Hearts land referee

PAUL KIDDIE

CONTROVERSIAL referee Dougie McDonald will handle his first Hearts game in almost a year when he takes charge of the Jambos’ clash with champions-elect Celtic at Parkhead on Saturday.

The whistler fell foul of Gorgie boss Craig Levein after his inept handling of the Tynecastle outfit’s league meeting with Kilmarnock at Rugby Park on May 3, 2003, a game which saw ten players booked and Andy Webster and Austin McCann sent off for the visitors.

Levein went to war with the Scottish Football Association after being fined £1000 for criticising the official’s performance.

He refused to pay the fine which was subsequently doubled and when he refused to pay again it was quadrupled. When he refused to pay a third time, the SFA imposed a four-month touchline ban.

The case was due to be heard at the Court of Session in early March although that course of action proved unnecessary after both parties reached a compromise.

Hearts agreed to pay the original fine with Levein apologising for his remarks and the SFA acknowledging his belief that "certain protocols" at the game were not properly followed.

Those "protocols" are understood to have surrounded the appearance of Killie boss Jim Jefferies in the referee’s room at half-time despite the fact he was serving a touchline ban.

That Rugby Park encounter was the fourth Hearts match of last season which McDonald handled but throughout the long-running feud, the SFA appeared to carefully avoid awarding the Grade One whistler another game involving the Jambos.

The only occasion when McDonald and Levein crossed paths was the first Edinburgh derby of the current season at Easter Road, when he was fourth official as the hosts triumphed 1-0 back in August.

The SPL, meanwhile, was today voting on Hearts’ proposal to move to Murrayfield next season.

Chief executive Chris Robinson needs an 8-4 voting majority to see the controversial plan through, although even then it would still have to be approved by an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders, the club requiring to give 21 days’ notice for the egm.

The Jambos’ proposal to play an SPL ‘home’ game in Melbourne next season is also be on the agenda for the member clubs at Hampden Park and this will also require the standard 8-4 majority for the motion to be successful.

Mark de Vries, meanwhile, continued his comeback from a calf injury when he played for over an hour of yesterday’s 3-0 Under-21 win over Dundee at Dens Park.

Levein will have to wait to see if the giant Dutchman suffers any sort of reaction to his outing before considering his plans for the trip to Parkhead.

He said: "Mark has been missing for some weeks and to get him through an hour or so with the Under-21s is a big boost for us.

"However, whether he is ready for a start in the first team is another question after having been out of action for so long.

"We have three massive away games in succession coming up - starting on Saturday against Celtic. We are then at Motherwell and Partick Thistle and the hope would be to get him involved in some of those games to clinch a place in Europe."

Time appears to be running out for Andy Webster to make the trip to Glasgow.

The centre-half has had to withdraw from the Scotland squad for tomorrow’s friendly against Romania at Hampden Park due to the ankle injury suffered against Rangers.

Although he is improving, he has yet to return to full training and it appears unlikely that he will be ready in time to face the runaway league leaders in Glasgow.

Taken from the Scotsman