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Steven McLean


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17 minutes ago, Riverplatekillie said:

I was saying what number of years they were teammates at Killie give or take a year or so.

From about 1974 to 1986 we more or less had the same defence. 

Guys like Kenny Armstrong, Jim Cockburn and Robert Clark came in at various times but Stuart McLean and Paul Clarke would have played together for around 12 years. 

 

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42 minutes ago, skygod said:

From about 1974 to 1986 we more or less had the same defence. 

Guys like Kenny Armstrong, Jim Cockburn and Robert Clark came in at various times but Stuart McLean and Paul Clarke would have played together for around 12 years. 

 

They were also youth team coaches at the club together for a number of years after finishing playing. 

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1 hour ago, chubbs said:

In the days of 1 - 14, Stuart McLean wore them all except No9 ... which he wore in his testimonial match to complete the set.

I'm sure I recall a match where Blair Millar was listed as Number 9 and Stuart McLean was Number 12 (as a substitute). However, they actually wore each other's numbers (presumably got jerseys mixed up). Does anyone else remember this, or did I just imagine it?

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1 hour ago, KA9Killie said:

I'm sure I recall a match where Blair Millar was listed as Number 9 and Stuart McLean was Number 12 (as a substitute). However, they actually wore each other's numbers (presumably got jerseys mixed up). Does anyone else remember this, or did I just imagine it?

Don't remember hearing that one before ..   maybe Blair can confirm.

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6 hours ago, red_dug said:

SSC must be well aware of club ties then, not as if someone has just mentioned it to him. 

He mentioned watching him play for Killie in one of his post match interviews:

“It is a big family connection. Stuart McLean was a top, top player here. I remember coming to watch him.

“A good right-back, not quite as good as me but decent! He played over 400 games for the club.

“And I feel that is a big enough connection  – and it is better for Steven.”

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2 hours ago, chubbs said:

Don't remember hearing that one before ..   maybe Blair can confirm.

Don’t remember that, but I did ask to wear the number 13 on the last game of the season when we were safe as that was my lucky number, that’s when I started to get the twinges in my knee. Prat that I am.

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On Saturday, Steve Clarke cemented his place at the top of this week’s Scottish football news agenda with furious comments about the refereeing of Kilmarnock’s 1-0 defeat to Aberdeen.

Discussion since the match has revolved around Steven McLean’s performance and the three red cards the Ayrshire team received during the match. I’m not here to discuss whether the calls were correct or not, that’s been gone through more than enough already. Instead, I want to focus on something the Kilmarnock manager said in his post match interview with the BBC.

 

The interview, in its entirety, was a 3 minute and 11 second lesson in spitting out the dummy, though you can understand why Clarke feels upset ending a game with 8 players. However, one comment 30 seconds into the interview shines an especially depressing light on the issues we have with refereeing here in Scotland.

After Steve Clarke opened the interview by saying the refereeing was the worst he had seen in his entire career, the BBC reporter asked if he had had a chance to speak to the referee after the game. The Kilmarnock manages said he had.

More specifically, he said: “I told him after the game, I went on the pitch and I shook his hand. I told him he was number one,” before saying that the referee gave “no reaction” to the comments.

It’s at this point that I should declare my bias: I refereed youth football in Glasgow for two years and university soccer in Canada. And, having had many rewarding and some frustrating afternoons with a whistle, Steve Clarke’s comments are simply too close to the bone.

It is shocking the number of managers, at all levels, who think it is okay to go up to a referee post-match and tell them to their face that they can’t hack it.  A handshake, a confidence destroying comment and then move on; it’s a common formula.

To be clear, this isn’t about managers questioning decisions or asking for explanations -  nobody should be beyond scrutiny. No, this is a matter of thinly veiled abuse and anger manifesting itself in the most shockingly unprofessional way.

And, since his interview at the weekend, we have to look towards Steve Clarke and other respected managers and wonder where this attitude comes from.

The comparison with rugby and football  is beyond tired, but it does go to show that you can disagree with a referee, umpire or official without getting personal. It proves football has a chronic issue with respect.

I would even go as far as to say - and I don’t think the SFA will agree here at all - that managers should be allowed to complain to an extent about referees in post match interviews. Officials do get it wrong, managers get rightfully frustrated and discussing the decision making is an important part of football.

However, the key difference between complaining to the BBC, Daily Record or Football Scotland about a refereeing decision and telling the referee to their face that they’re s**e is choice. If Steven McLean wanted to know how Steve Clarke felt on Saturday night, he could have Googled it. He didn’t need naked, unconsidered and raw anger shoved at him with a snide handshake thrown in as he walked off the pitch.

As a professional referee, it would be surprising if Mr McLean didn’t watch over the incidents of the game to learn from the performance anyway, because doing that will help him develop. It seems unlikely that being told he is the worst referee Steve Clarke has ever seen will have any positive effect whatsoever.

Refereeing in Scotland has its problems, no one is in any doubt about that. However, we need to work to improve and building confidence in young officials is key. Encouraging them to climb the ranks is important. Interviews like the one we saw from Clarke this weekend will do nothing to hearten young referees and everything to convince angry amateur managers that getting in the face of their 17-year-old official is okay.

Regardless of whether or not Kilmarnock are successful in their various appeals with the SFA this week, I think Steve Clarke owes Steven McLean and Scottish football an apology.

https://www.footballscotland.co.uk/spfl/scottish-premiership/steve-clarkes-comments-prove-football-16165970

 

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13 minutes ago, skygod said:

On Saturday, Steve Clarke cemented his place at the top of this week’s Scottish football news agenda with furious comments about the refereeing of Kilmarnock’s 1-0 defeat to Aberdeen.

Discussion since the match has revolved around Steven McLean’s performance and the three red cards the Ayrshire team received during the match. I’m not here to discuss whether the calls were correct or not, that’s been gone through more than enough already. Instead, I want to focus on something the Kilmarnock manager said in his post match interview with the BBC.

 

The interview, in its entirety, was a 3 minute and 11 second lesson in spitting out the dummy, though you can understand why Clarke feels upset ending a game with 8 players. However, one comment 30 seconds into the interview shines an especially depressing light on the issues we have with refereeing here in Scotland.

After Steve Clarke opened the interview by saying the refereeing was the worst he had seen in his entire career, the BBC reporter asked if he had had a chance to speak to the referee after the game. The Kilmarnock manages said he had.

More specifically, he said: “I told him after the game, I went on the pitch and I shook his hand. I told him he was number one,” before saying that the referee gave “no reaction” to the comments.

It’s at this point that I should declare my bias: I refereed youth football in Glasgow for two years and university soccer in Canada. And, having had many rewarding and some frustrating afternoons with a whistle, Steve Clarke’s comments are simply too close to the bone.

It is shocking the number of managers, at all levels, who think it is okay to go up to a referee post-match and tell them to their face that they can’t hack it.  A handshake, a confidence destroying comment and then move on; it’s a common formula.

To be clear, this isn’t about managers questioning decisions or asking for explanations -  nobody should be beyond scrutiny. No, this is a matter of thinly veiled abuse and anger manifesting itself in the most shockingly unprofessional way.

And, since his interview at the weekend, we have to look towards Steve Clarke and other respected managers and wonder where this attitude comes from.

The comparison with rugby and football  is beyond tired, but it does go to show that you can disagree with a referee, umpire or official without getting personal. It proves football has a chronic issue with respect.

I would even go as far as to say - and I don’t think the SFA will agree here at all - that managers should be allowed to complain to an extent about referees in post match interviews. Officials do get it wrong, managers get rightfully frustrated and discussing the decision making is an important part of football.

However, the key difference between complaining to the BBC, Daily Record or Football Scotland about a refereeing decision and telling the referee to their face that they’re s**e is choice. If Steven McLean wanted to know how Steve Clarke felt on Saturday night, he could have Googled it. He didn’t need naked, unconsidered and raw anger shoved at him with a snide handshake thrown in as he walked off the pitch.

As a professional referee, it would be surprising if Mr McLean didn’t watch over the incidents of the game to learn from the performance anyway, because doing that will help him develop. It seems unlikely that being told he is the worst referee Steve Clarke has ever seen will have any positive effect whatsoever.

Refereeing in Scotland has its problems, no one is in any doubt about that. However, we need to work to improve and building confidence in young officials is key. Encouraging them to climb the ranks is important. Interviews like the one we saw from Clarke this weekend will do nothing to hearten young referees and everything to convince angry amateur managers that getting in the face of their 17-year-old official is okay.

Regardless of whether or not Kilmarnock are successful in their various appeals with the SFA this week, I think Steve Clarke owes Steven McLean and Scottish football an apology.

https://www.footballscotland.co.uk/spfl/scottish-premiership/steve-clarkes-comments-prove-football-16165970

 

I see one flaw with that, Steven Mclean isn't a young referee and Steve Clarke never got in the face of a 17-year old referee. Codswallop!

Edited by rm0199
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Ex-ref Charlie Richmond says Steve Clarke should be clobbered like Diego Costa for slaughtering Steven McLean.

The Rugby Park boss could face an SFA rap for branding the whistler’s display in his side’s defeat to Aberdeen as ‘the worst he had seen’ and demanding the official doesn’t ref another Killie match because his dad Stuart was a club legend in Ayrshire.

Richmond reckons Clarke’s blast was beyond the pale and he insisted the Hampden beaks need to act – just like the Spanish FA did with Costa.

The Atletico Madrid hothead copped an eight-game ban for his foul-mouthed tirade at an official during last month’s defeat to Barcelona.

Former grade one referee Richmond believes Clarke’s outburst was even worse as it questioned an official’s integrity.

He said: “Steve Clarke’s credibility as a manager is not in doubt but his character has been diminished by his comments about Steven.

“Let’s not beat about the bush. Steven’s had a very inconsistent performance at Rugby Park.

“But that wasn’t because his father played for Kilmarnock or Auchinleck or whoever.

“That had nothing to do with his performance in the match. To say it was was way over the line.

“Diego Costa recently made a comment about a referee’s mother. Bang. Eight-game ban.

“That’s what you need sometimes. This was a different kind of insult but you could argue it’s even worse than Costa’s.

“A referee’s integrity has been questioned.

“Clarke has managed to escape punishment previously this term when he sailed close to the wind.

“But this time the SFA have to take action.”

Richmond was stunned by Clarke’s post-match rant after Kirk Broadfoot, Stuart Findlay and Rory McKenzie were all sent packing in the 1-0 defeat to the Dons.

The Killie gaffer is a hot favourite for the Scotland job but ex-whistler Richmond said: “I don’t know what Steve’s long-term ambitions might be but he might have completely blown his chances of the Scotland job by his comments.”

“Clarke could have come out and said McLean had an inconsistent game and made mistakes. There are ways to say things without bringing family in to it.

“Referees will accept that. I remember I had a terrible game and Gus MacPherson leathered me.

“He came in to my office after a St Mirren game and said, ‘just to let you know, I’ve torn strips off you with the media out there’.

“I just said ‘fair enough Gus, you are entitled to your opinion and I won’t hold it against you’, and that was that.

“You park the bus and get on with it. But that wasn’t about my family.

“That was about the standard of my refereeing and when you get criticised you can take that on the chin. This is different.”

Richmond knows refs are fair game but he can’t quite get his head around Clarke’s thinking.

He said: “I know Steven didn’t referee games involving his brother Brian (who played for Rangers, Motherwell, Dundee United and Ross County among others) but this is different. Because his dad was a Kilmarnock legend?

“Clarke seems to think he is overcompensating because Stuart is a club legend but do you not think if there was any thought about it, he’d go the other way?

“Why would he intentionally go out to damage the club? It’s a ridiculous suggestion.

“By all means if Clarke felt there was an issue with McLean then he should have spoken to him about it behind closed doors. If he felt McLean was putting himself under pressure at Killie games because of the scenario then he’s free to bring it up.

“It’s a different kettle of fish in private but not going public and taking the legs away from him.

“Clarke’s comments overstepped the mark.”

Clarke’s devastating insult would have stung McLean – and dad Stuart who remains a Rugby Park regular.

The Killie hero chose to keep his own counsel when approached by Record Sport but Ayrshireman Richmond reckons he might have had something to say out of the public eye.

He said: “It would be interesting to see if Stuart had a word with Stevie. I wouldn’t be surprised if he said, ‘as much as you are a great manager, you are bang out of order’.

“I can understand why he wouldn’t want to speak publicly but he will have the moral high ground. But the manager’s comments have put him in a difficult situation. He is a Kilmarnock legend but he’s also a father. It’s a shame.”

Clarke’s blast has put McLean and the SFA in a jam – at a time when the refereeing resources seem to be getting spread thin.

A pattern is emerging here. Willie Collum hasn’t officiated at a Rangers game since he was left without a name in the wake of the St Mirren fixture last November.

John Beaton hasn’t refereed a Celtic match following the fall out from the Old Firm game at New Year.

The SFA maintain it’s not intentional but Richmond isn’t buying it, especially when there could be another club and referee who can’t cross paths.

He said: “The SFA will have to come out and explain their thinking. There seems to be a move to take certain referees away from certain clubs.

“The SFA will say there isn’t but it has gone on for too long for it to be a coincidence.

“Are we now going to be taking McLean away from Kilmarnock matches?

“We are talking about three or four top officials and they are being kept clear of three teams in the division. There needs to be clarity.

“Ian Maxwell came out and said Willie Collum would be treated normally. He’s our most highly-regarded referee so you would expect within nine or 10 weeks he would be in charge of a Rangers game, home or away.

“The same goes for Beaton. They will now say the relegation battle is more important at this stage but there have been plenty of games before now you would expect to see them involved in.”

There is an argument about the standard of refereeing of late but the abuse has gone over the top at times.

Richmond feels the whistlers will be raging but at least there won’t be a another walkout.

He said: “I don’t think we will see a withdrawal of services with the refs like we saw in 2010, because that was a different set of circumstances.

“But there is only so much they can take. Referees are out there trying to do a job to the best of their ability.”

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/steve-clarke-could-blown-scotland-14447197

 

 
Edited by skygod
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13 minutes ago, skygod said:

 

Regardless of whether or not Kilmarnock are successful in their various appeals with the SFA this week, I think Steven Mclean owes Steve Clarke and Scottish football an apology.

https://www.footballscotland.co.uk/spfl/scottish-premiership/steve-clarkes-comments-prove-football-16165970

 

What it should have read.

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I think we have to try and maintain perspective the other way. Steven McLean is an incompetent referee who does not have the competence, nor the honesty, to referee a top level football match. We all knew that before Saturday but that was proven beyond a shadow of a doubt by what happened. Inevitably the criticism aimed at him by Steve Clarke and others is "personal", as Steven McLean is a person. 

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Fingers in ears job.

Our officials are absolutely terrible, overseen by a not-fit-for-purpose governing body.

But, yeah, it’s Steve Clarke we need to get.

Tiresome. I’m almost looking forward to withdrawing my cash from Scotland games when they announce Malky Mackay (who is a pillar of the community).

Edited by NorfolkG
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He said: “I know Steven didn’t referee games involving his brother Brian (who played for Rangers, Motherwell, Dundee United and Ross County among others) but this is different. Because his dad was a Kilmarnock legend?

“Clarke seems to think he is overcompensating because Stuart is a club legend but do you not think if there was any thought about it, he’d go the other way?

“Why would he intentionally go out to damage the club? It’s a ridiculous suggestion."

Says more about Charlie Richmond's mentality than anything else in the article & conveniently forgets the fall-out after the JJ "penalty" @ Dundee.

 

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Apologies are a two way street in this instance. SSC May well feel he’s gone too far and decide to apologise to McLean. Interesting but in one of those articles about McLean reflecting. Will he be man enough to phone Killie or SSC and apologise? Will he be big enough to admit his mistakes and have the cards overturned saving the club the appeal? Will he f**k. He’s one of a number of arrogant self centred officials who believe everything they do is right because they aren’t held to account for their wrongdoings. 

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And this is why Scottish football will forever be blighted with s**te officials. Criticism of those poor souls is defended to the hilt! Why? We have amateur referees writing stories we have  journalists pandering to their SFA pay masters we have s**te referees from the past making comments too, where will it end? The hard fact is... Scottish referees are s**te!! Why defend them? We've had Scottish officials slated in European competitions for their ineptitude and we get no representation in Euro Championships or World Cups...reason? Because they're s**te! McLean comes across as a smarmy, arrogant know all...when in actual fact, he is s little boy lost in a man's game. We've all had to suffer s**te performances from these clowns in the past few years and if anything, the standard is getting worse. Unbelievable that so much time is given discussing these guys because nothing will change. Steve Clarke and Kilmarnock will probably suffer now. The SFA will see to that. Sickening! 

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