interfering with play.
To compound an afternoon of incompetent refereeing, Mike McCurry only yellow-carded Daniel Cousin for head-butting Lee Wilkie, before Darcheville scored a late goal on the counterattack to give the Huns a Mike McCurry-manipulated 3-1 win.
Craig Levein's assessment of Mike McCurry was a damning verdict: “We had a blatant penalty and he bottled it. Not only is it a penalty kick, but it's a sending off for Davie Weir. But he didn't want to do it because this game meant so much to Rangers.”
Levein continued: “I thought Mike McCurry had the balls to stand up and give these decisions, but he bottled it. If it's not a level playing field and, if we don't get the decisions, blatant, important decisions then what is the point of turning up?”
Levein added: “Anybody who is of a fair mind watching that today would see that we had no chance of winning that. We get a perfectly good goal chalked off and a blatant penalty, with not even a decision to make, and it should've been a sending off.”
Celtic respect for Craig Levein will have increased when one Radio Clyde interviewer tried to implicate Celtic in this afternoon's Scottish football shame, the interviewer saying referees “are influenced by the Old Firm”.
Craig Levein snapped back angrily: “This has nothing to do with Celtic. This is about Rangers.”
We all laughed when Vladimir Romanov described Scottish football as being “corrupt” and “bent”. Are we laughing now?
|
