Going on his track record it was no surprise that the SFA have put John Beaton in charge of the January 2 Glasgow derby, the Lanarkshire based referee has all the credentials needed for the match.
Beaton first caught the eye during season 2013/14 when he denied Albion Rovers a Scottish Cup win at Ibrox by allowing a ridiculous goal from Bilel Moshni to stand, in the replay the Coatbridge side were comfortable seen off.
From then on Beaton’s performances were predictable, as was his promotion through the ranks, groomed by Hugh Dallas and a rising star in the Lanarkshire Refereeing Association.
John Beaton reffing some Celtic games last season.
— Lint (@Zeshankenzo) December 21, 2022
His big moment arrived in December 2018 when Brendan Rodgers took a depleted squad to Ibrox. Celtic were a good bit short on the day but Beaton was making sure that it would be a while before he had to put his hand in his pocket at The Crown Bar in Bellshill.
Alfredo Morelos was given licence to do as he pleased, lashing out at Scott Brown, Ryan Christie and Tony Ralston without even a yellow card.
The good sports on the Celtic board sat back and did nothing, trusting that the Compliance Officer would retrospectively apply justice.
When that didn’t happen Peter Lawwell reached for the statement template, anything to get the heat off him for his complete failure to call for justice from his buddies inside the SFA.
Celtic Football Club is surprised that there will be no disciplinary action taken by the Scottish FA regarding the incidents during the match on December 29, which have been widely addressed in the media.Â
It is reported that no action was taken because the match referee saw all of the incidents in question.Â
Given that the referee took no action at the time, this tends to suggest that such conduct, which in one instance led to a Celtic player, Anthony Ralston, being injured, is acceptable in Scottish football. That cannot be right.
On the day, Celtic did not play well enough to win the match, something we accept. However, this issue goes beyond the result of the match.
Celtic is not the only club this season to raise concerns regarding the standard of officiating at matches in Scotland, concerns which have also been shared by many commentators on the game.
In order to fully understand what is going on, Celtic, our supporters, Scottish clubs and the general Scottish football public need transparency in these matters, and we therefore call on the Scottish FA to allow the referee, John Beaton, to explain these decisions publicly as well as any match officials involved in other similar circumstances.
In the meantime, we have requested a meeting with Scottish FA Chief Executive, Ian Maxwell, and the Association’s Head of Refereeing.
That was ignored, there was no follow up, in November 2019 at the Celtic AGM Lawwell revealed that he had enjoyed tea and biscuits with Maxwell and that all was good in the word, Beaton was a top lad and good to referee Celtic matches.
Fittingly with Lawwell officially back running Celtic he can watch Beaton in action on January 2, after a fraternal slurp from the Loving Cup passed his way by business buddy Douglas Park.
Ange Postecoglou has other matters to deal with but a google search of Beaton to build on last season’s experiences won’t do any harm. In his one Celtic match this season the Lanarkshire based referee refused to award a penalty against Ricki Lamie and send off the Motherwell defender.
The real culprits here are the Celtic board of directors who sit on their hands and do and say nothing about our treatment from this odious organisation…