Even before he took charge of his first Glasgow derby Celtic supporters were keeping a close eye on Bobby Madden’s rise through the refereeing ranks, another product of Lanarkshire that has resulted in Andrew Dallas, Willie Collum and John Beaton being on the rota for the top matches.
In March 2017 Madden finally got his moment and lived down to expectations. Kenny Miller’s two footed lunge on Stuart Armstrong went unpunished, likewise Jason Holt’s attack on Patrick Roberts.
The best was left till late on. As Leigh Griffiths steadied himself to shoot Clint Hill chopped him from behind. Madden’s apologists were split between saying that he was unsighted and that the Ibrox veteran took the ball. Neither option was true but Madden was on the circuit with a regular gig at the Glasgow Derby.
In March 2019 he did give Alfredo Morelos a red card- after his assistant drew attention to stamping on Scott Brown from behind.
— Tam Sellics son (@TamsellicsonIII) January 2, 2021
That’s absolutely disgraceful from the referee btw. Why’s he holding Morelos back to stop him getting send off??? Genuinely bewildered pic.twitter.com/9tyww3ZZrN
— Liam (@Liam2TLR) January 2, 2021
Today Madden made it clear that he was the man in control when he ignored a third minute attack on Jeremie Frimpong, it was trademark Morelos. The Celtic player had cleared the ball when he arrived late and raked his studs down the defender’s heel.
Morelos on Frimpong and Davis on McGregor( I think it was him) I don’t have video of it, yet pic.twitter.com/GIM0fKvSEJ
— Patrick S Murphy (@PatrickSMurphy4) January 2, 2021
Had a yellow or red card been issued the game would have been very different, Morelos would have been useless knowing that he couldn’t arrive late into challenges on opponents.
In the 75th minute Madden finally decided to book the Ibrox striker. As the clip above shows he pushed his hand towards Scott Brown’s face and raised a leg to try and kick out.
Madden then performed a bear-hug to try and resolve the incident. Had he given a red rather than yellow card the last 15 minutes of 10 v 10 could have produced a different result.
Steven Gerrard wasn’t taking any chances, Cedric Itten replaced Morelos the next time that the ball was out of play. The 11 men saw the game out.
Celtic may or may not play the old ‘surprised and disappointed’ statement in a bid to pretend that they take an interest in the way Scottish football is governed. They used it for Steven McLean in 2015, a year later he was awarded the Scottish Cup Final, in 2019 a similar statement was used for John Beaton’s refusal to book or send off Morelos, two weeks ago Beaton got a Scottish Cup Final.
As Celtic fans watch the random application of the Laws of the Game some night consider their own clubs willing acceptance when the Season Ticket renewal letters come out for the #celticfamily.
