John Beaton will be in charge of Celtic’s vital SPFL clash with Aberdeen on Sunday.
The inexperienced whistler has only handled two Celtic matches this season, the most recent being the 2-0 Scottish Cup victory at Dundee where Anthony Stokes was booked for simulation during the second half.
With the top two clubs in the country meeting it was expected that Craig Thomson, Willie Collum, Steven McLean or Calum Murray would be put in charge rather than a relatively inexperienced top flight referee like Beaton.
Like Collum Beaton is a product of the flourishing Lanarkshire Referee’s Association and credits Hugh Dallas for his change in career.
Speaking to the Lanarkshire refs website Beaton recalled his most memorable match explaining: “I will never forget a Sectional League Cup match in the juniors between Cambuslang and Rutherglen. It was the 25thof August 2008 – a Monday night. Hugh Dallas had been appointed as a mentor to me in my second season as a Category 2 referee.
“I just don’t know what happened that night. I had an absolute nightmare, handing out 13 yellow cards and 2 reds. I remember going to speak to him after the game and his opening words are not fit for the website.
“It was a real wake-up call for me and totally transformed my career – I will never forget how bad I felt after that game and work really hard to make sure it doesn’t happen again!”
Discussing how he got started in refereeing he told The Daily Record: “My cousin was a referee and I played a bit of football on a Saturday. He suggested that I take up refereeing on the Sunday for a bit of cash.
“I started out on school matches and I kept it going, as a few of the guys were about the same age as me and it was good banter in training.
“At university it really worked for me. A lot of my class-mates had to get a job, but I didn’t need that.
“When I left university I had the decision to make over whether to keep it going or let it slide, and I decided to really give it a go.
“I got promoted to the FIFA list recently which is a big thing – there are only seven in Scotland and I’m one of them.”
Last season Beaton was in charge of the Scottish Cup tie between Sevco and Albion Rovers when he allowed a controversial late effort from Bilel Mohsni to stand to earn Ally McCoist’s side a draw.
Ivan Kruzliak of Slovakia is in charge of Thursday’s Inter Milan v Celtic Europa League tie, Kruzliak was in charge when Sweden’s u-21 side, featuring John Guidetti, knocked France out of the u-21 Euro Championships which saw the Swedish side ‘salute’ their opponents.
