Willie Collum will referee Sunday’s match between Ross County and Celtic which rules him out of taking charge of the Glasgow derby on April 8.
It is incredibly rare for a referee to take charge of the same club in consecutive fixtures.
Collum has already refereed four Celtic matches this season including the 4-1 League Cup victory away to Ross County in August, his last match involving Ange Postecoglou’s side was last month’s 4-0 win over Aberdeen last month. Steven Kirkland will be on VAR duty for Sunday’s match.
Nick Walsh has refereed two Glasgow derbies this season with John Beaton in charge of the other. With Collum out of contention it looks like Kevin Clancy will be handed the Derby fixture for the fourth time- with Celtic losing all three that he has previously handled.
With two further Derby clashes to be played, including a Scottish Cup semi-final the SFA will be carefully working out the schedules of their top referees.
Steven McLean is the only current referee to have previously taken charge of the fixture but his one and only appointment was in season 2016/17 suggesting that the SFA don’t feel that he is upto the task.
Don Robertson referees Dundee United’s visit to Ibrox on Saturday, he hasn’t previously refereed a Derby clash.
This weekend Clancy will referee the Championship match between Dundee and Hamilton, Walsh and Beaton don’t have a match.
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