Rangers chief: SFA must stop 're-refereeing' matches
Stewart Robertson wants the disciplinary system reset and VAR introduced to help refs.
Rangers managing director Stewart Robertson believes matches are being re-refereed under the Scottish FA's new disciplinary system and says they should return to last season's model.
The Ibrox club have expressed their unhappiness with the governing body's judicial process more than once this season, most recently when Allan McGregor was given a two match ban after being retrospectively punished for a foul on Aberdeen's Lewis Ferguson.
Robertson believes TV pundits are influencing the compliance officer over what decisions to review but also believes that a widening of the governing body's scope meant that games were being refereed all over again.
"There's been a change to the rules but there's also been a change to the way they've been interpreted," he told Rangers TV.
"That's caused a lot of inconsistency which is causing the confusion.
"I think what we need to do is to bring all the clubs together to look at how we can change the system, to improve the system which would improve the image of the game because there's no doubt it's having a negative image of the game, which isn't good for any of us.
"This season it certainly feels like [games are being re-refereed].
"If you go back to last season or previous seasons then it seemed to be only incidents of violent conduct or off the ball incidents that the referee didn't see that would be reconsidered. Now we've got a situation where many more incidents are being looked at and we are effectively re-refereeing the game.
"That's placing intolerable pressures on referees, which then places pressures on the compliance system and the disciplinary system."
Robertson's proposed solution is to revert to the system that was in place before this season, when only extraordinary events were reviewed. He called on clubs to come together to bring about change for the good of the game.
"We feel we should be going back to what the system was previously where it was only violent conduct and off the ball incidents that should be reviewed," he explained.
"There's no doubt that things have been dealt with differently this year. The incidents that have been reviewed wouldn't have been reviewed last year. That is leading to confusion and there's much more inconsistency.
"I think we need all the clubs to speak with one voice on this or at least get round the table to see what should change. But there's definitely a change and we don't know why that's happened but we believe we should be looking to go back to the previous system."
The Ibrox chief identified television pundits as as an influence on which incidents were being punished and said that instead it would be better to allow instant video to help referees make the right decision on the day.
"We could go back to the interpretation of the rules we had last season... and that way you're not re-refereeing games and analysing it and re-examining it," he said. "You're not having television pundits effectively setting the agenda of what's being reviewed on a Monday morning.
"I also think that we need to look at VAR.
"The direction of travel in football is towards VAR. We need to be looking seriously at that to give all the assistance we can. I heard a statistic the other day that says it takes decisions from 93% accurate to 98%.
"So we're not going to get 100% but if there's tools and technology that can help us, let's take the pressure off referees, which itself will allow them to referee the games better."