In the build-up to February’s Old Firm game, Celtic leaked it that they had complained to the SFA about the standard of officiating after they felt a catalogue of decisions have gone against them so far this term, three of which have happened in games against Rangers.

Their complaints appeared to backfire with play bazaar Scott Brown harshly dismissed at Ibrox and the subsequent appeal thrown out. Rangers, though, were at the centre of another storm when St Mirren boss Gus MacPherson then claimed Weir ought to have been sent off and Smith’s patience snapped.

“Everybody wants people to get ordered off and everybody wants penalties against us,” he claimed. “Everybody wants everything against us at the moment.

“I don’t know what road we are going down in that respect. I didn’t see much in it myself, I’ve got to say.

“We seem to be reaching a ridiculous stage where refereeing decisions are actually becoming far more important than the game itself.”

Smith also spoke out following last weekend’s Old Firm derby triumph when he criticised the unnamed Hoops source who revealed the club’s unhappiness with decisions which they felt had gone against them this season.

The Ibrox boss added: “Everybody starts talking about the refereeing decisions but it’s a game of football.

“Refereeing decisions good, bad or indifferent have been part of football for a good number of years. When I started, Jim McLean, Alex Ferguson, Jock Stein – they all moaned about refereeing decisions. I moan about them. Everybody moans about them.

“But now, in Scotland, it seems to be going into an area where it’s taking on far greater significance. “Your team has got to be good enough to overcome them. As far as referees are concerned, they make their decisions and we’ve got to get on with it.

“Referees in every league in the world are under scrutiny for the decisions they make.

“Now, in ours, it’s every weekend that we are playing it’s becoming the referees who are influencing games. It should be players and managers who are influencing games.

“The better the job we do at it, then the better our teams do. I moan at referees’ decisions, and I have done over my career, but I think it’s reaching a ridiculous proportion in Scotland at the moment and it’s not giving the referees the proper opportunity to do their jobs.”

The irregular rhythm of international football has not come easily to new Scotland boss Craig Levein.

The Hampden boss got his regime off to the ideal start with a 1-0 friendly win over the Czech Republic – the first time Scotland have won a friendly match on their own turf for 14 years.