Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes feels the Scottish game has been discredited by the numerous public fiascos that have emerged in recent weeks.
No sooner had the furore over the Betfred Cup semi-finals been tempered this week, with the Dons seeing their tie against Rangers pushed back to 4.30pm and Hearts-Celtic moved to Murrayfield, when they were fighting a Scottish FA disciplinary charge against defender Scott McKenna.
McInnes said: “There’s so much good about our game at the minute. Our game is in such a healthy state. There’s a lot of good players, good managers, and I think there’s more focus. There’s two clubs still in Europe. There’s a lot to promote our game about. I just feel as though we’ve been bogged down too much already this season with refereeing and compliance officers and appeals and the semi-final.
“Hopefully the semi-finals can now have a line drawn under it and we can look forward to the games. I just feel as though we maybe talk too much about other stuff and hopefully we can concentrate on promoting the game a bit more.”
McInnes was pleased to have a resolution on the semi-finals, due to take place on October 28, even if Celtic expressed their displeasure at having to play at Murrayfield and questioning the neutrality of the stadium for their game against the Jambos.
He added: “When it comes to these, you’re never going to satisfy everybody. It’s difficult but I do think the fact that we’ve got two separate venues rather than trying to squeeze it in at one on the same day, everybody feels a bit more comfortable with that.
“It all felt a bit rushed to me last week. Maybe they underestimated the public opinion. Even the journalists’ comments and the way everything was built. They’ve maybe underestimated the supporter in all of this.”