Levein fury as ref 'bottles it'

IN THE course of a devastating attack on referee Mike McCurry yesterday, Dundee United manager Craig Levein repeatedly stated that it was "impossible" for his team to win at Ibrox following a controversy-drenched 3-1 defeat that puts them out of contention for third place in the Premier League and a place in next season's UEFA Cup.

Apoplectic with McCurry for denying his side a penalty and ruling out a seemingly legitimate goal, Levein accused the official of being unwilling to make any major decisions that would be unfavourable to Rangers in their title quest. Television evidence supported Levein's view that, with Rangers leading 2-0, Noel Hunt should have been awarded a 54th-minute penalty after being eased off the ball by David Weir as he made a run across the penalty box. Replays also demonstrated that the offside flag raised by assistant Stuart Macaulay after a deflected strike from Danny Swanson found the net in the 76th minute should have stayed down with the shot breaking off Weir as David Robertson sprinted across his path.

These calls, and his insistence Kirk Broadfoot punched Noel Hunt and Daniel Cousin headbutted Lee Wilkie, provided the gunpowder for an incendiary post-match outburst. Levein, who went head to head with McCurry at the edge of his technical area following the disallowed goal, said: "I said to him we'd have been as well not turning up, what's the point?"

Levein said. "We'd have been as well going at that point, really. Mike could have phoned me this morning and said 'Rangers are going to get three points today, just tell your lads to stay in the house.' It is impossible to win here in important games, impossible to win. The referee has bottled it. He bottled it because he knew that if he's given the penalty he would have to send Davie Weir off. In this game who gives a toss about Dundee United, eh? Who cares?

"What will happen now is I'll get my wrists slapped for having a go at the referee. But that guy knew it was a penalty kick but knew the game was so important to Rangers that he couldn't give it because he would have had to send Davie Weir off. His assistant probably had a better view of it but he's not going to put his head above the parapet. It's Rangers… it is Ibrox… you can't win. An important game going for a title decider? You can't have Dundee United winning that game."

Levein knows the consequence of his outburst. "I'll be sitting in front of six or eight guys, in front of some disciplinary committee in a few weeks time getting a fine, that's what will happen now," he said. "I'll tell you something, after the CIS Cup final (in March] I did my absolute best not to have a go at the referee (Kenny Clark] for denying us a blatant penalty. Maybe some people have mistaken kindness for weakness on my part. There is no doubt if you add what happened today I have every right to be furious. Every right."

Even when asked if he could take any positives from the game, his focus did not shift. "Mike McCurry's not going to referee another one of our games this season," he snapped back. "We played well, made chances, passed the ball. They did everything they could to try and win today, be entertaining, try and show that coming here they are not scared, not going to bottle it, and they did that. But what's the point?"

He snapped again when asked if he was worried about keeping his players calm. "Noel Hunt got punched in the face at the goal, a deliberate punch by Kirk Broadfoot, and Cousin head-butts Lee Wilkie. It is not my players that need to worry about discipline, the referee should control the Rangers players.

"A season long is how you end up in third place or fourth place or fifth place, but these decisions add up. It might be that an extra £125,000 for a league place is added to my budget, in fact I know it would be. It might mean an extra place for me next season. It might mean, when I get an injury I could put a good player on rather than a kid. Do people not think about that? It is all about the pressure on Rangers, that's what it's all about?"

Prodded to do so, Hunt was willing to add his voice to the debate. "It just seems to be Rangers and Celtic's league," said the United striker. But it is not just about them, we don't care abut them. We were pushing for Europe."

Hunt maintained "you can't get much more of a stonewall penalty" than when Weir, in his opinion, took him out of it. "You can't beat 12 men, to be honest," he said, later adding: "Whatever the excuse they have got away with it."

To have a goal "chopped off like that, it's like cheating" Hunt said of United's disallowed strike. And Mark de Vries's caution-earning ironic checking with assistant and referee before the header he netted to make it 2-1 in 76 minutes, Hunt felt was entirely understandable. "He didn't celebrate because he thought it would be taken off him, after the first one was taken off for nothing. He was being a bit sarcastic and he was right."

Former United player Christian Dailly countered that since arriving at Ibrox in January he has formed the impression that Rangers are more often on the wrong end of decisions. "There have been lots of decisions not given that should have been given in our favour," he said. "It looks like a couple went our way today, but that is not the norm."