9 Jun 2008'Top' referees to be given ideas by sports psychologist

Football Referees, Players, Managers and Media

The SFA's head of referees, Donald McVicar, has announced that the elite referees in Scotland are to be assisted by a sports psychologist as part of an effort to "give them ideas".

The move comes at the end of a season in which referees north of the border have been heavily criticised for their judgement, with a recent example being Mike McCurry's failure to award an apparently cast-iron penalty for Dundee United and decision to chalk off a David Weir own goal in the same match against Rangers.

Talking to BBC Scotland, McVicar said that sports psychologist John Mathers of the University of Stirling would be working with the "top" referees as they started to prepare for the new season.

This is especially significant as three SPL referees have retired since the end of last season, meaning opportunities will be given to younger referees with less experience - who may therefore need more help.

"We've got a lot of young bucks coming through who are getting really specialist attention, being fast-tracked and they are doing well," McVicar said.

"We're confident for the future. You're always going to lose refs because of age, that's just inevitable. The whole point about referee development is making sure that you're covering for the future and that's what we're doing."

The newly-retired referees are Alan Freeland, John Underhill and Kenny Clark.

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