If it is sometimes natural to wonder just why anyone would want to be a referee, then it is even more perplexing trying to wrap your head around why anyone would want to be their leader.
Placing yourself in a no-win situation and leaving yourself open to all sorts of criticism - and, indeed, personal abuse - is practically part of the job description.
Willie Collum doesn’t quite see the chalice that was gratefully, and perhaps even gleefully, lobbed in his direction by the outgoing Crawford Allan to be quite as poisoned as all that though. He has faced plenty of poison throughout his refereeing career, after all, so he would know.
The new Scottish FA head of refereeing operations does though have a groaning inbox that is fit to burst at the seams.
There is the standard of officiating to address, with no Scottish referee having been called to work at a major tournament since he did it back in 2016. There is VAR, of course. The shambolic handball rule. A building of bridges, and of trust, to be set in motion between his office, managers and the clubs themselves. And a fair bit more besides.
When giving his first media briefing yesterday since taking on his new role though, he appeared energised by the task at hand, and spoke forcefully of his determination to meet all of these tasks head on.
He set out a mission statement at Clydesdale House to be more open, more transparent, and to listen more to the views of other stakeholders in the game, particularly players and former players who may be able to help referees apply common sense at times instead of a stringent adherence to the laws.
It all sounded good in theory. In reality, given that this is Scottish football, it may well prove entirely more difficult to realise, but better communication as a cornerstone of his approach would seem a logical place to start.
If it does all go wrong, he knows it will be him that is left carrying the can, but he is prepared to do the job the way he sees fit, and take whatever slings and arrows may come his way.
When asked if he had any hesitations about putting himself in such a position, Collum replied: “None.
“I suppose it was put to me, and my wife and I had some robust discussions. But not just me, my family has built up a resilience. We have had to. It’s not been easy at times. Part of that goes with the territory, I respect that as well.
“I want to do the best for Scottish refereeing, and I love football. I love Scottish football, I love refereeing, and I will throw every bit of energy into making this work.
“What I am really pleased about is I have the referees supporting me. I come into it with a lot of experience. A lot of experience in terms of those highs and lows.
“I am also in touch with reality. I have refereed with VAR, I’ve been a VAR, so I think that will mean I understand the modern game in refereeing. I’m not saying if you’ve never refereed with VAR, you can’t be in this position but I think it is another aspect that will support me moving forward.
“I know what it’s like to sit behind the screen.”
One of his first directives then will not only aim to protect referees, but also improve on-field communication between officials and players, with the adoption here of the rule trialled at the Euros whereby dialogue around major incidents takes place between team captains and officials only.
He hopes that will foment a new culture in Scottish football where there is more respect and less abuse directed at referees, a factor he is certain contributes to officials falling out of the game.
“Without a doubt [it does],” he said.
“And not just the scrutiny and pressure at the top level of the game, but the pressure that some referees are put under at grassroots level.
“That’s why adopting these approaches, like the captain approach, will help all levels of the game. That will help protect our referees, but I want to balance that by understanding the respectful nature that needs to come from the referees as well.
“This is a two-fold approach, it’s not just about players it is also about match officials. That will certainly have a good impact. But without a doubt, sometimes scrutiny will have a negative effect.
“Sometimes people say to me, ‘why would you want to be a referee?' I always try to turn that on its head because it’s been fantastic for me. Yeah, there have been lows, but there have been many, many more highs.”
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What then of the paying punters? Collum feels that fan frustrations with officials can mostly be traced back again to a lack of communication, and he hopes to improve that, whether that be by relaying clearly why a VAR check is taking place for supporters in stadiums, or by him publicly explaining why his referees may have reached certain decisions. He is open to doing just that.
“We would like to move in principle, although not categorically, to doing it on a monthly basis,” he said.
“We would do it through our own media channels at the SFA, showing clips of incidents.
“I’ve got the backing of referees to show good, bad and indifferent. We won’t just show you 10 good clips and say, ‘everything’s okay’.
“But sometimes it’s also good to show clips that people wouldn’t recognise as contentious but so they can understand the decision-making behind it.
“It’s an opportunity for us to explain why a particular decision has been made. It’s not always as simple as it being right or wrong.
“It’s how the referee or the VAR team have come to a conclusion about a particular decision.
“I want to be open and transparent about that. It’s something I will drive forward and at this stage, the referees are supporting me on that.”
There will come a day too, Collum says, when referees explain their VAR decisions over the stadium Tannoy, as is currently being trialled at the Olympic Games.
In the here and now though, he is attempting to set out clearer guidelines on handball incidents, for example, so that referees can get more decisions correct in the first place without the need for a lengthy VAR intervention.
Referees have been shown incidents from last season where penalties were awarded despite the defender being in close proximity to the ball when it was played, for instance, and we will see less spot-kicks awarded for such offences during the coming campaign.
“I think our interpretation around handball will help if we get it right on the field,” he said.
“We would see a reduction in VAR intervention without a doubt.
“There are difficult decisions about clear and obvious and right and wrong but in general our interpretation around decisions, I’m convinced, will lead to less interventions.
“And when something leads to an intervention, we want everybody whether watching on TV or in the stadium not to be surprised. I think that is important for VAR.
“If you watch a match on TV and think, ‘there’s going to be an on-field review here’ and then you watch a replay, we hope people understand why they go to the monitor.
“We want to get away from the idea that people are sitting in their living room watching a game and going, ‘I’ve not got a clue why the referee has gone to the monitor there, it doesn’t make sense’.
“We have nothing to hide. We will be open and transparent, and I hope people will recognise that very early in my tenure as head of refereeing.”
