Referee at centre of strike protest quits

DOUGIE McDONALD last night blasted the Scottish Football Association for failing to protect referees from attacks on their integrity as he announced his immediate retirement from the professional game.

McDonald has stepped down from the SFA’s category one list in an attempt to move the spotlight away from his role in the crisis engulfing Scottish football.

McDonald’s decision to rescind a penalty he had awarded to Celtic last month, and subsequent admission that he had misled his supervisor and Celtic manager Neil Lennon over the circumstances, sparked the escalation of events leading to this weekend’s referees’ strike action.