John Beaton has opened up on his ‘Old Firm’ delights but carefully avoided discussing his incredible performance at Ibrox in December 2018.
Alfredo Morelos seemed to be the Invisible Man as he carried out attacks on Scott Brown, Ryan Christie and Tony Ralston without even picking up a yellow card.
After the match pictures surfaced on Social Media of Beaton joining the celebrations at a local pub in Bellshill.
In normal circumstances the Compliance Officer of the SFA would step in and make a Notice of Complaint which would carry a two match suspension but incredibly the SFA took a vow of silence with Morelos escaping a retrospective ban.
That action prompted the Celtic board to dust down their ‘surprised and disappointed’ statement template but after a meeting at Hampden Peter Lawwell was satisfied with the explanation given for the physical attacks on three employees.
Crawford Allan is keen to put referees in front of the media in the friendliest of surroundings with no real issues being tackled with Beaton cleared to speak to Glasgow Chamber of Commerce.
It’s a sought-after game throughout Europe and the world. When we meet our colleagues from other countries on our travels and at UEFA matches, they always ask if you’ve refereed it, always asking about the intensity of it and it’s something they would absolutely love to come and be a part of.
Both sets of fans would absolutely love to have foreign referees as well, so everybody wants that apart from us!
The 90 minutes itself doesn’t present itself as more of a challenge than top European games that we do. But everything that comes along with it, from when the appointment is made the week before the match, it’s a whole week of scrutiny and usually for a week after it as well.
So you’ve got that two-week bubble of being in the Old Firm environment which is very unique. You just don’t get that with anything else and it really is a special feeling to be part of it.
Much better referees than me have not had the opportunity to referee them so you really do pinch yourself and it’s great that I’ve managed to do three and hopefully there’s more to come.
Beaton is a member of the Lanarkshire Referee Association which also includes Andrew Dallas and Willie Collum.
