FALKIRK manager John Hughes and his Hibernian counterpart Mixu Paatelainen will not know until October whether they face action over their latest outbursts against referees.
Tuesday night's Co-operative Insurance Cup second-round ties involving the two clubs saw both men launch stinging attacks on officials. Following his side's 3-1 victory over Raith, Hughes laid into the Scottish Football Association's head of referees
, Donald McVicar.
And Paatelainen followed suit by slamming referee Iain Brines after seeing his side suffered the shock of the round so far, a 4-3 home defeat to First Division Morton.
Asked if the pair would face action over their comments, an SFA spokesman said: "That's a matter for the general purposes committee. The next meeting of the general purposes committee is in October."
Hughes' outburst followed comments from referees' chief McVicar that the Bairns manager was "mischief-making again" after he criticised Brines in the wake of Saturday's 3-0 Premier League defeat at Celtic.
Paatelainen was furious with Brines' performance in Tuesday night's match at Easter Road.
He explained: "We are 3-2 up and the referee gave a penalty against us when it hit Dean Shiels in his ribs. He has a red mark on his side. I've watched it on video and it's never a penalty, it does not hit his arm, and they score. For their fourth goal, I felt it was an assault on Chris Hogg. The referee is in a great position to see but he gives them a free-kick."
Paatelainen was sent to the stand by Brines for apparently throwing a towel to the ground as he aired his grievances.
He added: "I have not sworn or done anything else other than thrown my towel on the floor because I was so disgusted."
The full article contains 307 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
