Kenny Shiels to face SFA again over alleged ‘improper remarks’

It has been alleged that Shiels impinged upon the character of referee Andrew Dallas when accusing him of “fabricating” evidence during a judicial panel hearing at Hampden Park last week. Dallas had been asked to explain the events leading up to the Kilmarnock manager being dismissed to the stand during a Scottish Premier League fixture against St Johnstone last month, after Manuel Pascali had been given an early red card.

Dallas was fourth official that day and alerted referee Stevie O’Reilly to comments made by Shiels on the touchline. The Kilmarnock manager was last week served with a suspended sentence of a two-match dug-out ban after being found guilty of misconduct.

Another notice of complaint was yesterday issued by Vincent Lunny, the SFA’s compliance office, relating to Shiels, who has now been accused of two further rule breaches relating to comments made after last week’s hearing. He is accused of impinging “upon the character of a match official” and not acting in the best interests of football by making “improper comments of an insulting nature”.

The SFA charge stated that the offending comments were his allegations that Dallas had “fabricated” evidence for and during the judicial panel hearing. Shiels also claimed that the official had acted in a “manipulative and devious” manner.

The Northern Irishman was originally accused of misconduct at the match “by dissent, adopting an aggressive attitude and by the use of offensive, insulting or abusive language”. The panel upheld the complaint last week, but only in respect to dissent, and decreed that no further punishment was necessary.

“I brought in evidence to disprove the fourth official, who fabricated stuff to try and incriminate me,” said Shiels, in an interview with BBC Scotland. “I don’t like that. I’m not going to lie down to these people. The fabrication was outrageous – at least four different things that were said about me – but he wasn’t aware I had visual evidence on my laptop.”

Dallas, the son of former World Cup referee and former head of the SFA’s referees department Hugh Dallas, said he was “extremely surprised and disappointed by the allegations”.

“I have referred the matter to the Scottish FA for consideration and will also be seeking advice from the Scottish Senior Football Referees’ Association,” he added, in a statement released last weekend.

The pair now look set to give their accounts to another judicial panel in January. Shiels has been given until 27 December to respond to the latest notice of complaint. The Kilmarnock manager is already in the midst of a three-game touchline ban received for other comments made regarding match officials.

The Scottish Senior Football Referees’ Association welcomed the notice of complaint “In our opinion, ill-founded comments reported widely in the Scottish sporting media in recent days have impinged upon the character of one of our members,” said SSFRA chairman John McKendrick. “It is unacceptable that a referee should have his integrity questioned in such a matter.

“To accuse a referee of ‘outrageous fabrication’ is totally unacceptable.”