Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Dunfermline Athletic boss Neil Lennon gets formal warning from SFA following referee comments

The Pars manager branded officials' performances since his return to the dugout as 'abysmal'.

Dunfermline Athletic boss Neil Lennon.
Dunfermline boss Neil Lennon. Image: Ross Parker / SNS Group.

Dunfermline Athletic boss Neil Lennon has been given a formal warning from the SFA following his criticism of referees at the weekend.

The governing body made their move after the former Celtic and Hibernian manager’s comments in the wake of his side’s 1-0 defeat to Hamilton Accies.

The Northern Irishman was booked for the second time in three games and questioned Euan Anderson’s decision to chalk off a ‘perfectly good goal’ from Lewis McCann early in the second-half for a foul on Accies keeper Dean Lyness.

Dunfermline Athletic boss Neil Lennon shouts from the sidelines.
Dunfermline boss Neil Lennon. Image: Ross Parker / SNS Group.

Lennon, who also said his side could ‘possibly’ have had a penalty for a push on Ephraim Yeboah, claimed Anderson had ‘guessed more than anything else’.

He went on to say, ‘I don’t know if Hamilton beat us today or the referee’s decisions beat us today’.

Revealing Dunfermline would seek talks with the SFA’s head of referee operations, Willie Collum, Lennon also said: “That’s three games now I’ve been at this level and the standard of refereeing has been abysmal.”

The comments did not go down too well at the SFA and reached the desk of compliance officer Martin Black.

Lennon’s future conduct

It was decided it did not merit any disciplinary action on this occasion.

But it is understood Black issued a formal warning to Lennon as to his future conduct.

The 53-year-old has four massive games remaining of his initial short-term deal at Dunfermline and his presence in the dugout will be vital in the coming weeks.

It means he will have to ensure he does not cross the line of acceptable behaviour if he is to be available to lead the Pars to the Championship safety they crave.

Conversation