As bad mistakes go it was probably the lesser of the three involving Willie Collum at Pittodrie yesterday.
Graeme Shinnie’s dive was an outrage, the desperate act of a journeyman facing another big match defeat. Hopefully the SFA will step in and give the Aberdeen skipper a two match extension to his January break.
How Niall McGinn escaped a red card for his over the ball lunge at Ryan Christie is as big a mystery as the fact that the Celtic player avoided having his leg broken. It was right in front of Collum, he couldn’t have been better positioned, he couldn’t have had a better view..
Earlier in the match the Lanarkshire based official had set the tone with a penalty decision. McGinn had crossed the ball, with his follow through he collided with the challenge that came in from Emilio Izaguirre.
Tierney v Hearts.
Gets cross in but then fouled
Ref : Willie Collum gives nithingMcGinn v Celtic
Gets cross in but fouled
Ref : Willie Collum gives penalty pic.twitter.com/ZF2SMAtBds— Colm (@cohcfc) December 26, 2018
Penalty according to Collum yet two months earlier in an almost identical incident the same referee had waved play on- nothing to see here.
During Celtic’s Betfred Cup semi-final win over Hearts at Murrayfield Kieran Tierney was played into a promising position at the edge of the penalty box. As he crossed the ball into the goalmouth a Hearts player crashed into the Celtic defender.
After that match at Tynecastle Steven MacLean was given a two match suspension for an incident witnessed by Collum that he refused to act on. A week later the club from Ibrox claimed that there were underlying issues with the same referee.
With his place on the elite FIFA list to protect Collum is assured of continually getting the top fixtures, with the backing of Hugh Dallas and the Lanarkshire Referees Association his future at the top level is more secure than anyone else involved in yesterday’s match at Aberdeen.