The Scottish FA has scrapped the Key Match Incident (KMI) review panel after some clubs refused to take part this season. Participation in the panel was voluntary, but the SFA has been informed by some members that they did not intend to take part this term, declining to elect their own representatives.
Panel replaced by meetings with captains and managers
Now the Herald reports that the KMI panel has been disbanded and will be replaced by regular meetings with club captains and managers.
Set up in 2024 to review key incidents from Premiership matches and assess decisions made by referees and VAR, the three-man panel was made up of one expert on the laws of the game, a club rep and one independent member. However, panel members often disagreed with on-field decisions and produced majority outcomes suggesting officials were at fault.
No formal power to overturn decisions
With no formal power to overturn decisions or affect their impact, fans and clubs were often left feeling vindicated and frustrated at the same time.
Former ref Bobby Madden claimed the panel had "no value" and that refs placed no stock in its findings. Speaking in November 2025 after Auston Trusty avoided a red card after appearing to kick Jack Butland in the head during a Premier Sports Cup semi-final at Hampden, Madden said: "For me, the panel offers no value. Zero value. The referees don’t give it any consideration.
"It regurgitated that the Trusty decision was accepted as incorrect. By who? By someone from the referee department, who voted 2-1. So going by the Rangers statement and going from the 2-1, the SFA are sticking by that they believe it’s not a red card. And you’ve got two football ex-professionals who are sitting there saying ‘no, we believe it’s a red card.’ So what value does that add? I don’t know.
"They’ll be more interested in when Willie [Collum] comes out and speaks. But when Willie speaks, he’s criticising decisions in public, and they’ll have been spoken to long in advance to prepare themselves. But it’s not a nice place to be."
