Andrew Dallas will take charge of Sunday’s Betfred Cup Final against Aberdeen having only refereed one Celtic match this season, the 0-0 draw with St Mirren in September.
This season there hasn’t yet been any match changing honest mistakes in Celtic games although the defeat at Tynecastle may have been avoided if John Beaton had sent off Steven Naismith for his attack on a grounded Jonny Hayes.
While there has been no major decisions against Celtic opposition players know that they can go in as hard and as late as they like with little chance of seeing a red card.
Kieran Tierney seems to be a particular victim of these tactics with forwards regularly giving it ‘got there as quickly as I could’ when they slide in late on the defender.
Livingston was a recent example of that policy with Kevin Clancy reluctant to bring out his cards.
It seems that Celtic superior ability has created a built in evening-up policy among match officials where opponents get away with more against Brendan Rodgers’ side to balance out Celtic’s superior ability.
JOHN BEATON/ STEVEN NAISMITH/ JONNY HAYES
‘I was totally wrong in my reaction . . . I had the red mist,’#Hearts star Steven Naismith opens up on angry reaction towards #Celtic winger Jonny Hayeshttps://t.co/tzwfluhWpD #HMFC pic.twitter.com/zowTJzbYX6
— Capital City Press (@CCP_sport) August 23, 2018
Naismith had been his usual niggly self, following on from escaping punishment during the match for two OTT attacks on Scott Brown and James Forrest during Celtic’s previous trip to Tynecastle.
This time Hayes was the target with the two players going in for a 50-50 challenge.
With both men grounded Naismith twice kicked out at Hayes then got to his feet to scream at the Irishman from within two feet, Beaton and his assistant decided against taking action.
WILLIE COLLUM/ ALLAN MCGREGOR/ KRIS AJER
Shagger ?????????????????? pic.twitter.com/pc5OfmLu9N
— Cameron ???????????????????????????? (@7873Cameron) November 28, 2018
The previous week at Motherwell McGregor had got away with an off the ball attack on Peter Hartley.
Collum knew what to expect, midway trough the first half Ajer challenged for a high ball which McGregor claimed.
As the ball was cleared the Ibrox keeper kicked out at the grounded Norwegian, Collum and his assistant both missed the incident.
BOBBY MADDEN/ SCOTT MCKENNA/ ODSONNE EDOUARD
BREAKING: Scott McKenna charged by SFA over tackle on Odsonne Edouard… but Aberdeen vow to appeal ban ‘in the strongest possible terms’https://t.co/0k7at6fQ2D pic.twitter.com/n28LMkjeRe
— Scottish Sun Sport (@scotsunsport) October 3, 2018
This was incredible, as Edouard moved onto a through ball McKenna launched himself, with both feet off the ground at the Celtic striker.
Edouard fell to the ground, required medical treatment and was unable to continue.
Knowing that a foul just outside the penalty box should result in a red card Madden waved play on, not even a free kick. Retrospectively the SFA suspended McKenna for two matches after he completed 90 minutes against a weakened Celtic side.
WILLIE COLLUM/ STEVEN MACLEAN/ EBOUE KOUASSI
Apparently as a bit of a party piece MacLean likes to grab opponents by the genitals when he has his back to them at a corner.
Kouassi wasn’t best pleased by the matter as he demonstrated to Collum after the referee had brought both men together.
No action was taken at the time against the Hearts striker who had already been booked, afterwards MacLean was given a two match suspension but still played against Celtic six days later.
KEVIN CLANCY/ DOLLY MENGA/ RYAN CHRISTIE
Livingston striker Dolly Menga faces two-game ban after being charged by the SFA after his headbutt on Celtic’s Ryan Christie.
More: https://t.co/XiWjB93qX6 pic.twitter.com/rNq4pCah7L
— BBC Sportsound (@BBCSportsound) November 13, 2018
Clancy seemed very reluctant to use his cards in this match.
At a throw-in for Livi there was the usual jostling between players, Menga took things further when he attempted a head-butt on Christie as they stood at the front post.
Clancy called both men together, had a word then allowed play to continue without punishment.
Menga was handed a two match retrospective suspension, the first of them was for his side’s visit to Ibrox.
DON ROBERTSON/ MATT KILGALLON/ ODSONNE EDOUARD
What a save???????????? pic.twitter.com/c9kog84LT9
— Tam Sellics son (@gibbogibby1) November 24, 2018
An early call as Edouard twisted and turned at the corner of the penalty box with Kilgannon losing his footing.
The Celtic striker looked to send the ball across goal when Kilgannon appeared like Superman, arms outstretched to block the ball. His apologists claimed that he was simply recovering his position.
Fortunately Celtic went on to win the match 3-0.