Source: FOOTYMAD
What Is Wrong With The System?
Understandably Mixu Paatelainen has no problems with foreign referees as he has been dealing with them for years. Kilmarnock manager Mixu Paatelainen has no worries over games being refereed by officials from overseas. The visit of Aberdeen to Kilmarnock will be overseen by Eli Hacmon from Isreal but Paatelainen has no plans to hand out any special instructions about toning down aggression to adapt to any cultural differences in the interpretation of the laws of the game. Speaking before the allocation of referees was confirmed, Paatelainen said: "Whoever referees our match will be up to the standard. People who call them in will make sure that's the case, I trust them. I don't believe anything special needs to be said to the players at all. We concentrate on how we want to pass the ball, how we want to move, how we want to defend. That's the most important thing for us. Yes, of course, the referees' decisions are important as well but whoever comes in will be qualified to referee matches at this level. Country by country there are differences, how they treat people. For example how they view simulation. I don't think that's a problem. I don't care where the referees come from if he's up to standard." Paatelainen has been keen to ease the pressure on referees in recent weeks and believes there is little wrong with his relationship with officials. Some managers, notably former Motherwell boss Jim Gannon, have complained there was no formal avenue for privately questioning decisions or presenting an analysis of referees' performances. But Paatelainen believes the current informal situation is sufficient. He said: "It's good to talk. There is an opportunity to talk to refs about certain decisions, that is in place already. We can contact the head of the referees department and talk to them about that decision and engage with them. They might say 'Yes, the referee made a mistake there' or they might say 'No, that was the case'. We can talk afterwards about it. I think it's very important to be able to talk and get things off your chest. But I don't think every time you make a mistake, you should do that. The bottom line is the referees make decisions and they sometimes call it wrong." Editor Ger Harley (ger@scottishfitba net)Admin Team (admin@scottishfitba net)This is Scottish-Fitba Net
