Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Aberdeen hit back at Scottish FA over ‘ridiculously harsh’ four-game ban for captain Graeme Shinnie

Dons skipper will miss Sunday's game against Rangers following red card in Dingwall.

Graeme Shinnie's challenge on Jack Baldwin which resulted in a red card. Image: SNS
Graeme Shinnie's challenge on Jack Baldwin which resulted in a red card. Image: SNS

Aberdeen have described a four-game ban for Dons captain Graeme Shinnie as “ridiculously harsh” and urged the Scottish FA to urgently review their appeal.

Shinnie will miss his side’s match against Rangers this weekend after the Dons lost their appeal over his red card at Ross County.

A blistering statement from the Dons criticised the decision and called for a new panel to review the incident.

Shinnie was dismissed in stoppage time for a foul on County defender Jack Baldwin in his side’s 1-0 victory in Dingwall.

Dons boss Barry Robson believed the challenge did not warrant a red card and the club backed the manager and midfielder Shinnie by appealing the skipper’s dismissal on Monday.

However, the SFA’s judicial panel protocol upheld the red card for serious foul play meaning Shinnie will miss Sunday’s Premiership match against the Light Blues at Pittodrie.

The Dons captain was making his return from the first red card of his career in the 1-0 win at St Johnstone on April 1 when he was sent off.

As a result of the appeal being dismissed Shinnie will also sit out the first three games after the split as an additional game is added to his three-match ban after receiving his second red card of the season.

An additional one-match suspension has been added after the appeal was deemed unlikely to win.

‘Grossly unfair and entirely untrue’

The Dons statement read: “In the cold light of day, we very carefully considered the decision to appeal Graeme Shinnie’s red card at last Friday’s game against Ross County.

“We eventually decided to appeal in the belief that it had merit and a chance of success after watching the footage numerous times, listening to the various professional pundits on the matter and discussing it with the player and the manager.

“In setting out our appeal, we also reviewed similar tackles in the Scottish Premiership in the last six months where at least two players, who have unintentionally caught an opponent in the follow through of a tackle and were red-carded after VAR reviews, have had their ban overturned on appeal and their suspensions quashed.

“Each appeal is heard on its own merits, which means that no prior case/appeal decisions are considered.

“The legal system for hundreds of years has used and relied upon prior cases as evidence. We believe that the omission of these key prior appeal findings will continue to affect consistency of decision-making.

“Scottish FA rules prohibit us from commenting publicly on such decisions, but having been accused of presenting a frivolous appeal our supporters need to know that this is not only insulting to the club but grossly unfair and entirely untrue. To add a further match ban seems ridiculously harsh and unnecessary.

“We are publicly asking the Scottish FA to urgently review our appeal with a new panel.”

Referee Euan Anderson brandished the red card to Shinnie, who was making his 200th appearance for the Dons, following a VAR review at the pitch side monitor at Victoria Park.

Speaking after the win, his side’s sixth in a row, Robson said: “It wasn’t a red card for me. I have seen it back.

“I want my players to tackle. I want my players to be aggressive. He slid in, won the ball and it bounced off him and his leg actually started to pull back after it.

“Graeme is disappointed as he doesn’t think it is a sending off. He is an honest boy. I will always ask him to be committed like that.

“Every one of my players, I will always ask to be committed like that.”

Conversation