Crawford Allan to step down

[Mon Dieu4]

At the end of the season, loved this bit of gaslighting in their announcement about it

"We must work together to alleviate the unsustainable pressure on match officials and VAR operators, to remove the convenient blame culture attached to subjective or unpopular decisions, and to ensure more focus is placed on the entertainers rather than the on-field facilitators"

[Stubbsy90+2]

At the end of the season, loved this bit of gaslighting in their announcement about it

"We must work together to alleviate the unsustainable pressure on match officials and VAR operators, to remove the convenient blame culture attached to subjective or unpopular decisions, and to ensure more focus is placed on the entertainers rather than the on-field facilitators"

That really is an incredible take.

[HoboHarry]

Not before time and he can stick his statement where the sun doesn't shine. Until they can become a professional and transparent organisation who are clearly working for the good of the whole game instead of the closed clique that they currently are they can expect nothing except stick from all quarters.

[Rumble de Thump]

His attitude sums up the massive problem with Scottish refereeing and the lack of any willingness to accept responsibility for it, let alone correct it.

[weecounty hibby]

Arrogant ****** in charge of a bunch of arrogant ******s

[NORTHERNHIBBY]

We all get the point that the officials aren't the stars of the show. I'd gently break that news to some of the officials and see where we are after that.

[MWHIBBIES]

What a ****ing idiot. Deserve all the grief they get.

[HoboHarry]

Between Hibs raising the strict liability issue up and this dinosaur stepping down I wonder if the SFA have recognized how badly Scottish football has stagnated and decided to address the fact. I'm more hopeful than confident mind you. Curious to see if they promote from within or bring in someone from outside, that'll be telling.

[Pedantic_Hibee]

At the end of the season, loved this bit of gaslighting in their announcement about it

"We must work together to alleviate the unsustainable pressure on match officials and VAR operators, to remove the convenient blame culture attached to subjective or unpopular decisions, and to ensure more focus is placed on the entertainers rather than the on-field facilitators"

I’d have had more respect for them if they said “we realise we are absolutely hopeless at this”

[staunchhibby]

If the match officials were more honest them maybe i would believe in them

[Diclonius]

Good. **** off!

[007]

Never trust anyone who has a surname for a 1st name and a 1st name for a surname.

Hopefully the replacement is an improvement.

[Smartie]

Hidden in there is a fair point about the subjective nature of decisions.

If it wasn't buried beneath a load of terrible attitude then you might think we'd have a chance at improving matters.

The second they stop being so secretive and defensive and actually start working towards improving the situation themselves, we'll actually have reason for hope.

Maybe this idiot's resignation is a step in the right direction?

I've actually quite liked what Bobby Madden has had to say on Twitter in recent months. Free from the shackles of being on the inside, his thoughts have been interesting and insightful, even if you don't necessarily agree with him. He's not been afraid to call out what he's seen as wrong, he has on occasion tried to explain the process to those of us who don't necessarily know how it all works and sometimes defended controversial and much criticised decisions that he's agreed with. It's plain daft that you need to be on the outside to do so.

[Unseen work]

At the end of the season, loved this bit of gaslighting in their announcement about it

"We must work together to alleviate the unsustainable pressure on match officials and VAR operators, to remove the convenient blame culture attached to subjective or unpopular decisions, and to ensure more focus is placed on the entertainers rather than the on-field facilitators"

Can they all get banned for a game like a manager would? Just let the third choice coach of each team be the linesman and another coach to take 45 mins each as ref.

[ElginHibee]

Referees should be made available to the press and have to explain their decisions after games. Maybe some press accountability will help, there's obviously none internally. Don't both clubs have to provide the manager and a player for the press? Can't see why a little transparency with the other major player in the match would be a bad thing.

[HoboHarry]

Never trust anyone who has a surname for a 1st name and a 1st name for a surname.

Hopefully the replacement is an improvement.

Or someone who has numbers for a name......





:greengrin

[LunasBoots]

What a statement that is, maybe if they used common sense and understood football they wouldn't be under that pressure, still actively costing clubs points and money with poor calls.

Its telling that the SFA think VAR is working but almost all clubs and fans think otherwise. Arrogance.

[bod]

Excuse the ignorance but who is he ?

[ElginHibee]

Cheat-in-chief (head of refereeing). :wink:

[overdrive]

At the end of the season, loved this bit of gaslighting in their announcement about it

"We must work together to alleviate the unsustainable pressure on match officials and VAR operators, to remove the convenient blame culture attached to subjective or unpopular decisions, and to ensure more focus is placed on the entertainers rather than the on-field facilitators"

Maybe if they didn’t have guys like Clancy and Napier who think it’s all about them, then the focus would be on the “entertainers”

[Donegal Hibby]

At the end of the season, loved this bit of gaslighting in their announcement about it

"We must work together to alleviate the unsustainable pressure on match officials and VAR operators, to remove the convenient blame culture attached to subjective or unpopular decisions, and to ensure more focus is placed on the entertainers rather than the on-field facilitators"

With the way everything has been going on with dodgy decisions and all the rest of the other stuff they aren't getting half enough pressure put on them .

As to Crawford Allan stepping down it won't make any difference as they will just probably appoint another one from their club . Jobs for the boys so to speak ! .

[bod]

Cheat-in-chief (head of refereeing). :wink:

Cheers

[overdrive]

With the way everything has been going on with dodgy decisions and all the rest of the other stuff they aren't getting half enough pressure put on them .

As to Crawford Allan stepping down it won't make any difference as they will just probably appoint another one from their club . Jobs for the boys so to speak ! .

Yep. It wouldn’t surprise me if Willie Collum retires and he takes over.

They should be making an appointment from abroad

[we are hibs]

That quote is from Ian Maxwell. A guy who has been an unmitigated failure in his role at the SFA and should also resign.

[Centre Hawf]

Bye Allan, take a few of other ****wits you preside over with you if you can as well pal.

[Caversham Green]

Yep. It wouldn’t surprise me if Willie Collum retires and he takes over.

They should be making an appointment from abroad

:agree: Someone from England would do fine - Graham Poll or Mike Dean might be available. Both have had controversies but were actually very good refs for the most part.

[LunasBoots]

Excuse the ignorance but who is he ?

He was a former ref and not a very good one at that.

[HoboHarry]

:agree: Someone from England would do fine - Graham Poll or Mike Dean might be available. Both have had controversies but were actually very good refs for the most part.

Mike Dean or Mark Clattenburg were my first thought but it would depend on their administrative skills obviously.

[Bobby's Cinema]

That's an incredible tone to take. Several of the biggest gripes with VAR are absolutley operator error - nothing convenient about getting an apology after an incorrect decision that won't change anything!!

- consistency of decisions (Boyle non-award v Celtic / Rangers pen at ER)
- VAR lack of intervention for blatant errors to send officials to the screen (pittodrie handball I still can't fathom)
- If it takes several minutes to reach a decision then it's not clear and obvious.

I find at boring as **** going on and on about decisions. I hate when pundits describe it as VAR drama - because it doesn't add anything to my enjoyment of a game. But if you're going to apply it incorrectly, people are going to talk about it.

[HoboHarry]

He was a former ref and not a very good one at that.

Who was then promoted way above his station.

[HoboHarry]

That quote is from Ian Maxwell. A guy who has been an unmitigated failure in his role at the SFA and should also resign.
To be fair I'm not sure what is role is. I know what it should be but he can barely put a coherent sentence together.

[007]

Or someone who has numbers for a name......





:greengrin

Well of course you should never trust a double agent. 😇

[ElginHibee]

Who was then promoted way above his station.

Sounds like Scottish football administration.

[Bostonhibby]

Has an "opportunity " in the statement writing department at Ibrox come up and it was too difficult for him to turn down?

Sent from my SM-A750FN using Tapatalk

[theonlywayisup]

If anyone doubts the incompetence of Scottish referees and their use of VAR they only need to look at the two ridiculous decisions from the Motherwell Aberdeen game. To deny the Motherwell goal because the ball grazed the upper arm (shoulder) of the Motherwell player in the build-up to the goal and then deny Motherwell a penalty for a more blatant handball in the Aberdeen box was two recent examples of showing that our VAR referees clearly haven't a clue what they are doing. If the above was a minor example, I could understand the statement that's been made. However, on the back of all the wrong decisions the SFA have clearly got a bass neck for making that statement.

[Smartie]

If anyone doubts the incompetence of Scottish referees and their use of VAR they only need to look at the two ridiculous decisions from the Motherwell Aberdeen game. To deny the Motherwell goal because the ball grazed the upper arm (shoulder) of the Motherwell player in the build-up to the goal and then deny Motherwell a penalty for a more blatant handball in the Aberdeen box was two recent examples of showing that our VAR referees clearly haven't a clue what they are doing. If the above was a minor example, I could understand the statement that's been made. However, on the back of all the wrong decisions the SFA have clearly got a bass neck for making that statement.

Sportscene on Saturday night was pretty grim viewing from a refereeing perspective.

I was surprised more wasn't made of the decision to disallow Johnston's goal for Celtic too, which looked ridiculous.

We didn't even get a Rangers game at the weekend for the referees to really let themselves down.

[JimBHibees]

At the end of the season, loved this bit of gaslighting in their announcement about it

"We must work together to alleviate the unsustainable pressure on match officials and VAR operators, to remove the convenient blame culture attached to subjective or unpopular decisions, and to ensure more focus is placed on the entertainers rather than the on-field facilitators"

So far up himself it is unreal. What did he actually do? Bit strange really poor referees seem to do incredibly well in this country. Quite how son of Dallas suddenly has a regular var job actually sums it up perfectly.

[JimBHibees]

Referees should be made available to the press and have to explain their decisions after games. Maybe some press accountability will help, there's obviously none internally. Don't both clubs have to provide the manager and a player for the press? Can't see why a little transparency with the other major player in the match would be a bad thing.

They absolutely should. In no other profession are key players never questioned on anything and hide away with arrogant contempt.

[greenginger]

Referees should be made available to the press and have to explain their decisions after games. Maybe some press accountability will help, there's obviously none internally. Don't both clubs have to provide the manager and a player for the press? Can't see why a little transparency with the other major player in the match would be a bad thing.


First question from our press would be “ why wis it the Gers only got 2 penalties “. :greengrin

[JimBHibees]

If anyone doubts the incompetence of Scottish referees and their use of VAR they only need to look at the two ridiculous decisions from the Motherwell Aberdeen game. To deny the Motherwell goal because the ball grazed the upper arm (shoulder) of the Motherwell player in the build-up to the goal and then deny Motherwell a penalty for a more blatant handball in the Aberdeen box was two recent examples of showing that our VAR referees clearly haven't a clue what they are doing. If the above was a minor example, I could understand the statement that's been made. However, on the back of all the wrong decisions the SFA have clearly got a bass neck for making that statement.

Our friend Steven McLean was var for Well Sheep game.

[JimBHibees]

Sportscene on Saturday night was pretty grim viewing from a refereeing perspective.

I was surprised more wasn't made of the decision to disallow Johnston's goal for Celtic too, which looked ridiculous.

We didn't even get a Rangers game at the weekend for the referees to really let themselves down.

The Johnston goal match footage looked totally different to the offside photo with lines.

[VoltaireHibs]

Arrogant ****** in charge of a bunch of arrogant ******s

That's about all that needs to be said about that statement. 👍

[Victor]

As I have previously said there should be an Independent Review Body that clubs can ask to review dodgy decisions. They should have the power to censure referees and award points when bad decisions cause teams to lose them.
I know that this may be wishful thinking, but there has to be a way for clubs to complain about refereeing decisions without facing fines and bans.

[PatHead]

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

[VoltaireHibs]

If anyone doubts the incompetence of Scottish referees and their use of VAR they only need to look at the two ridiculous decisions from the Motherwell Aberdeen game. To deny the Motherwell goal because the ball grazed the upper arm (shoulder) of the Motherwell player in the build-up to the goal and then deny Motherwell a penalty for a more blatant handball in the Aberdeen box was two recent examples of showing that our VAR referees clearly haven't a clue what they are doing. If the above was a minor example, I could understand the statement that's been made. However, on the back of all the wrong decisions the SFA have clearly got a bass neck for making that statement.

Alongside ourselves Motherwell have really been done over by VAR recently as well.

[Smartie]

The Johnston goal match footage looked totally different to the offside photo with lines.

Yeah, it was weird.

They drew the lines up for an offside earlier in the move that didn't look relevant.

He looked onside when the ball was played through to him.

A peculiar chain of events that maybe made Sportscene look more amateurish than the refs.

[Kato]

The are all in the Flat Earth Society, which has members all around the globe.

Same gaslighting techniques used by The Inquisition.

Sent from my SM-A528B using Tapatalk

[Callum_62]

Yeah, it was weird.

They drew the lines up for an offside earlier in the move that didn't look relevant.

He looked onside when the ball was played through to him.

A peculiar chain of events that maybe made Sportscene look more amateurish than the refs.It was part of the same phase of play and correctly ruled out for offside in my opinion

Didn't see it at all at the time when watching the highlights though

Sent from my Pixel 7 Pro using Tapatalk

[truehibernian]

Ian Maxwell is poacher turned gamekeeper and not qualified for his role in the first place - sooner he goes the better. Wonder what his opinion was on the ref’s performance at his old club Thistle recently when they had two goals incorrectly ruled out for offside and one scored against them that was offside too - all in one game!! It’s all subjective though Ian, eh 🤔

They bring on pressure themselves by not applying consistent rulings, getting the rules wrong, and not explaining decision making post game (as they should do for transparency).

[H18 SFR]

Mike Dean or Mark Clattenburg were my first thought but it would depend on their administrative skills obviously.

Crawford Allan and Mark Clattenburg are very good friends from when they were both one grade away from category 1. Can’t see him replacing him.

Edit - I’ve tried to find any evidence of them being on a tournament together. I’m sure they met at either the Milk Cup or a UEFA regions competition which was then refereed by prospective FIFA referees rather than those with a badge.

[Smartie]

It was part of the same phase of play and correctly ruled out for offside in my opinion

Didn't see it at all at the time when watching the highlights though

Sent from my Pixel 7 Pro using Tapatalk

Might well have been. It certainly wasn't obvious.

Might have been a decent one for the pundits to get their teeth into and explain though? They glossed over it somewhat.

[HIBERNIAN-0762]

Will be replaced by another stick throwing ******* no doubt 🙄

[Viva_Palmeiras]

Crawford Allan and Mark Clattenburg are very good friends from when they were both one grade away from category 1. Can’t see him replacing him.

Edit - I’ve tried to find any evidence of them being on a tournament together. I’m sure they met at either the Milk Cup or a UEFA regions competition which was then refereed by prospective FIFA referees rather than those with a badge.

Clattenburg - Gladiators aside - is a referees analyst for Nottingham Forest.

As I’ve stated before Im curious about this role and whether there’s something in there that could serve Hibs.

[Joe6-2]

Or someone who has numbers for a name......





:greengrin

16 90

[Since90+2]

No chance Clattenburg would take it, or more likely we could afford him.

Iirc he went to Saudi to head up the referring system, he would have been on mega money. Think he's now employed at Forest as referee liaison, if he leaves them he'll be offered a role at a big English club or something within the FA/Premier League.

[Monktonhall 7]

This news has cheered me up. An awful referee and a worse administrator. He shouldn’t be stepping down, he should be booted out for his ridiculous report on VAR performance a few weeks ago.

[Kato]

This news has cheered me up. An awful referee and a worse administrator. He shouldn’t be stepping down, he should be booted out for his ridiculous report on VAR performance a few weeks ago.

He's ridiculously good at awfully, administrating poor refereeing.

Sent from my SM-A528B using Tapatalk

[cabbageandribs1875]

i had a funny feeling Allan liked the jamboids, he does look like one and,well, that name just screams one doesn't it so after a quick google one of the first sites up was a sellick fans site with some asking questions of him...from 2021


Further, in the interests of sporting integrity and to dispel any legitimate doubts re him having displayed any conflict of interest in relation to his recent radio interview, where he chose to give his personal view of matters relating to the recent Celtic v Hearts game at Celtic Park, a few questions need to be addressed and answered regarding this SFA Official.

Has Crawford Allan at any time declared any potential conflicts of interest in relation to his role at the SFA?

Is it true his wife has links to Hearts due to her employment there?

Is it true his father is a die hard Hearts supporter?

Is it true Crawford Allan has strong leanings to the Hearts Football Club (HMFC)?

If any of the above questions are indeed true, should Crawford Allan be disqualified, at the very least, of personally commentating on any matters pertaining to HMFC which could be deemed to be contentious or controversial?

[Monktonhall 7]

He's ridiculously good at awfully, administrating poor refereeing.

Sent from my SM-A528B using Tapatalk

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[LewysGot2]

i had a funny feeling Allan liked the jamboids, he does look like one and,well, that name just screams one doesn't it so after a quick google one of the first sites up was a sellick fans site with some asking questions of him...from 2021


Further, in the interests of sporting integrity and to dispel any legitimate doubts re him having displayed any conflict of interest in relation to his recent radio interview, where he chose to give his personal view of matters relating to the recent Celtic v Hearts game at Celtic Park, a few questions need to be addressed and answered regarding this SFA Official.

Has Crawford Allan at any time declared any potential conflicts of interest in relation to his role at the SFA?

Is it true his wife has links to Hearts due to her employment there?

Is it true his father is a die hard Hearts supporter?

Is it true Crawford Allan has strong leanings to the Hearts Football Club (HMFC)?

If any of the above questions are indeed true, should Crawford Allan be disqualified, at the very least, of personally commentating on any matters pertaining to HMFC which could be deemed to be contentious or controversial?


I worked for the same bank as him in a past life. He supported Aberdeen growing up. His wife worked in the office for Hearts AND then Hibs.

[Silversand]

I worked for the same bank as him in a past life. He supported Aberdeen growing up. His wife worked in the office for Hearts AND then Hibs.Went to the same Boys Brigrade as Crawford (he was year below me at Craigmount).

He was an Aberdeen fan, and fairly harmless, a nice guy, pretty quiet, and as far from a corrupt referee as you could get.

Sent from my SM-S911B using Tapatalk

[jakedance]

At the end of the season, loved this bit of gaslighting in their announcement about it

"We must work together to alleviate the unsustainable pressure on match officials and VAR operators, to remove the convenient blame culture attached to subjective or unpopular decisions, and to ensure more focus is placed on the entertainers rather than the on-field facilitators"

Someone wrote that down. They likely edited and reread it a few times and then someone else probably signed off on it. A PR Agency might have had a hand in it too. And then someone has posted it and distributed to the press.

It would have been very easy to have acknowledged that they’re striving, as professional people do in all kinds of organisations, to achieve higher standards in everything they do, but no, they’re bleating about a blame culture while accepting no responsibility. Pathetic.

[Kato]

Someone wrote that down. They likely edited and reread it a few times and then someone else probably signed off on it. A PR Agency might have had a hand in it too. And then someone has posted it and distributed to the press.

It would have been very easy to have acknowledged that they’re striving, as professional people do in all kinds of organisations, to achieve higher standards in everything they do, but no, they’re bleating about a blame culture while accepting no responsibility. Pathetic.Which just screams culpability.

Sent from my SM-A528B using Tapatalk

[tamig]

Went to the same Boys Brigrade as Crawford (he was year below me at Craigmount).

He was an Aberdeen fan, and fairly harmless, a nice guy, pretty quiet, and as far from a corrupt referee as you could get.

Sent from my SM-S911B using Tapatalk
I worked with him for a few years. Always complimentary about the way Hibs looked after officials. He has no axe to grind with us. A decent guy imo.

[hibby6270]

I worked for the same bank as him in a past life. He supported Aberdeen growing up. His wife worked in the office for Hearts AND then Hibs.

Can confirm all of the above is true.

I’ve worked indirectly with Crawford at the same bank. I’ve also worked with him at various golf events for over 20 years. He is a really nice guy. No real airs and graces. As honest as the day is long.
He has always been up front with me about Scottish football in general, even more so when I’ve quizzed him post Hibs games about some decisions he made during a match.

For what it’s worth, I did think VAR would be good for the game in general. So far it’s probably a 2 out of 10, so vast room for improvement. I don’t believe for one minute that the SFA, or Crawford for that matter, intended for matters to reach this point though.

[JimBHibees]

Which just screams culpability.

Sent from my SM-A528B using Tapatalk

Agree that is a terrible statement especially the convenient blame culture bit. Complete lack of any responsibility and accountability. They are really poor and can't remember the standard being lower they need to rip it up and start again but that would mean the establishment and no doubt our two biggest clubs releasing some of the control of the referees in this country.

[Viva_Palmeiras]

And another thing lands on his desk - St Johnstone a day after Motherwell? Have been writing a statement. Apporoaching Tipping point if it has been reached already…