Lee Johnson insists refs should be paid MORE despite Hibs red card call at Celtic Park

Livid Lee Johnston lashed out at Steven McLean – but the Hibs boss insisted Scottish refs deserve more dosh.

The Easter Road gaffer was fuming at Elie Youan’s controversial red card against Celtic, as his 10 men failed to hang on to their shock lead before falling to a 3-1 defeat to the champs. Johnston hit out at the sending off call – and he also blasted the officials for getting penalty decisions for and against his side wrong as well. The Leith manager believes Scottish football needs to raise the standards of refs in general – and they need more cash to go full time.

Johnston said: "I'm a bit of a lobbyist to give refs more money because I think the league should be employing professional referees. It's a big European league. It's important, there's a lot of money at stake, European places at stake. You've got to have the standard to match and that means full-time referees and working day in, day out with each other, doing your analysis on teams and players.

“It's working better as a team. it's communicating better in the technical areas or on the microphones to each other. I was really proud of the players, it's as difficult a game as you'll get. We were outstanding in both halves given the circumstances.

"You have to point fingers at the referee's performance. How on earth can it be a sending-off for Elie Youan? Elie has his back to goal, doesn't know where Cameron Carter-Vickers is, and he's been outmuscled. Maybe a foul, maybe not. It's definitely not a yellow card and this is the problem with VAR, it has to be clear and obvious.

"It was just a really poor performance. It bugs me. Clubs like Hibs need all teams to be on point. We were, but they weren't.

"There are conversations going on all the way through