Kenny Clark has been wheeled out to defend Scotland’s abysmal refereeing standards.
The retired whistler is a safe pair of hands for Operation Deflection having been on call blaming Neil Lennon for the referees strike in 2010.
Clark appeared on Radio Scotland on Monday night and seemed to be in choppy water when he was asked about referees being involved in games for the club that they support.
With three of the four match officials at Ibrox for the recent Glasgow derby drawn from the elite Lanarkshire Referee Association it would be incredible if none of them had an allegiance for either side. Neither John Beaton, Bobby Madden or David Roome are Celtic fans, Tory MP Douglas ‘our precious union’ has always been known to be a fan of clubs from Ibrox.
Speaking to the state broadcaster about the teams that officials support Clark said: “It is a complete irrelevance.
“For anyone to suggest that a referee would work for 10 or 15 years to get to the top level of refereeing in Scotland and would then cheat the fans simply in order to give ‘his team’ an advantage is just nonsensical.
“No-one in their right mind would put in the time and effort, make all the sacrifices they have to do to get to that level and then display bias. I don’t accept that it happens.”
In England referees declare the club that they support and are prevented from being involved in matches that can effect their club.
No Scottish referee has ever been in charge of a Scotland international match or a UEFA tie involving a Scottish club.
As well as his income as a solicitor and SFA referee supervisor Clark tops up his money on the after dinner circuit recalling stories in which he wilfully penalised Celtic.
Celtic’s Scottish Cup tie with Airdrie United/Clydebank on Saturday will be refereed by Andrew Dallas, son of shamed anti-Catholic bigot Hugh.
