McDonald has faced more pressure than any other referee in a sequence of events that forced Scotland's leading match officials to carry through a weekend of strike action.

Celtic called for the 45-year-old to quit or be sacked by the Scottish Football Association after he admitted to misleading their manager, Neil Lennon, over the circumstances surrounding his penalty U-turn in their 2-1 win at Tannadice on October 17.

McDonald has finally done so with some reluctance, days after Hugh Dallas lost his post as the SFA's head of referees development amid an inquiry into the sending of a controversial email relating to the Pope.

But McDonald has done so only in an attempt to ensure his own position does not overshadow the wider issues surrounding Scotland's referees, who were at the weekend replaced by colleagues from Israel, Malta and Luxembourg in Saturday's Clydesdale Bank Premier League fixture list.

In a statement issued through Press Association Sport, McDonald said: "My category one colleagues decided rightly to withdraw their services from matches this weekend in response to the outrageous way they have been treated by sections within Scottish football and, in my opinion, the lack of support they have received from the SFA general purposes committee in recent years.

"However, their united stand, and the position of strength they have established this weekend, has been clouded by one issue, namely the aftermath of the Dundee United v Celtic match on October 17.

"I apologised for my role in that and wanted my previously unblemished 29-year career to move on.

"Now is the time for all of Scottish football to move on."

McDonald received an SFA warning over his false claim that he had been alerted to his penalty error by assistant Steven Craven, who quit the professional game a week later.

The punishment was seen as too lenient by many but McDonald, who was refereeing in the SPL two weeks after his hearing, claims the most damaging clemency has been towards managers and players.

"It is also important to make clear that just as this issue is not about Dougie McDonald alone, nor is it about Celtic Football Club alone," he said.

"I have read comments this week from (Motherwell manager) Craig Brown, whom I admire hugely in the way he deals with referees, saying his club doesn't engage in questioning referees publicly.

"They maybe haven't under his reign, but the previous manager (Jim Gannon) did and I don't recall the club apologising or dealing with their employee.

"The truth is, since I became a class one referee, managers or players - and sometimes directors - at almost every club, at one time or another, have been guilty of such behaviour. The only difference being the degree and tenor of the criticism and the inferences from it.

"The constant has been the unwillingness of the SFA general purposes committee to deal with it."

That committee had been due to meet today to discuss Lennon's recent criticism of referees but the snow has forced a postponement.