Last December John Beaton watched Alfredo Morelos lash out at Tony Ralston, Scott Brown and Ryan Christie without even booking the Colombian striker.
Afterwards there was no word from the Lanarkshire based referee, no sign of an apology to Celtic that he had made mistakes.
Last night Beaton was on duty at Aberdeen, midway through the second half he awarded the visitors a free-kick when Lewis Ferguson tripped Morelos on the edge of the penalty box.
There was no danger or threat of injury to the striker but after the final whistle Gerrard revealed to The Sun that the match referee had said sorry for not awarding a penalty.
It’s 100% a penalty. I’m surprised it’s not given as the referee is three yards away and looking right at it. He has seen it since and agrees it is a blatant penalty he has missed.
I have to be very careful what I say, obviously. But I don’t think there will be a more disappointed person outside of Rangers tonight than John.
He has just explained to me that he got it wrong, right in front of his eyes, and there is no excuse. There is nothing more I can say on it to be honest.
Did he apologise? Yes. I went to see him after the game.
Later in the match Aberdeen had strong claims for a penalty waved away when James Tavernier felled Sam Cosgrove.
After the 1-0 defeat at Ibrox Celtic issued a statement calling for transparency but appear to have settled for a private explanation during a meeting with the SFA.
Gerrard and Beaton have some history going back to the first Glasgow derby of last season when Olivier Ntcham scored the only goal of the game with Beaton on fourth official duty to Willie Collum.
After the match Gerrard claimed that play should have been stopped for a foul by Tom Rogic on Ryan Kent backed up by the view of the fourth official.
The Sun reported:
For me it’s a foul and it’s also one for the fourth official who is shouting down his mic ‘foul, foul, foul’. The ref has ignored that advice but for me it’s a blatant foul, he sweeps his legs.
Jacko has done well to get himself between man and ball and for me it’s a clear foul. I spoke with the referee afterwards and he disagreed, he didn’t think it was a foul.
Collum will referee Sunday’s League Cup Final at Hampden.