JJ wants refereeing overhaul

Last updated : 04 March 2010 By Team Talk

Kingston's appeal was rejected after referee Willie Collum examined footage of the midfielder's challenge on Dons starlet Fraser Fyvie and declared he was happy with his original decision.

Jefferies believe officials should not be allowed to act as judge and jury on such matters, insisting they should be immediately referred to an independent panel.

"It's hard for a referee to go in there and make a decision to change his mind," said the Jambos boss, who believes some referees are less willing than others to overturn their own verdicts, pointing out Hibernian midfielder Liam Miller recently won a similar appeal.

"Liam Miller got away with it last week, we'll not this week, but maybe the next person the following week might.

"I think it should go to an independent panel."

Jefferies was adamant Collum was wrong to send off Kingston, who saw red just seven minutes after coming on as half-time substitute at Pittodrie.

"I've looked at it on the video a number of times," he said.

"It shows clearly that Fraser Fyvie's leg's higher.

"If Kingston gets the ball, he would've got a bad one from Fyvie.

"So that was an accidental clash as far as I'm concerned."

Kingston will now miss Sunday's Clydesdale Bank Premier League game at Dundee United, further decimating Jefferies' injury-ravaged squad.

Nine of Hearts senior players will definitely miss the trip to Tannadice, with Dawid Kucharski and Suso Santana also doubtful and Eggert Jonsson suspended.

Jefferies described his selection for the game as a "patch-up" job, adding: "One or two players will probably know they'll be playing in different positions on Sunday."

But the Hearts boss, who claimed after Saturday's win he had never made so many positional changes during a game, revealed the current injury crisis was not the worst of his managerial career.

Indeed, while in charge of Kilmarnock two-and-a-half years ago, Jefferies went into a game against Inverness with 15 injuries and one suspension and was forced to field three players who were not fully fit.

"We had unbelievable injuries," he recalled.

"We had all the young boys and inexperience that day.

"It sort of galvanised them to pull together because you're under the cosh.

"Nobody expected them to get a result that day against an Inverness side who weren't going too badly at the time.

"We should have won the game and it ended up 2-2 but it was great for the team that we had out."

Jefferies has witnessed a similar Dunkirk spirit from his Hearts side in recent weeks as they have strung together a hat-trick of wins.

But he is not yet ready to reward some of the players whose deals expire in the summer with new contracts.

"There's no reason making any comment or doing anything about that until we get this season as near the end as possible," said Jefferies.

One of those players is striker Christian Nade, whose could find out before the end of the week what punishment he faces for allegedly punching team-mate Ian Black after last month's defeat at Celtic.

Source: Team Talk

Source: Team Talk