Newly appointed Scottish FA head of refereeing operations Willie Collum has vowed to get the nation’s officials back to a standard where they will be considered for major international tournaments, admitting that it hurt when no Scottish referees were called upon for the European Championships.

Collum was the last referee to represent Scotland at a major tournament eight years ago, and he says that is far too long a gap between representation for our officials on the big stage.

One of his top priorities then, having now got his feet under the table as the successor to Crawford Allan, is to support Scottish referees and raise their standard to the point where they are trusted at such a level by UEFA and FIFA once more.

“I was a wee bit jealous during the Euros and I have been during previous major tournaments,” Collum said.

“I was the last Scottish referee to represent the country at Euro 2016 and that was the highlight of my career.

“It was always a dream as a youngster, though I would love to have played in goals for Scotland. The next best thing for me was refereeing at the Euros. It was my equivalent of playing for Scotland.

“We need to get our referees back to the top table of European football. We need them supported and we need them in a strong place.

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“Our national team are reaching major tournaments, and we need to get our referees there as well. It hurts. It’s painful for me.

“I’m sure players feel it when they don’t qualify for a tournament and the coach feels it as well. And I would be lying if I said I watched that and wasn’t bothered by having no Scottish official there.

“We want to be back at that top table, and I will do everything I can to get our referees back there.”

For all that the absence of Scottish officials from the Euros and World Cups during that period can be held up as a damning indictment of the standard of refereeing in this country, Collum does believe that things are improving, as evidenced by the appointment of six Scottish referees to UEFA club fixtures already this summer.

“We are seeing an improvement, our referees are performing well,” he said.

“I have a meeting with the top referees and assistants on Sunday in Stirling and I will congratulate them at the very beginning on their performances in UEFA ties.

“We have had a lot of match officials out and we are really pleased because we have also had our VARs out as well. When I was going away in Europe last season, I was with English VAR officials. Now we are seeing the Scottish VARs breaking through and just the other day we got another four European appointments in.

“So, we are moving in the right direction, but I have told the referees that getting the appointment is one thing – performing is the next. I need them to be at the very top of their game. Not just in Europe, but domestically as well.

“We need our referees in Scotland putting themselves in the spotlight for the right reasons.

“I will do everything I can in the background to support them with that.”