Celtic fans are bracing themselves for another strange refereeing performance from Bobby Madden tomorrow night against Hearts.
On Matchday 15 it will be the fourth time that the Lanarkshire based official has been allocated a Celtic fixture. With Andrew Dallas becoming the 17th referee to handle a Premiership match when he takes charge of Dundee v St Johnstone it is incredible that one man referees more than 25% of Celtic’s matches.
Madden has a long track record of strange decisions in Celtic matches, in March 2013 Neil Lennon highlighted a ridiculous red card for Victor Wanyama, missing a penalty box handball from Georgios Samaras and awarding a penalty for a non-contact incident clearly outside the penalty area.
BBC Scotland reported Lennon saying:
That is by far the most appalling refereeing performance I’ve seen this season. For both sides. How he got so many big decisions wrong in one day is beyond me.
In March 2017 Madden was given his first Glasgow derby, after letting Kenny Miller and Jason Holt away with brutal challenges on Stuart Armstrong and Patrick Roberts he refused Celtic a late penalty when Clint Hill wrestled Leigh Griffiths to the ground.
There have been plenty of incidents down the years but fortunately the vow of silence from the Celtic hierarchy has allowed and encouraged the Lanarkshire based referee to do as he pleases.
In February of this year Madden was racking up the mileage on route to Dingwall when he was called off a match against Celtic when he was reminded that he should have been self-isolating after his close friend David Roome had tested positive after a midweek jolly to Athens.
Away to Aberdeen at the start of October Madden awarded 27 free-kicks against Celtic despite the hoops having 62% possession, 10 free kicks were awarded against Aberdeen.
Brother Madden is in charge on Thursday night so I’m hoping all our players insurance policies are up to date.
Someone at Celtic needs to demand more protection for our players from the @ScottishFA and their favourite referee. pic.twitter.com/4ZMMShyxwv
— RhebelRhebel (@RhebelRhebel) November 30, 2021
The three of them were all red card incidents but Brother Madden didn’t agree.
It either bias or incompetence but for some reason he still gets a very high percentage of our games.
— RhebelRhebel (@RhebelRhebel) November 30, 2021
Gets away with it time after time.
— ??????? (@johnhowley_) December 1, 2021
will a celtic player have a career ending injury before the board say anything to the sfa??
— hugh jassol (@hughjassol19) November 30, 2021
Too many of our board support the same team as brother Madden
— DC??????? (@DavidCairney67) December 1, 2021
