Ref says sorry to Butcher for penalty error

Is an apology enough to warrant respect?

So it turns out that Calum Murray later apologised to Terry Butcher for awarding a penalty kick for Rangers after James Beattie dived late on in the game. With the match tied at 1-1, it was a major decision and should have seen Rangers walk away from a tough day with all three points. As it was, Kenny Miller’s spot kick down the middle was blocked by Ryan Esson’s legs as he dived to his right and ensured both teams grabbed a point.

With all of the focus on referees, there does not appear to be any indication that the whistlers are trying to improve their performances in an attempt to earn any respect.

Side-stepping the possible betting scenario of Tuesday night’s game between Motherwell and Hearts, it has to be said the man in the middle had an absolute stinker. Hearts fans are delirious about their winning run at the moment but they owed a lot of it to the performance of the ref as opposed to their own men in light blue and white stripes.

Inverness Caledonian Thistle have every right to feel aggrieved with refs this season, especially in their games against Rangers. At Ibrox in October, even though they grabbed a very credible and deserved point in another 1-1 draw, they were denied a strong shout for a penalty. It was certainly a far stronger claim than the one Rangers were awarded on Saturday and led Butcher to remark after the game that you don’t get those sort of penalties at Ibrox.

No one expects refs to get it right all the time, it’s an impossibility but when they are getting decisions like the one on Saturday so wrong, it makes a mockery of their entire campaign for respect. It is fair enough that some refs are coming out after the event and apologising for their mistakes, this is certainly a lot better than a culture of no comment and hiding away.

Fair play to Calum Murray for apologising after realising he had been duped by Beattie but not awarding the penalty in the first place would have been so much better!

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