Know the Ref - Dundee United away

Thanks to the joys of Soccerbase, it's relatively easy to see how long a referee has been about, how many games he's done and how many red cards he's dished out. From now on, Mirren Mad will be doing this before every game in a bid to see if we should be worried - such as when Eddie Smith is given a game between us and Celtic.

The referee for Saturday's game against Dundee United is Brian Winter. He first refereed in the SFL in 2002/03 and has been in charge of eight games this season. Only one has been in the SPL - Inverness Caley Thistle v Kilmarnock a month ago - and he dished out six yellow cards and one red during the game.

He only took charge of one of our games last season - when we were hammered 5-1 at home by Falkirk in December. I don't think we can really pin the blame for that one on him! The previous season he took charge of two defeats - a 2-0 one at Parkhead and a 1-0 one at Tannadice, in which John Sutton had a goal disallowed.

He only took charge of one game in our title season - a 4-0 humping at Dundee - which was also the first time he'd officiated one of our games (if Soccerbase is to be believed).

Overall then, there doesn't seem to be anything too controversial about Mr Winter's performances in our games and he seems no worse than your average SFA official. The only concern is that we've lost all the games in which he has refereed us!