St Mirren manager Craig McLeish has been issued an SFA notice of complaint over his remarks about referee Sean Murdoch after Sunday's Premier Sports Cup defeat to Dunfermline.
Charge under Rule 72
The charge is under the same rule that led to four-game bans for Rangers boss Derek McInnes and former Motherwell midfielder Elliot Watt earlier this month. McLeish's hearing is scheduled for Thursday, August 27.
Post-match comments
McLeish was unhappy with two decisions by Murdoch, a former Dunfermline goalkeeper who played over 180 times for the club. A Samuel Ramos goal was disallowed after 23 minutes, and a late penalty helped Dunfermline advance to the last 16. During a live TV interview, McLeish twice asked, “who was he a goalkeeper for?”
Former Grade One referee Steve Conroy told Record Sport the comments were “totally uncalled for.”
SFA rule in full
The rule states that no club official shall “in an interview, a ‘blog’ on the internet, on a social networking or micro-blogging site, or in any other manner calculated or likely to lead to publicity (i) criticise the Decision(s) and/or performance(s) of any or all match official(s) in such a way as to indicate bias or incompetence on the part of such match official; or (ii) make remarks about such match official(s) which impinge on his character.”
