Hugh Dallas has been promised a role at the heart of the Scottish Football Association's attempts to win back respect for referees after being offered "unequivocal support" over bullying claims.
SFA head of referees development Dallas on Monday night firmly denied claims that he had subjected Steven Craven to harassment. Craven made the claims after quitting the professional game in the wake of his involvement in Dougie McDonald's decision to rescind a penalty awarded to Celtic during their 2-1 win over Dundee United last month.
Dallas rejected allegations he had tried to pressure Craven into sticking to the story concocted by McDonald and the assistant referee. The pair initially claimed Craven had alerted McDonald to his mistake when the referee had actually immediately realised his error and changed his mind after prompting the consultation.
McDonald was warned by the SFA referees committee for the inaccuracies in his match report after SFA chief executive Stewart Regan began an investigation into the incident.
"The Scottish FA is unequivocal in its support of Hugh Dallas, and his colleague, John Fleming, in light of recent allegations made against both by Steven Craven," Regan said in the statement.
"In the past week, I have spoken extensively to Hugh as part of my investigation into the events at the recent match between Dundee United and Celtic and have found him to be helpful and honest throughout this process.
"While we will work together to remedy the flaws in the administrative process that emerged as a result of the investigation, at no time was Hugh's integrity ever called into question.
"I am committed to supporting Hugh and the tremendous work he does for the Scottish FA, the refereeing fraternity and Scottish football in general.
"In the coming weeks I will be contacting all the constituent members of the game in Scotland to help implement our campaign to Respect the Ref, Respect the Game. Hugh and his team will be pivotal to this process."
Source: PA
