Source: Team_Talk
McDonald won't quit over ref row
Dougie McDonald insists he will not quit despite being warned by the SFA over his inaccurate report of Celtic's rescinded penalty at Tannadice.[LNB] Referee McDonald claims he only lied to referees' supervisor Jim McBurnie and Celtic manager Neil Lennon to protect assistant Steven Craven.[LNB]Craven soon resigned amid the furore over McDonald's decision to order a drop ball soon after pointing to the spot when Dundee United goalkeeper Dusan Pernis challenged Gary Hooper.[LNB]McDonald's report claimed Craven had called him over to dispute the decision, but an SFA inquiry discovered the referee had immediately feared a mistake had been made and changed his mind after approaching Craven unprompted for clarification.[LNB]Craven claimed in a Sunday newspaper that he went along with the lie to protect McDonald, who argued the same defence 24 hours later.[LNB]"It was of no benefit to me to come up with our story and I don't know why I agreed to it," McDonald told the Daily Record.[LNB]"I was being supportive of Stevie."[LNB]McDonald believes he was right to reverse his decision but regrets the invention of the story in the moments after Celtic's 2-1 Scottish Premier League win on October 17.[LNB]He said: "After the match we were in our dressing-room and Stevie pulled out the wire on his communication device before removing my earpiece.[LNB]"Then he asked 'what are we going to say to the supervisor?'[LNB]"I just said 'I don't care what we say to him. Just say that you called out Dougie! Dougie! and that I came over to you'."[LNB]After telling McBurnie and Lennon the false account, McDonald says he regretted the decision and came clean to SFA head of referees, Hugh Dallas.[LNB]"Hugh wasn't happy and he encouraged me to tell the truth," McDonald added.[LNB]"I don't think Stevie was too happy. He felt a dressing-room agreement had been breached.[LNB]"I got the impression he felt I was trying to claim the credit for rectifying my initial error. But I had nothing to gain from doing this."[LNB]Craven was going to quit the professional game at Christmas but carried it through early. He claimed Dallas' reaction had been to protect McDonald and leave him to "take the flak".[LNB]But McDonald speculated that Craven may have been motivated by the chance to hit out at Dallas.[LNB]"Stevie had never seen eye to eye with Hugh and the SFA," the referee said.[LNB]"But I've always had a good relationship with Steve and I don't believe he was trying to harm me when he had his say. But he seems happy to take me down with him.[LNB]"However, I haven't even considered resigning. I am one of the country's top referees and I am a strong character.[LNB]"I will apologise to Neil, tell him I'm sorry about the lie and I look forward to my next match at Celtic Park.[LNB]"I wouldn't really understand if Celtic said they didn't want me to take charge of any more of their matches."[LNB]Celtic have yet to respond to the SFA's statement on the inquiry and subsequent comments by the two match officials.
