The two questions about Ibrox officials that Hearts won’t ask the SFA about
Hearts fans will feel aggrieved tonight after their side’s defeat at Ibrox, the defeat wasn’t so much to their direct opponents but to the officials produced by the system inside Scottish football.
Today was the fourth time that the two clubs have faced each other in the last twelve months, the third time this year. John Beaton has refereed all four of those matches.
This season 17 different referees have been in charge of SPFL Premiership fixtures, there were 16 alternatives to Beaton including seven other Grade 1 referees, men that take charge of UEFA matches at various levels.
On November 9 last year Hearts lost 1-0 at Ibrox with Beaton in charge. Similarly he was in charge when the two sides met again in February and May with the man from the Crown Bar in Bellshill in charge.
Towards the end of an uneventful first half Beaton signalled for two minutes to be added, two minutes and 30 seconds into that period he was pointing to the penalty spot but James Tavernier failed to convert.
In the 88th minute the match referee watched players from both side grappling with each other and saw nothing unusual, in the VAR studio Alan Muir picked out a shirt pull on Conor Goldson while various others were pushing and pulling.
Beaton was invited to the monitor, everyone knew what to expect. The team that hasn’t had an SPFL penalty awarded against them in 64 matches were awarded their second penalty of the afternoon. Tavernier scored this time.
It was certainly a busy weekend for Muir, yesterday he was in Edinburgh for the Hibs v Celtic match with the SFA providing a welcome second payment with a VAR gig watching the match from Ibrox.
Surely after the stress and physical exertions from taking a top flight match on the Saturday are best followed by a day off.
Being based in Aberdeen it looks like Muir has enjoyed a hotel night between matches in Edinburgh and Glasgow on top of his mileage and other expenses.
On Wednesday Muir will be the Fourth Official at the St Johnstone v Kilmarnock match, the same night Beaton will be influencing the Celtic v St Mirren match.
It would be a massive shock if Hearts raised any complaint about the choice of officials for today’s match, every other club in the SPFL Premiership faces the same issues,
CLICK HERE for Beaton’s matches last seasons.