Just as players are picked on the strength of their form, so are referees allocated games according to their performances.
If they know what’s good for them, the SFA will not be handing Matthew MacDermid a powderkeg fixture any time soon.
While the 31-year-old hasn’t got where he is by being a poor official, he is doing himself no favours with a growing catalogue of unforced errors.
The latest rash of inexplicable misjudgments came in Dundee United’s 2-0 win against St Mirren at Tannadice on Saturday.
When it came to key, game-changing decisions he got wrong, there was definitely one, probably two and some would say even more.
You hesitate to criticise referees who, believe it or not, are prone to human error like the rest of us.
They are on a hiding to nothing, always destined to upset somebody, no matter how well they perform. And they are rarely praised for doing a vital job that everybody else runs a mile from.
But, if it is right to castigate Cyriel Dessers for his misses in front of goal, it is only fair to offer a critique of referees when their standards slip below an acceptable level.
Matthew MacDermid gives St Mirren’s Marcus Fraser a red card at Tannadice on Saturday
MacDermid consults the VAR monitor during Dundee United’s victory against St Mirren
United’s Kevin Holt celebrates scoring the game’s opening goal from the penalty spot
After all, their decisions affect not only the outcome of games, but the livelihoods of those involved.
If MacDermid’s errors this season have not exactly caused a national outcry, it is probably because they have not affected Celtic or Rangers.
The latter benefited against St Johnstone in August when the referee appeared to halt play, only to then award a goal when Dessers scored.
Willie Collum, the SFA’s head of referee operations, later admitted that MacDermid had not displayed ‘good body language’.
In September, Collum admitted that MacDermid had got a big one wrong, this time when St Mirren’s Shaun Rooney went unpunished after blatantly kicking Kilmarnock’s Kyle Vassell as he lay on the ground.
With VAR failing to intervene, Killie manager Derek McInnes hit out at ‘outrageous’ decision-making and ‘a real low’ for the SFA’s refereeing department.
McInnes was scarcely any more satisfied in Dingwall six weeks later when the same official controversially sent off Liam Donnelly for two soft yellows and would have red-carded Joe Wright had it not been for a VAR intervention.
Wright had been dismissed by MacDermid in a previous game, as had Kilmarnock’s Brad Lyons.
On Saturday, it was St Mirren’s turn to claim an injustice at the hands of MacDermid.
Early in the game, United goalkeeper Jack Walton came racing from his goal and took out Toyosi Olusanya at the knee.
He was only booked, presumably because it was not an obvious goalscoring position, but it was reckless and dangerous. Had a striker committed the same assault on the halfway line, it would have been a straight red.
It was one of many decisions that frustrated St Mirren fans. Next was a refusal to award a penalty when the ball appeared to strike Emmanuel Adegboyega’s arm.
Then, when Marcus Fraser was adjudged to have caught Kevin Holt 11 minutes from the end, MacDermid pointed to the spot and Holt converted.
In truth, those calls could have gone either way, but the one in stoppage time was a head-scratcher. In a 50-50 tangle with Louis Moult, Fraser was no more guilty than his opponent of committing a foul, but MacDermid awarded a penalty and sent off St Mirren’s defender into the bargain.
As it turned out, Holt missed from the spot.
None of which is to say that United were not worthy of the win, sealed when Adegboyega poked home a second.
In a scrappy game, they ground out three points, kept another clean sheet and consolidated themselves in fourth place, not at all bad for a team promoted in the summer.
St Mirren, meanwhile, didn’t do enough, which is perhaps why their manager, Stephen Robinson, decided against berating MacDermid afterwards.
He doesn’t want excuses for his team and he doesn’t want a touchline ban.
But you can bet he wasn’t happy with the officiating. MacDermid has made too many big mistakes of late, as have plenty players and managers, all of whom are under pressure to get better. He should be no different.
TESTING TIMES FOR KILMARNOCK BOSS
You never know what’s round the corner in football. Just over six months ago, Derek McInnes was named manager of the year by football writers.
A few weeks back, he was being touted for the Rangers job.
Now his team are third-bottom of the Premiership after a draw with Dundee in which Bobby Wales’ late strike cancelled out Lyall Cameron’s opener. The Ayrshire side have garnered just four points from their last six games.
Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes has guided his team to just four points from six games
These are testing times for McInnes, but it is a little too early for Kilmarnock’s fans to be worried.
They know that playing in Europe contributed to a poor start. They have seen their team handicapped by too many red cards.
More than anything, they have a manager who is as close to a safe bet as any in the Scottish game.
It is surely only a matter of time before McInnes pulls Kilmarnock away from the relegation zone. Isn’t it?