Brown Bends Over For SFA

Published: 21 Dec 2011 - 22:01:01

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Dons boss Craig Brown has made a cringingly obsequious statement as Aberdeen chose not to appeal Peter Pawlett's ban for diving.

Pawlett was cited by the SFA's 'compliance officer' after a concerted campaign against the young Don by the Glasgow-based media, spearheaded by BBC Scotland.

Scotland Under-19 star Pawlett won a penalty against Hibs at Pittodrie at the weekend in an incident that even penalised player Ivan Sproule, while criticising the referee, admitted there was "contact".

In a statement released on the official Aberdeen website RedWeb, Dons boss Craig Brown bewilderingly failed to support his player and cravenly supported a referee who by all accounts had an atrocious game on Saturday.

Brown said: "Given referee Craig Thomson, to his eternal credit, is reported in the press to have held his hands up publicly and admitted he made a mistake in awarding the spot kick, there seems no point in pursuing a course of action that has little chance of succeeding and would also cost the club money"

The only hope is that this embarrassing act of lickspittlery will benefit the club and Pawlett himself when the SFA look into the Dons' appeal against the talented youngster's farcical red card in the same game.

As such, Brown added: "We are, of course totally convinced that the red card administered to Peter was totally unjust, and was given by the assistant not the referee, and we await the outcome of our appeal with interest."