Jens Berthel Askou calls for consistency as SFA clamp down on ‘cynical’ culture

Motherwell manager Jens Berthel Askou has warned there must be consistency in attempts to change a “cynical” football culture or the Scottish Football Association risk losing trust.

The Steelmen will be without Callum Slattery against Falkirk on Saturday and Hearts the following weekend after the midfielder was punished for his role in a red card for St Mirren’s Richard King, which was overturned but only after appeal.

Slattery went down holding his face just after King hit out in his direction but minimal contact was noticeable.

Despite the VAR team deciding there was no clear evidence to overturn the red card, a decision which originated from the fourth official, Slattery was found to have acted against the best interests of football by a judicial panel convened by the SFA.

Askou had already spoken to Slattery about the incident and urged his players to leave over-reactions behind. And he has now told his players to make sure they do not end up in a similar position. But he will be looking out for similar scenarios.

“Do I applaud a governing body that does everything they can to strike down against players, in principle, who try to win an advantage by acting cynically or dishonestly? Yes, I most certainly do,” he said.

“I’ve stated that many times and I think there’s plenty of opportunities to do that in every game. Within the 90 minutes, there’s also opportunities to do that.

“Now the governing body has taken this opportunity to do it and whether it will just be a lesson for us or whether it will be the start of changing a culture, time will tell.

“Because then obviously there needs to be a lot of consistency in that for not just us to have had a lesson, but for the culture to change.

“Obviously there have been similar cases to take up and there will most certainly be cases throughout the rest of the season and going forward.

“Then time will tell whether it’s the start of a change of culture or whether it’s a perfect recipe for a governing body to risk losing the trust from the people they are here to serve.”

Slattery was handed a further suspended two-game ban on top of the immediate punishment and Askou was surprised at the severity.

“If you get caught doing it in the game then I think the most you can get is a booking,” he added.

“But if that’s what it takes to change a culture then obviously that’s what they’ve decided.

“Obviously it’s a hard blow for us but we have to accept it and we have to move forward and then we have to trust that there will be consistency in these cases going forward.”

Well had both Elijah Just and Tawanda Maswanhise in full training on Thursday ahead of the visit of Falkirk.

Just played twice and scored for New Zealand during the international break while Maswanhise has shaken off the minor fitness issue which saw him pull out of the Zimbabwe squad.