Former Hibs star demands consistency as SFA open retrospective action can of worms after Premiership incident
Motherwell’s Callum Slattery has been given a retrospective suspended four-match ban for simulation against St Mirren.
Former Hibs striker Tam McManus believes the Scottish Football Association have potentially set an unwanted precedent after giving Motherwell midfielder Callum Slattery a retrospective ban.
In Motherwell’s 5-0 victory over St Mirren in February, the midfielder went down holding his face following an off the ball incident with Richard King. The Buddies defender was sent off by referee Calum Scott but subsequently St Mirren successfully appealed the dismissal and Slattery has been issued a four-match ban, two of which are suspended, after he was cited by the SFA’s compliance officer.
While simulation and play-acting is something the SFA want to eradicate from the Scottish game, they’ve received backlash for their decision from Motherwell to ban Slattery, who claim there’s now a ‘third layer’ to refereeing behind the match official and VAR. While McManus isn’t defending the actions of Slattery in Paisley, the ex-Hibs forward was also surprised retrospective action has been taken and has questioned what it now means for the future.
McManus on SFA opening can of worms
He told PLZ Soccer’s Football Show: “You can’t defend him (Slattery). It’s play-acting. The defender hasn’t touched him. He’s went down and got him sent off. I think it was always going to come back to haunt him at some point. But retrospective action this season with the compliance officer - there’s not been a lot of it. I actually forgot compliance officers were still about until a few weeks ago!
“There hasn’t been a lot of decisions where it’s went that to that stage. We look at VAR incidents every week but I can’t remember off the top of my head somebody getting a big decision wrong and then retrospectively them getting a ban. I can’t remember it this season, so Motherwell are okay to say ‘yes, he deserves his four game ban with two suspended, but where’s this been all season?’ It’s as if they’ve just picked this one out and are making an example of him”
As recent as last week, St Johnstone’s Jack Baird elbowed Partick Thistle’s Aidan Fitzpatrick but wasn’t shown a card by the referee in a Championship fixture where VAR was not in use. McManus now believes the SFA must intervene with these types of incidents too if they’re to remain consistent. He continued: “If you’re going to do Slattery then you’ve got to do the same every week with off-the-ball incidents. We seen Jack Baird for St Johnston elbow Aidan Fitzpatrick last week, he’s got to get done next. Certain four-match ban at least. So we should see it every week now - retrospective action.”
Motherwell statement on Slattery ban
On Thursday, Motherwell’s club statement on the Slattery incident read: “On the night, the fourth official communicated to the match referee about the off-the-ball incident, to which a red card was shown to King. Following a VAR review, the decision was upheld due to the inconclusive evidence from the cameras, which couldn’t confirm the level of contact with Slattery’s face due to poor quality.
“Despite the correct protocol being followed on the night, a third layer of refereeing has now been implemented, and despite using the same poor-quality camera angles, the panel has imposed a four-game ban for our player, two of which he is to serve in the next two matches with the other two suspended. The club attended the hearing with clear evidence showing that the camera angles from the match in Paisley couldn’t provide anyone with conclusive footage on the amount of contact to Slattery’s face.
“This is the first incident in Scottish football where a player has received a match suspension via retrospective action for inappropriate behaviour, and we question why this incident meets the criteria, yet countless others don’t. All clubs have witnessed similar incidents in games which haven’t resulted in retrospective bans; therefore, we will watch and expect consistency going forward so that Callum isn’t treated differently to others. The club will be making no further comment at this time.”