Derek McInnes has hit out at Kilmarnock being badly let down by a real low for refs.
The Rugby Park boss says standards need to improve. And McInnes insists he’s not there to praise chief Willie Collum for being transparent over bad calls. The Killie gaffer is still simmering over events in Paisley 10 days ago which he believes would still be a point of fierce discussions had it involved the Old Firm.
Kilie had Joe Wright sent-off during a 2-2 draw, while other controversial incidents involving St Mirren pair Shaun Rooney and Mikael Mandron went unpunished by ref Matthew McDiarmid and VAR Andrew Dallas. McInnes said: “I thought it was a real low for the refereeing department that performance. If the officials do their job right then we probably win that game. There’s no two ways about it for me. We felt really let down on some of the decisions.
“That has now been validated by the referee department by a phone call that I had with Willie Collum on the Monday after the game. I didn’t get a phone call, I phoned him. I’m not here to praise the referee department, Willie in particular, because they’re being transparent.
“I think it’s the way it should be and I’m glad that he senses that way. I feel I’ve always had a good line of communication with Willie when he was a referee, as a player or a manager. I do think he’s a guy who will make change and get things right over time and I think he’ll implement a standard that’s needed.
“There’s not much they can do after the event and I accept that there’s a need for them to be better and they should have been better. At times you see the benefits of VAR and that was a real case in point where VAR highlighted how poor a VAR decision it was as well, not helping the referee.
“If that had happened to an Old Firm club, you would still be going on about it forever. It had a huge impact on the result, but it was just seen as a bad day at the office for wee Kilmarnock.
“We just felt so let down. I couldn’t believe what was happening to be honest with one or two. I think we’ve got some really good referees and good officials in the country. but we’ve also got a few who need some work and, for me it’s quite galling the fact that the St Mirren player involved plays next week and Joe gets a three-game ban.
“Joe is involved in the penalty-kick with the same player (Rooney), they get penalties involved in an incident. “Joe was rightly condemned by me and has been punished to the full extent, but, on the on-field stuff and decisions, we were badly let down as a club, badly and that was recognised by Willie. So at least there’s that kind of acceptance of it.”
McInnes was asked about consequences for refs, but added: “Listen, that’s up to the referee department. If you have a bad day, you have a bad day and it didn’t help our day at the time.
“I’m not here to jump all over referees, but it was a poor afternoon from the refereeing department, and Willie’s acknowledged that. You expect better and I’m sure they will be better going forward, but it was disappointing.”