Robbie Neilson, the Hearts manager, has refused to retract comments he made about referee Willie Collum.
The Hearts boss was asked by the SFA to explain his controversial remarks following Callum Paterson’s red card at Hamilton a fortnight ago.
Neilson claimed he knew Collum was likely to send off one of his players given his past record when he had officiated at games involving his side, to such an extent that he had trained with ten men in the build-up to game, so certain was he that one of his players would be sent-off.
Paterson’s red card was subsequently rescinded following an appeal.
And Neilson maintains he has no case to answer because the stats — which show Collum has now dismissed nine Hearts players in 36 games — back him up.
He said: “We got an email through asking for my thoughts on my comments.
“And I’ve just said exactly what I think. The stats are there to back it up.
“I didn’t question anyone’s integrity, I didn’t comment on anyone’s performance.
“The stats are there for everyone to see if you do your homework on it. They also asked me about my comments about our training.
"If they want me to justify all my training I’ll send it all through to them.”
Paterson is now free to play at Inverness tonight.
Neilson said: “I was confident we would get it rescinded, straight away.
“I spoke to referees development chief John Fleming right after the game. But I’ve not heard from him since so I have not had answers.”
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