Four-year juniors ban for manager McVeigh

The ban is believed to be the longest ever handed down to a manager in Scottish football.

McVeigh, who was then the manager of Lanark United, had been dismissed from the touchline when his team were four goals down to Petershill last month in a West Superleague Premier Division match. The 52-year-old was then involved in a heated discussion with match official Paul Robertson at half time, during which SJFA officials allege he took the referee's notebook from him and hit the official with it.

The SJFA's west region match secretary, Scott Robertson, said: "I do not know what force he hit the referee with but we cannot allow that kind of behaviour to happen at all.

"It would not be accepted at any level of football and we are simply not going to allow it.

"We do recognise that Mr McVeigh resigned from his position shortly after the incident, however the punishment required to be severe."

After the incident, McVeigh denied that there was any physical contact during his confrontation with Robertson, and vowed he would never return to junior football.

He blamed the problem on inexperienced officials taking charge of junior football matches. "There were a few things that were hard to take, like the standard of the officials," he was reported to have said. "It's a real worry for the future of the Scottish game if these are the guys coming through. Our game on Saturday had three officials who looked like they were barely out of school."

The match finished 6-1 to Petershill. McVeigh had been in the post for only in two months when he quit, and he was replaced by Duncan Sinclair in the manager's hot-seat at Moor Park.

As a player, McVeigh represented Airdrie, Clyde, Hamilton, Kilmarnock and Falkirk. He also had a spell in Australia, where he played for Brisbane City.

When he retired from playing, he took up coaching with Falkirk, and went on to manage Partick Thistle, Raith Rovers, Albion Rovers, and Stenhousemuir.