Former Scottish referee Steve Conroy has revealed that former Celtic boss Neil Lennon and ex-Hearts owner Vladimir Romanov played a key role in the whistler strike.
The referees in Scotland infamously walked away from the game in 2010 amid claims they had been pushed to breaking point by those within the game leading to the SFA pulling in foreign referees for the game. Now Conroy has pointed the finger at Celtic and Hearts as among the two most difficult clubs to officiate during that time period.
Conroy doesn't believe the current batch of refs will go on a strike again, as he reckons the levels of fury levelled towards the men in the middle has dropped significantly in recent years. He told the Get Involved Referee podcast : “We were genuinely scared for our safety back then. We were worried that someone was going to get hurt – either at work or at home – because it was constant.
