St Mirren manager Gus enraged by 'winking' ref's penalty award to Celtic

Smith, who refereed the controversial encounter at Love Street in February that was decided late by a contentious Shunsuke Nakamura free-kick, was again at the heart of the drama yesterday when he red-carded defender Will Haining after awarding the match-winning penalty.

Flashpoint: Haining's challenge on Vennegoor of Hesselink was controversially penalised by referee Eddie Smith and resulted in Barry Robson's spot-kick for a 1-0 Celtic win

Barry Robson converted the 62nd-minute award but MacPherson tried to steer away from expansive post-match criticism in the wake of the £5,000 fine imposed by the SFA on Craig Levein last week for comments the Dundee United boss made last season about Mike McCurry.

'I've not seen the incident in question but I have heard from people I respect, and ones who have played the game, that it was either offside or a free-kick for St Mirren,' said MacPherson.

'I believe Vennegoor of Hesselink fouled Will Haining. Is Eddie Smith going to change his mind in retrospect? Not a chance. He winked at me during the game but I've no idea why he did that. He didn't explain it.

'It's irrelevant to ask if the penalty would have been given for us at the other end, it doesn't matter - it has been given and we get on with it.

'Was it a free-kick? Was he offside? There are a lot of questions to be answered but there's no point in asking the questions, we won't get the answers.' 

The Saints boss, who expressly asked for Alan Freeland to be removed from a fixture last season, also hit out at the Hampden hierarchy by claiming that refs could stand accused of singling out SPL managers.

'We have had a referees' meeting at St Andrews earlier this summer and I believe there were pictures of SPL managers up on their screens,' said MacPherson.

'I've heard I was one of them but I do not know why that was. I would be very concerned if referees were individualising managers.'

Smith was a surprise appointment yesterday after the events of February 24 at Love Street when MacPherson slammed the free-kick awarded for Nakamura's winner.

'He believed he got it right for that game,' said Gus, when asked if he had been surprised by the SFA's appointment. 

Asked if he thought the SFA would allocate McCurry to a Dundee United v Rangers game this season, the Saints boss said: 'Nothing would surprise me.'

Celtic goal hero Robson said: 'I was close to Jan at the time and felt sure he was fouled. I've no time for conspiracy theories. The keeper managed to get to my shot but I always say it is only a bad penalty if you don't score.

'I hope I am the No 1 penalty taker here now.'

Celtic boss Gordon Strachan said: 'I thought the referee was terrific. I thought it was a penalty and, in fact, I thought there was one before it, as well. Sometimes you get them and sometimes you don't.'

Scottish referees, of course, are looking for £1,000 per SPL game and have already secured an increase from £575 to £800.