Andrew Dallas will referee Saturday’s match between Ross County and Celtic which raises questions on a number of fronts.
It will be match day five for Neil Lennon’s side and the second time that they’ve had the Lanarkshire based official in charge. You could call it 40% of Celtic matches he’s been in charge of or 66% of away games after he took charge of the 1-0 win away Dundee United.
For many Celtic fans that game was a masterclass of Scottish refereeing. Callum McGregor picked up a first half booking for virtually his first tackle. In opposition Mark Connolly appeared to be immune from discipline from Dallas, there were three first half challenges at least on a par with McGregor’s offence yet he escaped a card.
One lunge at Odsonne Edouard’s heel resulted in two minutes treatment for the striker, Dallas played one minute of stoppage time at the end of the first half- Edouard missed two matches afterwards through injury. Had Connolly been booked he would have been a little more restrained in his subsequent challenges.
Among Dallas’ favoured traits are awarding Celtic meaningless free kicks which breaks up play alongside late bookings for opponents to even up the counts. At Tannadice, United players were booked in the 83rd then 90th minutes.
While not being a particularly good official Dallas Jnr is not among the SFA’s seven Category One referees who are meant to get the bulk of Celtic’s matches. Willie Collum, Don Robertson and Alan Muir have refereed Celtic matches this season which leaves five Category One referees still to take charge of a Celtic game while Dallas racks up his second appointment.
New referee chief Crawford Allan promised an era of transparency. Any explanation as to why Dallas has been put in charge of 40% of Celtic’s SPFL matches would be welcome, last Sunday he was also fourth official for the home win over Motherwell.
Explain how Andrew Dallas is assigned to us within a fortnight? pic.twitter.com/e3WVQpqMYD
— Shane Duffy CSC ?IAR? (@DBestseventy2) September 5, 2020
22/08 Dundee Utd v Celtic
Referee – Andrew Dallas30/08 Celtic v M/Well
4th Official – Andrew Dallas12/09 Ross C v Celtic
Referee – Andrew Dallas pic.twitter.com/mH1DyHpSfL— RhebelRhebel (@RhebelRhebel) September 5, 2020