SFA impose one-match ban on Hearts manager Craig Levein

Hearts manager Craig Levein has received a one-game ban for criticising referee Bobby Madden after December's defeat by Rangers.

Craig Levein will miss Hearts' Scottish Cup tie against Livingston. Picture: SNS.

At a Scottish Football Association judicial panel hearing at Hampden Park today, Levein was found to be in breach of Disciplinary Rule 72 for labelling the official’s performance “abysmal”.

He is now suspended from the dugout for Hearts’ Scottish Cup fourth round tie against Livingston on 20 January. He has also been given an additional one-game ban, which is suspended until 31 December.

Levein spoke out against Madden following last month’s game at Tynecastle Park, which Rangers won 2-1 with a controversial goal by Alfredo Morelos. Video footage later proved the Colombian was one of several visiting players in an offside position as he scored. Levein was angry that the goal stood in addition to several other decisions surrounding Morelos which he felt Madden got wrong.

The Hearts manager remarked at full-time: “I read a quote from Neil Lennon a few weeks ago when Hibs were at Celtic Park. He said: ‘We were playing against 12 men’. That’s how I feel. How Morelos stays on the park, never mind gets through that match without a booking, I will never know. Some of the decisions were abysmal.”