The Scottish FA has scrapped its independent panel that reviewed major refereeing decisions in the Scottish Premiership, after clubs declined to take part this season (BBC Sport; Daily Record).

The Key Match Incident (KMI) panel was a voluntary three-man body set up in 2024 to bring transparency to the game's most contested moments — disputed penalties, red cards, offside calls that decide matches. Each week, a group featuring former players and a club representative would deliver verdicts on whether referees had got the big calls right or wrong.

That model is now finished. In February 2025, Dundee United pulled their representative from the panel, citing concerns over its "purpose, effectiveness and impact on Scottish football." Other Premiership clubs are believed to have followed suit this season, leaving the panel without enough participants to function.

For fans, the appeal of the KMI panel was straightforward. When a last-minute penalty decision costs your team two points, you want to know whether the experts thought the referee got it right. The panel offered a weekly, public answer to that question — a small but real window into the judgment calls that shape a season.

The panel did not always align with the SFA's own refereeing department. Last season, the KMI panel at times disagreed with the retrospective view of Willie Collum, the SFA's head of refereeing, on specific decisions. That tension between an independent panel and the governing body's own assessments was part of what made clubs question the panel's value.

What remains in place is Collum's monthly VAR Review Show, where he provides video explanations of key decisions from the season's matches. VAR — the Video Assistant Referee system, which allows officials to review incidents on screen — has been a flashpoint in Scottish football since its introduction, and Collum's show was partly designed to demystify how it is applied. He will also continue holding meetings with captains and managers to discuss refereeing incidents directly.

So the weekly independent verdicts are gone, but the SFA's own communication channels stay open. The difference is that clubs will now hear the governing body's perspective without a separate panel weighing in alongside it.

The Scottish Premiership season kicks off with one fewer layer of public accountability on refereeing. Whether that gap is felt in the stands — or whether clubs prefer it this way — will become clear the first time a controversial decision goes unpicked.