Best possible match officials- quiet man Nicholson makes referee pledge

Michael Nicholson has claimed that Celtic have been lobbying the SFA ‘for many years’ to get the best possible officials.

It seems that the calls from Nicholson, Peter Lawwell and Ian Bankier have been completely ignored by the SFA with even Ange Postecoglou forced to call out what is currently going on.

The Celtic boss has gone out of his way to avoid criticising match officials but the double dunt provided by VAR has forced Postecoglou to alter his stance.

Two weeks ago as match referee at Tynecastle Nick Walsh refused to give Celtic a penalty when Michael Smith moved his arm to block a pass from James Forrest, on Saturday in his VAR role the same official insisted that referee David Dickinson reviewed a less obvious handball involving Alexandro Bernabei.

Picking up on his answers during the Q and A section of the Celtic AGM, the Express reports Nicholson saying:

What we have as a club – and all clubs in Scotland have it – is an interest in having the best possible match officials and regulation of matches so we can focus on football.

As we mentioned last year – and as Ian Bankier almost got into trouble with – we have for many years lobbied the SFA and the SPFL to make sure we got the best match officials possible.

The first step with that was pushing for VAR – which worked out well! The second stage was to raise our concerns about VAR with the SFA. In relation to the specific incident (at Hearts) we did ask questions about how the rules had been applied.

I think it is inevitable that with the early stages of VAR there are going to be some teething issues. But you can rest assured that we do continue to press that issue with the SFA and the SPFL. There is a working group that the SPFL have brought together of all the clubs.

Nicholson is unlikely to be heard of again before next year’s AGM, sharing a seat at the back of the bus with retiring chairman Bankier.

In his day job as a PE teacher at Boclair Academy, Bearsden Walsh works on the fitness of Murray Park starlets.