Errors that cost Dons £1m chance
calderwood in call to demote blunder referees as he empathises with levein after gers ‘robbery’
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Two wrong decisions. £1million. That’s the price Aberdeen may pay because of the incompetence of Scottish Premier League officials.
The Dons’ hopes of finishing third in the SPL ended at the weekend with their 2-1 defeat at Motherwell.
Manager Jimmy Calderwood was livid as his side was denied a valid goal when the sides were level after referee Craig Thomson and assistant Martin Cryans failed to notice Barry Nicholson’s shot had crossed the goal line.
It was the second controversial decision to deny Aber-deen much-needed points in the space of three weeks after Zander Diamond also had a legitimate late goal ruled out at Celtic Park as the Dons were beaten 1-0.
Referee Iain Brines later admitted on the SFA’s whistleblower website he had made a mistake, but there has been no such admission of guilt from Thomson. Dundee United manager Craig Levein will be questioned by the SFA after comments he made criticising referee Mike McCurry following several bad decisions in his side’s 3-1 defeat at Ibrox on Saturday. McCurry, like Brines, has admitted his errors but Calderwood is in agreement with Levein and is equally frustrated.
The Aberdeen manager said: “I can understand Craig’s frustration. We have suffered ourselves in recent weeks.
“He will probably be summoned in front of the disciplinary committee, but I can sympathise with him.
“We had a perfectly good goal disallowed at Celtic Park which denied us a point and then again at Fir Park.
“Craig Levein said the decision at Ibrox could cost his side one place in the league and about £125,000. I think it costs much more than that. If we had those points we would still be in with a chance of getting back into Europe. These decisions might have cost us £1million.
“It has a knock-on effect. We are talking about people’s livelihoods. If managers make a mess of their job they get the sack. Players get moved on and in everyday life you would lose your job. It seems only referees are immune to such punishments.
“All they have to do is say sorry on the SFA website and then go back to work the next week as normal.
“In England the referees are demoted for making silly mistakes and that is something we should look at in Scotland. Things cannot go on like this.
“We are cringing at these mistakes every week.”
Calderwood is hoping to continue his rebuilding work this week.
He is expecting a decision from forward Lee Miller about the contract offer, but he is also looking to bring in new faces.
He said: “We are quite close to completing a couple of deals, but we will wait and see.
“Lee is still thinking things over but we should know fairly soon.”
Readers' Comments
what about the amount of mistakes jimmy has made this season that cost us games, we have dropped points all year due to poor tactics, terrible squad selection, player being used out of position. Jimmys tendencies to play his favourites regardless of how bad they have been playing, for instance severin and mackie. Come on jimmy just for once admit some of the blame for the failures you have contributed to this year.
Pat Ocakes
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Agree with Pat. If you have to rely on two decisions to explain the lack of success over an entire season, then you arent up to much. Jimmy - dont let the door hit you on the backside on the way out!
William Paterson
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Couldn't agree more. Aberdeen do not deserve to be in Europe, period. Our failure to be there is due to dropping countless points to inferior opposition, more often than not at home, for the reasons already stated. More importantly Jc has proven that he is lucky enough (talent?) to get us into the mix for europe and the cups, but that he appears inept once we get there. And finally, welcome to the party to the rest of the SPL in recognising that McCurry is neither biased nor corrupt, just utterly incompetent and completely out of his depth.
Colin Anderson
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Good news lads, there is a rumour going about today that Jimmy "Calledeadwood" may be going to QPR. Best release since a blue elephant indian in george street fart
adam reid
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Other SPL managers have been more than unhappy with McCurry, they should join with Craig Levein and stand up to the SFA. Levein will be hung out to dry if they dont show there support.
Tam Glen
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In fact, Michael Gannon and Jimmy Calderwood, the loss of "£1million" due to non-euro qualification - dreadful league form apart - is down to the amateurish 90 minutes of football delivered by Aberdeen at Hampden v Queen of the South.
Peter Mennie
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