Jim Jefferies backs referees but accountability stays an issue

The Hearts manager would like match officials to face sanctions when they make mistakes, but accepts the lack of first-class referees militates against the imposition of severe punishment.

Reacting to the news Celtic had complained to the Scottish Football Association about some refereeing decisions this season, Jefferies offered what amounted to a qualified defence of officials. He praised Hugh Dallas, the SFA's head of referee development who admitted last week he had overseen "a disappointing season with some disappointing decisions", and said some criticism of refs lost sight of their human fallibility.

"Some are better than others, and Hugh Dallas has said he's not been happy with some of the standards, but it's a tough job," Jefferies said. "The referee has only got a split second. But I've seen a few, maybe more so this year, when you wonder how they get it wrong at times. I think that's what Hugh Dallas was referring to. He's very receptive.

"When I was at Kilmarnock, he came to the training ground and spoke to the players. I've phoned him up on a couple of occasions.

"One of the bones of contention, and I've spoken to Hugh about it, is accountability. We have to be accountable for things, and players are. We ask when we go to meetings about these things, and we get told something and I've been looking out for it and I don't see it happening too often. But it's probably understandable that there isn't a great deal they can do about it."

Celtic were unhappy with two decisions made by Craig Thomson in the last Old Firm match, and Jefferies cited other instances of what he regarded as mistakes committed by the same referee. "Craig Thomson has made a few mistakes and he's one of the more experienced ones – I think he's even on the Uefa list. It's hard to find out what action you can take against them, because he's one of the better referees.

"There was one at Easter Road this year where Craig Thomson gave a penalty (for Hibs against Kilmarnock]. John Hughes thought it was a penalty until we saw it again and clearly it wasn't.

"Hughes agreed, but nothing was done about it. You lose the game, and all you can do is complain, and hopefully they'll learn from their mistakes. Or just before I left Kilmarnock, we were up at Tannadice and Mark Burchill scored a perfectly good goal (which was chalked off]. It was the same referee. Hopefully we'll get him shortly. They say it pans out – we'll maybe get a couple of decisions from him."

Jefferies added he did not actually subscribe to the belief mistakes for and against a team tended to even out over a season. "Pan out – that's just the trendy term they use. I've still to see it."

Having criticised Thomson in particular, however, he explained in general he believed criticism of referees is over the top. "They're human, as everybody says, and they do get it wrong."

And, having voiced his sympathy for Dallas, the Hearts manager added those who train and select referees must also bear responsibility for the standard of officiating. "They've got to pick the referees who are right in their judgment, just like we've got to pick players. We get slaughtered if it doesn't go right, but they seem to get away with it at that level, maybe because it's a tough job and there are not that many referees who are keen to come into it because of the hassle that goes on.

"If we've not won a game, we've got to come out and state that certain things have got to happen, we've got to pick the game up and do better. I don't see any different for them, and Hugh Dallas has virtually come out and said that."

One thing that should be put right, according to Jefferies, is the lack of common sense displayed at times by officials. In his team's game against Hamilton on Sunday, for instance, he and his assistants appeared to be herded back into the technical area if they put so much as a toe-cap over the line.

"I thought the fourth official was a bit over-officious about how far we were out of the technical area. We were three inches or something," said Jefferies.

"Sometimes when you get an experienced referee as fourth official the banter's quite good. Sometimes it's the ones who are up and coming who are maybe under a little bit of pressure to do the job right. They're the ones who cause you more problems."

Poll: Are Celtic's complaints over unfair refereeing this season justified?