Comments on: Rangers’ Favorite Ref Strikes Again

By: Andy

Andy — Mon, 12 May 2008 18:23:12 +0000

If it comes down to the last game and Rangers win because of the decisions made in that ridiculous match then Celtic as well as Dundee United could take the SFA to task over it. For far too long the Scottish referees have been bottling decisions for a lot of the top flight clubs and dodgy decisions have not been punished. Its time that the referees were held accountable along with the clubs and management. McCurry is a joke and to referee a huge percentage of rangers games compared to the rest just shows you that someone in the SFA that picks the refs for the games as well as the officials know who would be best for rangers etc.

Time the SFA grew a set of balls and brought in laws and rulings to hold refs accountable also.

By: Matt

Matt — Sun, 11 May 2008 15:25:45 +0000

You see Jan, teams have requested such things but there is a feeling that, especially with Celtic supporters, that the Scottish Football Association is run by Rangers fans.

By: Jan

Jan — Sun, 11 May 2008 01:11:36 +0000

Schalke 04 once successfully blacklisted Markus Merk from refereeing their games. He refereed the game between Hamburg and Bayern on the last matchday of the 2001 season, where he controversially gave 4 minutes of extra time and a questionable free kick in the final moment of the game. Hamburg were leading 1-0 but Bayern equalised with the last kick of the game and clinched the title ahead of Schalke. Schalke felt Merk cost them their title and requested the DFL not to assign him to Schalke games anymore. So maybe some SPL clubs could request something similar.

By: Ian Rose

Ian Rose — Sat, 10 May 2008 23:11:26 +0000

I’ll stop short of using the word “conspiracy”, though I’m sure Matt won’t. I just think it’s stupidity. If there’s even a whiff of bias about someone, why put them consistently in charge of that team’s games? It’s just dumb, and it’s par for the course for the SFA lately.

By: Seb

Seb — Sat, 10 May 2008 22:50:31 +0000

It’s pure coincidence that of the 4 Old Firm Games this season, the three where Celtic won where refereed by Craig Thomson, Kenny Clark and Stuart Dougal and the only one that Rangers won was refereed by none other than: Michael McCurry :-)

Just looking back over the Old Firm games going back to the 2004/05 season (it’s as far as my excel spreadsheets go back!), the following refs have covered the old firm game: Hugh Dallas, Stuart Dougal, Kenny Clark, Michael McCurry, Douglas McDonald, and Craig Thomson. Of that bunch, Stuart Dougal ref-ed the most (6 of which Rangers won 5).

Now, the Scottish Cup Final will be refereed by none other than obvious closet-Rangers fan: Stuart Dougal.
If Rangers win that one too, *then* lets talk about a conspiracy! :-)

By: Matt

Matt — Sat, 10 May 2008 22:17:07 +0000

Pssh….pure Timmy paranoia….

What a coincidence…Rangers reeling and the title starting to slip McCurry just happens to be assigned to Rangers. Murray was right, the SPL is going to be the laughing stock, but not because of his reasons.

By: Ian Rose

Ian Rose — Sat, 10 May 2008 21:34:42 +0000

Good question, Elizabeth. Just looking at the four other refs from today’s SPL matches, none of them have seven or even six matches with the same team. Craig Thomson has five (Celtic and Motherwell) and Collum and Tumilly each have four with a team, but none have nearly as high a proportion as McCurry has for Rangers. I’d like to know why McCurry has reffed seven Rangers matches but one each for Inverness and Gretna?

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Sat, 10 May 2008 20:58:34 +0000

Is reffing 1/5 of a single team’s matches uncommon in the SPL? Other refs may have similar assignment numbers to other teams – does anyone know how the other refs’ assignment ratios compare?

By: Seb

Seb — Sat, 10 May 2008 20:09:17 +0000

I bet Levein will be summoned before the Inquisition at SFA headquarters, and so he should be – you cant go around accusing refs of bias like that, even though we’re all pretty much convinced (without being able to prove it) that it goes on.

Playing Rangers always reminds me of that quote by Gary Lineker (I think, and I am paraphrasing here): football is a game of two halves at the end of which Rangers win.

For the record, McCurrys has (r)ef’d 28 games this season, 7 featuring Rangers. In those 7, he’s presided over 6 Rangers wins (Celtic, St Mirren, Dundee United (twice), Hearts and Kilmarnock) and 1 loss (Hearts) dishing out plenty of yellows, but no reds.

By: Ian Rose

Ian Rose — Sat, 10 May 2008 19:53:28 +0000

Update: Dundee United is now saying they will go ahead with a formal complaint about McCurry, so at least they’re backing up the manager, though he might still get dinged by the SFA.