A former referee can't understand why Rangers have not dismissed Craig McPherson for his headbutt on Fran Alonso.
The women's team assistant sparked controversy when he appeared to flick his head onto the Celtic women's boss at the end of the pair's SWPL 1 derby. McPherson has since been hit with a six-game ban but former grade one official Steven Conroy doesn't think this punishment doesn't go far enough.
He believes Rangers should have taken action and that the ban itself does not go far enough. He told T10 Digital: "Rangers should have dismissed him. That’s gross misconduct. You can’t have that from a senior part of the organisation. If I was running an organisation, I would have sacked him. Without a shadow of a doubt, the ban is too lenient. You can’t say it was a rush of blood or adrenalin. He deliberately and with fore-thought sought the guy out and deliberately stuck the head on him. It’s criminal.
“I was talking to a ref colleague and there was a situation where there was a threat of an assault on a referee, but it was averted. However, the person who made the threat was given a 12-game ban – this guy MacPherson gets six and he actually committed bodily assault.”
Fellow former whistler Des Roache also is surprised by the length of the ban. And points to Jim Goodwin's suspension for calling Ryan Porteous a cheat as why.
He added: “Jim Goodwin was hit with an eight-match ban for accusing Ryan Porteous of cheating when he was Aberdeen manager. There is no comparison. What if Craig MacPherson had done this on the street, and a police officer happened to see it? He would be getting more than a six-game ban. There is no explanation from the SFA who continue to play hide and seek at Hampden.”
