McGhee admits mistake over referee's decision

Dons boss Mark McGhee has apologised to referee Willie Collum after criticising him for the decision to send off Ryan McCardle on Saturday.

Aberdeen boss Mark McGhee must have been reading this website over the weekend as he has now conceded he was wrong to criticise referee Willie Collum at the weekend.

After the game with St. Johnstone on Saturday McGhee was unhappy with the decision to send off Rory McArdle for a tackle on Cleveland Taylor during the Dons' defeat to the Saints.

Collum's call was branded "unbelievable" by McGhee, who said he would admit his mistake if video replays showed a red-card offence.

And the Dons manager has been as good as his word, telling STV: "I can see now why the ref felt it was worth a red card.”

He even admitted his won defender had given the ref a problem, as we suggested at the time, "Rory didn't help himself with the way he went into the challenge. One of his legs was very high and went around the St Johnstone player."

McGhee's admission comes at a time when Scottish referees are threatening to strike over persistent criticism of their performances this season.

Hopefully this will see the start of a sense of realism in  Scottish football and we can move on without the refs being criticised every week.