RONNY DEILA today praised Scottish referees - despite the firestorm that has raged in the aftermath of last weekend's Hampden handball storm.

Whistler Steven McLean and assistant Alan Muir have been lambasted for missing Josh Meekings' handball in the William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final against Inverness.

Their glaring error sparked fury as Celtic's chances of a domestic Treble slipped away in a 3-2 extra-time defeat.

But Deila insists his faith in the country's top men in black hasn't been dented as a result of last weekend's decision.

"I think the referees have been good," said the Norwegian. "I haven't changed my mind.

"You see mistakes all over Europe and I think the referees here have been good, I have no problems with that.

"It's just afterwards there are a lot of things. So many meetings, appeals, I can't understand that system. But that's not up to me, it's up to others."

In the aftermath of last Sunday's refereeing performance, Celtic wrote a letter to the SFA seeking clarification on the incident

involving Meekings' handball.

It was an act that Deila feels could have been avoided if officials were allowed to be more open after games.

The Hoops manager talks fondly of the system in his native Norway where whistlers hold post-match press conferences to discuss their performance.

It is an idea he would be keen to see replicated in Scotland. Deila said: "We had to write a letter to get an answer.

"When my team has a bad performance, I have to stand in front of newspapers and everybody. If it's good, it's good. If it's bad, it's bad, but I have to stand up to it.

"I can't understand what the problem is with the referees doing it as well.

"They could say: 'I made a bad mistake, I'm so sorry, I'm irritated at myself, I should have done it better, I should learn from this.'

"What could you say after that? But when you don't get an answer and have to write full pages, you never get finished with it."

Turning to tomorrow's trip to Tannadice to face Dundee United, Deila will be hoping his team can extend their current three-game winning streak over the Arabs.

Three points would bring the finishing line that bit closer for a squad that has already played an extraordinary number of games across five competitions.

With next season's Champions League qualifiers already in his thoughts,

Deila concedes some of his top stars may be allowed some downtime to help them recuperate before the new term starts.

He said: "Maybe. I don't like to take things in advance and talk about ifs and maybes.

"I don't take anything for granted. I'd rather plan as if things go wrong because then you just get happy when they go the right way. Everything is possible, but there is no decision yet.

"We are already talking about next season, between me and Peter Lawwell and the staff.

"But the most important thing is to keep the focus on the finish to the league. Then we can make things right in the summer."