Tom Boyd doesn’t like to read from scripts, his opinion can’t be bought and paid for.
Back in 2008 he was the person that coined the phrase honest mistakes, everyone knew what he meant and couldn’t contradict him.
In January 2015 he ruffled a few feathers when he discussed the new club playing against Celtic at Hampden, not surprisingly the interview surfaced in an Irish newspaper.
At Hampden at the start of the week he breached the area that few dare to discuss when it comes to refereeing.
Celtic don’t get Scottish referees in UEFA matches, no one from the Lanarkshire Referee Association gets to take charge of Scotland international matches.
In England match officials have to declare the team they support, they don’t get to referee their matches or games that can effect their direct opponents.
For some reason this is a red rag to many in Scotland.
Over the weekend Tam Cowan slaughtered the suggestion without any reason with Gordon Waddell in the Daily Record equally outraged.
Perhaps a look at the demographics of Scottish refereeing might help.
Of the seven FIFA listed referees four of them come from Lanarkshire. There are 12 geographical referee associations in Scotland yet Lanarkshire utterly dominates.
Why are budding referees in Bellshill and Bonkle more likely to reach the top than those from Edinburgh and Dundee?
Airdrie United, Albion Rovers and Hamilton Accies struggle to aggregate 5,000 regular fans between themselves. Which clubs are the Lanarkshire referees fond of?
If the SFA refuse to look beyond their friends in Lanarkshire there is a very legitimate call to bring in referees from outside of Scotland.
As they circle the wagons around Dallas, Collum, Beaton and Madden it looks more and more believable that the SFA have something to hide relating to their chosen elite.