Did Richmond Retaliate For Treatment Of McCurry?

Dundee United manager Craig Levein was fined £5,000 last season for criticising a Scottish referee, so its wasn`t a surprise that this time round he was more guarded in his comments.

Referee Mike McCurry sparked controversy by not awarding a stonewall penalty to Dundee United at Ibrox, after Noel Hunt was brought down by Rangers defender David Weir.

McCurry then chalked off a legitimate goal, after advice from the linesman that Noel Hunt was offside, despite it being a clear own goal, scored by David Weir.

Not to be outdone, it was Charlie Richmond`s turn this time to make sure that Dundee United were denied a stonewall penalty after Roy O`Donovan was brought down by Celtic`s Gary Caldwell at the edge of the 6-yard box.

With the score at 1-0 to Celtic, Dundee United should have had the chance to equalise from the spot, but once again a Scottish referee bottled out of a crucial decision in a match against the Old Firm.

When being interviewed after the match, Craig Levein was very careful when talking about the incident infront of the Setanta cameras.

"I haven`t seen it yet, but you`ve just told me it was a stonewall penalty", said Levein when asked about the penalty incident.

"What do I say? I`m going to run out of money at some point."

"I feel really sorry for the fans who witness it, they don`t deserve that."

Levein believes that the decision might have been in retaliation for his treatment of Mike McCurry last season, but would be disappointed if that was the case.

He continued, "If its because I speak out and speak my mind, then that`s a terrible, terrible thing to happen. I just want us to get a fair crack of the whip, that`s all."

"It was a real blow not to get the penalty. We might have missed the penalty, but the point being that is was a penalty."

"Those things sometimes go against you, but I hoping that with a normal amount of luck that we will get those decisions in our favour some day."

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