Scottish FA chief executive Ian Maxwell knows it's a thankless task being a referee - and urged a shift away from the current blame culture. 

Whistlers and VAR officials in Scotland have come under intense scrutiny over the past few years. From countless debates on the current handball rule to Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers most recently being handed a ban for comments directed towards ref John Beaton, and Motherwell head coach Stuart Kettlewell insisting he's "sick and fed up" of VAR after seeing two controversial handball calls go against his side last weekend.

That’s resulted in head of referee operations, Crawford Allan, announcing he will step down at the end of the season amid increased pressure on his role.

Maxwell wants things to improve and the mistakes cut out but believes everyone must work collectively to make things better going forward. He said: “While there is a recognition that, globally, the VAR processes need to improve, this is a challenge for all key stakeholders within Scottish football to work through in the context of our own domestic competition.

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“This includes all key external stakeholders having a better understanding of the laws of the game, the lines of intervention for VAR, and the adopted guidance within Scottish football, especially in subjective areas such as the handball law.

"We must work together to alleviate the unsustainable pressure on match officials and VAR operators, to remove the convenient blame culture attached to subjective or unpopular decisions, and to ensure more focus is placed on the entertainers rather than the on-field facilitators.

"We will continue conversations and improvements with all stakeholders with this as a non-negotiable and unifying premise as we seek to improve the experience for all.”