Dundee United manager Craig Levein claims he received dozens of messages of support following his blast at referee Mike McCurry.Levein is still seething about McCurry's performance in the Tannadice side's 3-1 defeat by Rangers at Ibrox despite the referee admitting he had called the game's two crucial decisions wrongly in favour of the home side.

United have complained to Scottish Football Association chief executive Gordon Smith after McCurry turned down what looked a very strong penalty claim when Rangers defender David Weir clashed with Noel Hunt while a goal from Danny Swanson was, according to television pictures, incorrectly disallowed for offside.

McCurry admitted on the SFA website he had got both crucial decisions wrong, claiming he was unsighted at the penalty incident and had been wrongly advised by his assistant for Swanson's 'goal.'

Levein said his outburst elicited empathy and sympathy from all over the country.

He said: "I have received loads of text messages of support from people in the game over the weekend.

"You can ask any other team if they get the breaks in crucial matches in Glasgow and the answer is no.

"It's the most annoyed I've been in all the time I've been in the game.

"These are not innocuous things like corners or throw-ins, these are goals and penalties.

"This is my livelihood. It's as basic as paying the mortgage to what holiday I go on."

Levein also claimed McCurry congratulated Nacho Novo after the Spaniard scored to put Rangers 2-0 up.

He said: "I watched the game on television and you could see Mike McCurry saying, 'good goal Nacho'.

"Why didn't he say that to Mark de Vries when he scored for us? His was a good goal as well."

Smith hit back following the United complaint, saying: "Everyone at the Scottish FA is hugely disappointed in the accusations that have been levelled at one of our match officials following the match at Ibrox on Saturday.

"To impinge on a man's integrity in this way is extremely unfair and does nothing to encourage more people to take up refereeing.

"To suggest that there was any kind of agenda behind the decisions made on the day does a massive disservice to the game and, quite frankly, is completely unfair."

But Levein countered: "I expected McCurry to say what he said and I expected Smith to back his referees.

"But it's too late for explanations. We have lost the points and the opportunity to qualify for Europe.

"So what I said at the weekend still stands.

"All I can do is complain through the media but Gordon Smith will stick his head in the sand."

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