Glasgow derby referee Nick Walsh and the clear Conflict of Interest

Nick Walsh’s appointment for Saturday’s Glasgow derby has barely been commented on.

With Bobby Madden’s private life taking him to Accrington and Hartlepool while Willie Collum and Kevin Clancy are untouchable the SFA have suddenly seen their talent pool of refereeing shrink.

Andrew Dallas seems to have disappeared but could well be heading up the VAR department, drawing on the vast experience and connections of his Daddy.

With all that in mind it seems that Walsh and John Beaton were the only two referees in contention for Saturday’s match.

Throughout this week Walsh will be working at Boclair Academy which has a special relationship with the football club based at Murray Park.

Anywhere outside of Scotland they wouldn’t allow such a clear conflict of interest, fortunately in Scotland Celtic and the other clubs are quite relaxed to have Walsh in charge of their matches while indirectly working for a competitor Monday to Friday.

If Walsh wanted to continue his refereeing career he could switch the day job to another school where only his footballing judgement would be called into question.

Over the last 18 months Michael O’Halloran, Callum McGregor, Ryan Porteous, Stephen O’Donnell and Josh Ginnelly have all been sent off against the Ibrox club.

Like his day job it seems that the red card pattern in Walsh’s career is free from media scrutiny.