Craig Thomson
Craig Thomson is being lined up to referee the Celtic-Rangers match on October 24.
Thomson was in charge of last night’s abandoned Italy-Serbia match in Genoa and hasn’t been given a Glasgow derby since his woeful performance at Ibrox last October which forced Hugh Dallas into acknowledging that Celtic should have been awarded a penalty when Shaun Maloney was fouled in the box by Davie Weir.
That was one of several mistakes by Thomson that day with Dallas not giving any reason or explanation for the failure to award Celtic a penalty.
The announcement of who will referee the game will be confirmed by the SFA on Monday but a simple elimination process points to Thomson getting the match.
Last season’s four derby matches were refereed by four different officials who are the only referee’s with experience of the fixture- Thomson, Dougie McDonald, Steve Conroy and Callum Murray.
Being given the derby match is the top award for any Scottish referee with the SFA unlikely to introduce a new face to the opening clash of the season.
On Sunday McDonald, who sent Scott Brown off at Ibrox in February, will be in charge of the Dundee United-Celtic game. The SFA never appoint the same referee for consecutive games with the same club unless it’s forced on them by a Scottish Cup replay.
Conroy, who failed to red card Kyle Lafferty for an X-rated lunge at Andreas Hinkel has virtually disappeared off the radar and hasn’t been in charge of a single competitive game this season… although he was in charge at the recent Gary Hay Testimonial between Kilmarnock and Ayr Utd.
Murray was given the final derby clash of last season, and again using convention it’s very rare for the SFA to have the same referee in charge for consecutive derbies.
Which leaves us with Thomson who, like Murray, hasn’t been given an SPL fixture this weekend.
After the catalogue of errors that littered last season’s Celtic-Rangers games appointing the referee for next Sunday’s game is a thankless task of the SFA’s own making.
With just four referees on the roster who have taken charge of the unique fixture the treatment of Conroy seems strange.
While Thomson was given support and encouragement following his error ridden performance in the October 4 fixture last season, including the honour of refereeing the Co-Operative Cup Final in March, Conroy’s career has gone into sharp decline since the January 3 derby.
At the end of last year Conroy seemed to be given the seal of approval when he was awarded the New Year derby fixture and profiled on the SFA website in glowing terms.
Discussing Conroy’s appointment Dallas said: “When they get a hard time in the media after a game it is our job to thoroughly analyse the performance with them, provide a strong support network and, most importantly, build their confidence up again.
…………………………………………………………CLICK HERE for page 2
“Steve has worked very hard throughout his time as a referee and has a vast amount of experience under his belt now. We are confident he will handle the situation superbly and that he is fully prepared for the occasion.
“He has waited a bit longer than some others for this appointment but with his performances over the last period, we believe now is the right time for him to be tested in this big game and hopefully he can come out the other end unscathed.”
Conroy hasn’t been given a single Celtic match since first footing Parkhead.
Looking forward to the New Year game he said: “There were stages over the last few years when I thought the opportunity might be slipping away from me. I have been in the game a long time now and hadn’t been given an Old Firm game.
“It is firmly understood by the refereeing community that only a select number of referees will ever take charge of this game and you have to be at the top of your career to be appointed. Last season, I definitely felt I had reached a far more consistent level of performance over the season.
“Of course every referee makes mistakes in every game but sometimes it can be a bit of luck whether the mistakes you make have a big effect on the game and its outcome.
“We work very hard with the referee development team and our observers to analyse every game and make sure that we learn from every mistake made.
“I watch every televised game that I am involved in over and over. I look at my positioning for decisions as well as the decisions themselves and I learn from every game.”
No doubt Conroy will look back at his performance on January 3 with regret, especially as Thomson is given another chance to prove that he has the nerve to make the big decisions in the most testing fixture in the Scottish calendar.
SFA article on Steve Conroy James Keatings targets first team goals
Follow Video Celts on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube
I suspect they found out where Conroy went to school!
No chance of a fair game for the Celts with him officiating, that’s for sure.
The only real solution to this is getting an English or overseas ref to do this match although Dallas is against this.
There is a volatile fixture played in the middle-east and a foreign official always does this match, indeed Dallas himself done it once.
Maybe the powers that be at Paradise can lobby for this. I know the shame will be dead against it.
I think Al Ahly vs Zamalek in Cairo has foreign referees in charge. I attended one with a guy called Stewart from Scotland in charge (think he was retired). Zamalek won and he ruled out a goal for Ahly. Not popular but he was not accused of intentional bias. I don’t think any Scottish referee would be invited to officiate at a Girls’ Brigade international these days.