St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright has expressed his relief that he won’t be banned from the touchline for his team’s Scottish Cup semi-final on Sunday.
Wright attended at Hampden in person , and received a one match suspended ban from the SFA.
He said: “I got a fair hearing and hopefully I have learned my lesson. I’m delighted that I will be able to return to the dug-out on Sunday alongside Callum (Davidson) and Alec (Cleland) at Ibrox.”
Dundee United manager Jackie McNamara is set to appeal against his five-game ban, thereby ensuring he will also be in the dugout for his team’s semi at Ibrox.
The hefty sentence was handed out to the Tangerines’ boss as punishment for his role in a touchline row with Wright during the Premiership match between the sides at Tannadice on March 12.
Two of McNamara’s five matches are held over making it effectively a three-match suspension to be served immediately.
An appeal will mean that McNamara, who made a late decision not to attend the Hampden hearing in person as it clashed with his team’s training preparations, will be on the touchline for tomorrow’s William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final against Rangers.
Reacting to the news of the ban, McNamara said: “I am obviously disappointed with this decision.
“I will be discussing the matter with the club and we will consider whether or not to appeal against it.”
McNamara stressed that, given the decision not to change the case from morning to afternoon, he felt he had no choice but to miss the hearing and instead send a legal representative.
“I would have liked to have attended the hearing in person and asked for it to be held over until the afternoon,” he said.
“As it was, I felt it was impossible for me as Dundee United manager to miss our training two days ahead of a Scottish Cup semi-final.”
The club’s statement said only that they were considering an appeal.
It read: “A disciplinary hearing held at Hampden today ruled that Dundee United manager Jackie McNamara was found to be in breach of disciplinary rule 203 in respect of misconduct at our match v St Johnstone on 12 March 2014 and consequently has been issued with a five-match suspension (three of which apply immediately and two suspended until end of the season).
“The club is disappointed at this outcome, particularly as the manager was unable to attend the hearing in person, and will now consider whether to appeal.”
By appealing the decision, McNamara will run the risk of missing out on the Scottish Cup final should the Tangerines get there.
A hearing would likely be scheduled for three weeks’ time and a negative ruling would probably keep him out of the dugout for a May 17 meeting with either Aberdeen or St Johnstone at Celtic Park.
However, to take that into consideration now would mean United being presumptious on two fronts–firstly that they will beat Rangers tomorrow and also that their appeal would fail.
It is understood that they will instead deal with the matter in front of them and that means contacting the SFA to free their manager up for Ibrox.