I can’t believe the comments we heard from Steve Lomas during the week.
The St Johnstone manager hit out at what he called ‘trial by television.’
It followed the decision of the SFA to ban Frazer Wright for two games.
The Saints defender’s elbow on Mikael Lustig of Celtic was missed by referee Alan Muir, but Wright was cited by Compliance Officer Vincent Lunny last Tuesday.
Lomas (below) queried whether Lunny had been encouraged to act by highlights shown on the BBC, and said he had a real fear managers might start to flag up incidents which had been missed in the first instance.
Now, on the basis of what I have seen of him since he came to Scotland, Steve appears to me to be a good guy.
He has done well with St Johnstone and he comes across well. But he is very wrong here.
The entire point of this system is to try and ensure players stay within the Laws of the Game.
He doesn’t appear to have got this, and the argument he extends just doesn’t hold up.
It is like me trying to argue against a speeding ticket, based on footage from a roadside camera.
To use Steve’s logic, I would simply say that it wasn’t fair because there are people who go over the limit on roads which don’t have cameras.
We should all want to stop players indulging in foul play, especially potentially dangerous offences such as elbowing an opponent in the face.
The presence of cameras at games is therefore to be welcomed.
They act as a safety net to catch offences which are missed by officials in the first instance.
I appreciate that Scottish players generally do an honest job for what, in many cases, is not a huge return.
At the same time, it is in no-one’s interests that cheats prosper.
Managers know this as much as anyone. They also know that inevitably some transgressions will slip through the net.
With the law of averages suggesting sometimes it will be their player who is the beneficiary of such situations, I can’t see many rushing to flag up incidents.
Lomas is clearly disappointed to have lost his player for today’s game against Motherwell at McDiarmid Park.
The result could, after all, decide whether St Johnstone play in Europe next season.
With David McCracken also out injured, he has defensive problems for a meeting with one of the SPL’s form teams.
That is no reason to throw common sense out of the window.
It’s been great to see the 30th anniversary celebrations for Dundee United and Aberdeen this month. They are well deserved.
The respective efforts of the two East Coast clubs in winning the SPL title and European Cup-Winners’ Cup were terrific.
On a personal note, I am glad because they also seem to have overshadowed another well-known footballing event which occurred in May, 1983.
I won’t say exactly what it was.
It did, however, involve Wembley, a worldwide television audience of 150 million and a certain Scottish striker missing a chance to score . . .
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