Hearts have opted for Celtic red card cop out but Alex Cochrane appeal snub shows process is shambolic - Ryan Stevenson

I've always found the SFA appeals process a pain - ever since a doctor on a three-man Hampden panel questioned my tackle after a derby day draw at Tynecastle.

No not that tackle. Although the outcome of the trip to Hampden was a severe boot in the privates. The doc asked if I really needed to go in on a challenge with Hibs skipper James McPake that had been missed by ref Willie Collum but had seen me hit with a two-game retrospective ban by the SFA.

I said: “With all due respect, would I tell you how to go about cutting into an artery?” The appeals process is still a shambles and Hearts’ decision this week not to challenge Alex Cochrane’s red card against Celtic for fear of his ban being extended just sums it all up. It’s a cop out in my opinion. A weak stance. Hearts should have been stronger than that. It brought infuriating memories back from that episode a decade ago when I found myself at the centre of that appeals system - twice.

Of course we challenged the ban for the new year derby tackle on McPake. Bizarrely if Willie Collum had booked me at the time they’d not have been able to hit me with the after-the-event punishment. Just another layer of absurd to the whole rulebook.

But this was when I got a first hand look at what the judicial process really consists of. I walked into a room at Hampden and three guys were sitting - the doctor, a lawyer and a referee - with my tackle playing on a loop in slow motion on a TV beside them.

Now any challenge is going to look worse in slow motion. But when the doctor questioned if I had to go in for the tackle then I knew I had no chance of winning.

It’s a 50/50 in a derby for goodness sake. If I’d not gone in for the challenge I’d have had my boss, team mates and 20,000