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.

Ross County boss John Hughes backs Brian Rice’s outburst on refereeing standards as he hits out at ‘patronising’ officials chief Crawford Allan

Brian Rice (left) with John Hughes.
Brian Rice (left) with John Hughes.

Ross County manager John Hughes insists refereeing is far from consistent across the Premiership and agrees with Hamilton Accies boss Brian Rice’s belief discussing incidents with head of referees Crawford Allan is a pointless exercise.

Rice hit out at the standard of refereeing in games involving his club following Saturday’s Scottish Cup exit to St Mirren and he has found support from Hughes, who was his manager when the duo worked together at Caley Thistle.

Hughes said: “I haven’t spoken to Chipper about it, but he has 100 percent my backing and a little bit more.

“I agree with him when he says Crawford Allan, you are wasting your time. That is why I would never phone him, to be patronised.  You are having a laugh.

“When you phone up, what a phone call.  You are looking for Jeremy Beadle (the late hidden camera show presenter) to jump out. I am serious you are looking for Jeremy Beadle to jump out.

“You are on the phone saying is this for real? I have never been patronised so much in all my life. I am 56.

“I have played the game and I have been brought up with my gut, my character, seen it, know it and seen it with your own eyes and you are getting that on the phone, it is embarrassing.

“Brian has had a rant and I have his back that is for sure.”

Hughes is equally aggrieved at refereeing decisions which have gone against his side and believes the standard and approachability of officials needs to be addressed.

He said: “I agree small clubs get nothing.

“We could be sitting with a few more points, because I think we have had a couple of horrendous refereeing decisions.  The one against Hibs with John Beaton (where Martin Boyle didn’t receive a second yellow card following a clear dive).

Hibernian’s Martin Boyle claims for a second penalty during the Scottish Premiership match between Ross County and Hibs last month.

“With the penalty against Hibs, you are having a laugh. The penalty against St Mirren, you are having a laugh. They were absolutely horrendous decisions.

“Going full-time would help them, but one or two of them need a personality bypass because there is no talking to them.

“They put that wee uniform on and they are running about out there – just calm down.  Take a notch off your jockstrap.

“A bit about being a referee is about having a bit of banter, your people skills and the way you conduct yourself.”

Hughes believes the standard of officiating differs across the Premiership and claims the leading clubs are given preferential treatment when it comes to referee appointments.

He said: “It shouldn’t be going on, we are in the 21st Century. How can I be in a league of 12 and it gets splits where you can referee that team up there, but you can’t referee that team up there?

“That is not equality, that is rules for one and rules for others.

“I am at the same table as Celtic and Rangers and I play to the same rules, but we are treated differently, that has to be exposed.

“I asked the question of a certain referee about his team. I was told we don’t ask our referees what team they support.

“Because half of them wouldn’t be able to referee Celtic and Rangers; that is the reason why.”