The early part of the build up to Sunday’s League Cup Final will be dominated by one man- Craig Thomson.
It seems a lifetime ago since it was regularly stated that a good referee is one that you don’t notice.
Since Hugh Dallas was propelled to power it seems that the referee and his assistants are keen to be centre stage, at the heart of the action and revelling in controversy.
Thomson’s previous Celtic match was the League Cup semi final at Hampden where Lee McCulloch appeared to have diplomatic immunity.
To no one’s surprise Thomson filled that role to perfection at Tannadice yesterday matched only in incompetence by his assistant Graham Chambers.
The flashpoint for the whole match revolved around the 10th minute when Thomson watched Scott Brown tackle Nadir Ciftci and get a boot in his face for his efforts.
Play on waved the referee but as United broke into the Celtic half Virgil van Dijk and Calum Butcher got involved with each other with Chambers racing onto the pitch with the game brought to a halt.
Making a beeline for Butcher the incident settled down before Chambers and Thomson discussed the incident with the assistant seen by television cameras to be telling his boss that two should go off.
Having picked out Paul Paton for a red card Chambers take on events really should be discounted as an official that got carried away, unable to exercise judgement and administer judgement.
With both teams down to ten men Thomson then gave United a penalty when Aidan Connolly wend down unchallenged in the penalty box- Thomson was within 5 yards of the incident.
Today Celtic and United appealed against the red cards issued to Paton and van Dijk, tomorrow we’ll find out if the compliance officer wishes to take any further action.
Tomorrow the SFA will announce the referee for the replay- convention says Thomson, common sense says anyone but.
