Gary Mackay: Our referees have blown it

I THINK the referees' stance over the past week has been absolutely scandalous.

If you're involved in a profession that's in the public eye and you're getting well paid for it, then you have to accept that criticism is going to be part of it.

I acknowledge that a few people have gone a wee bit over the top in their criticism, with Neil Lennon being the main one that springs to mind as being particularly over-critical. However, these things happen in football as it's a very passionate game. Lennon is a passionate person and he's relatively inexperienced as a manager so I can totally understand how he's got so wound up about certain things.

Football is first and foremost a spectator sport and that is the case all over the world - the punters are the lifeblood of the game. In football - it doesn't matter if it's East Stirling, Hearts or Real Madrid - the most important people are the supporters because they have a passion for their particular club. Then you have the players and the staff, who come and go on a regular basis these days, but provide the action. And after that you have the officials who are there to help a game of football take place so that the paying public get the best spectacle possible.

But in this case, the referees seem to have shown a ridiculous level of arrogance in making themselves out to be the most important people in the game. The spectators have been completely overlooked as they were the ones who were going to be denied their Saturday afternoon ritual of going to support their team. You've also got to spare a thought for those clubs in the lower leagues who had games called off through absolutely no fault of their own. Those clubs must be absolutely disgusted with what's gone on, and understandably so. The refs' main gripe appears to have been with SPL clubs, particularly Celtic. It hardly seems fair, then, that the Celtic game went ahead, while the lower-league clubs, most of whom would have been reliant on their weekend gate money, have to go without a game. It's scandalous.

The other issue that concerns me about this whole situation is that the referees didn't make the SFA aware of their issues before they called the strike. Had they raised their concerns earlier it could have allowed some dialogue to take place in an effort to reach a satisfactory resolution. The fact they didn't give prior notice of their intention ultimately meant they showed no thought for the most important people in the game - the supporters.

I saw people in the papers saying we can't be doing without a world-class official like Hugh Dallas, but I certainly won't be shedding any tears over his departure. I've never hidden my dislike for the man. I think the arrogance he has portrayed was reflected by the refereeing fraternity in the manner they've handled this whole sorry saga. It's been nothing short of embarrassing for Scottish football.

In a week, where we didn't know if our game was going to go ahead due to refereeing problems, it was ironic that the weather ended up claiming our game at Motherwell yesterday. It was disappointing because the boys would have been desperate to get out and continue their winning run. On the other side of the coin, though, it means we've still not lost a game so there's been no damage done to confidence levels ahead of our trip to Ibrox at the weekend. I suppose the main setback yesterday was the fact the Rangers game was also postponed as it means they will have had longer to recover from their game against Manchester United, which I think they will be quite grateful for considering their squad is so threadbare at the moment.

The Hearts players should go into the game thinking about how well they played against Celtic a few weeks ago and that will give them the necessary belief that they can go to Ibrox and rack up another victory.

I remember sitting on the bench at Ibrox beside wee Robbo when Jim Jefferies was manager back in 1996 and Allan Johnston scored that hat-trick in a 3-0 win. You remember results like that because they're so rare but the way the team are playing just now I see no reason why they can't go through to Glasgow and notch another famous win. Hearts are in a better position than I expected them to be in at this stage of the season and if they can steer clear of injuries and suspensions then I see no reason why they can't start looking up the table towards catching the Old Firm as opposed to just trying to stay ahead of the chasing pack in the battle for third.

Meanwhile, I was saddened to hear over the weekend that diehard Jambo Sinclair Pentland lost his battle against cancer. "Sinky" was a real character who helped put a smile on the faces of his fellow Jambos with his colourful language at away games. A popular member of the Hearts support, the wee man will be sadly missed.