Alex McLeish believes Scottish referees need to be backed after the sourcing of officials outwith the country was discussed by Premiership clubs and the SFA hierarchy.

The idea was one of a range of proposals floated at a meeting between all 12 Premiership clubs, SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell, compliance officer Clare Whyte and head of referee development John Fleming earlier this week.

Introducing full-time referees and exploring further qualification for referees was also voiced.

The possibility of introducing VAR was also discussed at a meeting which one source described as ''open and frank''; specifically in relation to how much VAR would cost, who would pay for it and the potential timescale for it to be introduced.

Scotland national team boss McLeish said his preference would be to back home grown referees.

He said: "There is absolutely no hiding place. I feel for the referees. I was always sympathetic even in my [playing] days.

"They had a job to do and we had a job to do. I feel the scrutiny now is absolutely intense. Give these guys a break, let's get behind them.

"We have to try and help the referees as much as possible. These guys are brought up here - we need to encourage them and get them to be better."

When asked if bringing in foreign referees to officiate in Scotland would be a backward step, McLeish said: "It's not really something I was to discuss. I say back our boys. That's my stance on it."

Refereeing decisions and the governing body's system have been a talking point throughout the season following a number of controversial incidents.

Rangers are the latest club to voice their concerns.

Managing director Stewart Robertson said matches were being re-refereed under the Scottish FA's new disciplinary system and said they should return to last season's model.

He told Rangers TV: "There's been a change to the rules but there's also been a change to the way they've been interpreted.

"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."

Top flight clubs are due to further discuss this issue before the end of the week.