Dundee United chairman Stephen Thompson has revealed Rangers defender Madjid Bougherra avoided suspension for handling referee Calum Murray during the volatile March 2 Old Firm derby after the official showed leniency in the disciplinary committee meeting.
Thompson sits on the Scottish Football Association's disciplinary panel and said it would have been impossible to enforce a ban on Bougherra. El-Hadji Diouf and Bougherra, along with team-mate Steven Whittaker, were shown red cards in the 1-0 Scottish Cup defeat at Celtic Park, with those automatic suspensions coming into effect in next season's competition.
McCoist on April 12 won his appeal against a two-match suspension and Bougherra and Diouf were fined and warned but avoided bans, with Thompson revealing Murray contributed to the outcomes. He told Real Radio: "The referee handled the game very well, but he made it very difficult at the meeting for us when we said 'what other punishment would you hand down'?"
He added: "He said 'probably a booking, a one point'. "So how can we throw a three-match ban at him (Bougherra) for handling the referee when the referee would've given him a booking? He would've won it on appeal.
"If the match referee is only going to give a booking to him how could we then give him a three-match ban? The SFA got heavily criticised and they couldn't come out with what happened in the meeting because there is a seven-day appeal system.
"I'm not having a go at the referee at all I just think he made it very difficult for us."
On-loan Blackburn player Diouf was cautioned for clashing with Celtic boss Neil Lennon on the touchline, before earning a red card for dissent after approaching Murray after the final whistle.
Instead of leaving the pitch, he then made his way to the Rangers fans and threw his shirt into the crowd. Bougherra was dismissed deep into stoppage time for a second bookable offence and grabbed the match official's arm in an attempt to prevent him from showing his cards.
The game concluded with a touchline altercation with Rangers assistant manager Ally McCoist and Lennon which triggered an automatic suspension the Celtic boss opted not to appeal.
Source: PA
