CAMBUSLANG Rangers boss Paul McColl is a man given to venting his undoubted passion for the game, as anyone who has seen him frantically patrolling his dugout area on match days will surely testify.

And few would argue that being able to transfer this fire in his belly to the Lang players has been a major factor behind the Somervell Park outfit’s long awaited return to the West Region top flight following three consecutive promotions.

Supporters have delighted in this rapid rise back to Junior prominence but now the 49-year-old appears to have overstepped the mark if reports alleging he threatened whistler Calum Scott during his side’s Premiership game away to Glenafton on Saturday turn out to be well-founded.

The Glens were already 1-0 ahead through a Daniel Orsi score when the referee awarding them a debatable penalty just after the half-hour mark sparked shameful scenes which saw centre-back Scott Faulds red-carded for reputedly squaring up to the whistler and appearing to make a head-butt gesture.

And with Glens midfielder Findlay Frye waiting to take the spot-kick, Ayrshire-based whistler Scott was supposedly subjected to a torrent of protests from furious Cambuslang players, leading to Ryan Finnie getting his marching orders after being picked out for going too far.

Watching these events had McColl “going tonto” on the sidelines and his stepping onto the playing surface to give vent to his feelings resulted in a close-quarters heated confrontation with Scott that ended with the Category 2 official grabbing the match ball and striding to the halfway line where he stated the game was abandoned and Police were to be called.

McColl had departed Loch Park by the time officers arrived on the scene and it’s not known whether charges were subsequently raised against him. However, if the referee’s report is substantiated and West Region beaks throw the book at him then one would have to ask: is there a way back into the Juniors for Paul McColl?

Neutrals may not be aware that he is already contesting touchline bans imposed by West Region officials this season, one involving the same Calum Scott’s dismissal of him in an early-November clash with Irvine Meadow (the whistler also sent off Faulds that day) and McColl’s claims of an ongoing vendetta against him and Cambuslang Rangers players has led to SJFA chiefs deciding his appeals can be heard by East Region disciplinary chiefs.

The Lang gaffer insisted: "I wear my heart on my sleeve for Cambuslang Rangers and we as a club appear to be treated differently to other West Region clubs this season and I would like to know why.

“It’s been well publicized how I was shot in the face away from football yet when we played Beith down there and I grappled with a fan who came over the wall to get at me, I was fined for my behaviour... really?

“And we played Renfrew in a game where the referee has dished out 16 yellow and four red cards yet his officiating is not called into question, but I am given a six-game ban for throwing the ball onto the park and, before you ask, it was underhand!

"The farce continues against Irvine Meadow where we lose two players and I’m sent packing for foul and abusive language yet I have only asked the linesman to get the referee to come and talk to me, so I truly believe there are grounds for thinking Cambuslang Rangers are being harshly treated in comparison to other teams.”

McColl would rightly not have expected to have Scott officiating one of his side’s matches before his appeal hearing but his reputed behaviour down in New Cumnock is inexcusable and even one of his close friends admitted: "Referees hold all the cards and Paul has to accept that or get out of football management.”