Celtic's shock as Scott Brown red card is upheld

CELTIC'S relations with the Scottish Football Association are at a low after the club expressed "amazement" at the failure of their appeal against Scott Brown's Old Firm dismissal.

Officials at the Parkhead club hit out at the SFA, and the refereeing fraternity in particular, for the third time in little over a week after Dougie McDonald upheld his own decision to send off Brown in the 1-0 defeat by Rangers.

McDonald had been under added pressure going into the clash after an unnamed Celtic source expressed the club's concern over refereeing decisions they felt had gone against them this season. And Celtic appeared to question his impartiality, or at least his judgment, when the club claimed no "fair-minded" person would agree Brown deserved his red card for his clash with Kyle Lafferty.

Brown is now suspended for Sunday's trip to Falkirk and will miss two more SPL matches this month, against St Johnstone and St Mirren, after going through a disciplinary threshold. A statement on Celtic's website last night read: "We are amazed at this decision and believe it is the wrong one."

And Celtic have also sparked a specialist report on Falkirk's playing surface because of concerns expressed to the SPL.

Bill Gillespie, the independent expert called in by the SPL to examine Motherwell's maligned Fir Park turf, was sent to the Falkirk Stadium yesterday afternoon after the club were asked by the SPL to make their pitch available for inspection.

It is understood Celtic were behind the unusual move to assess the park ahead of Sunday's match.