SFA announce Beaton will referee Sunday’s Glasgow Derby

John Beaton has been confirmed as the referee for Sunday’s Glasgow Derby at Ibrox.

Last week Brendan Rodgers received a touchline ban for describing the Lanarkshire based official as incompetent following his role as VAR when Celtic lost 2-0 to Hearts at the start of March.

Beaton hasn’t been in charge of the Glasgow Derby since 2 January 2023 when Celtic scored a late equaliser through Kyogo Furuhashi.

That match was the first Derby fixture involving VAR, while the home side were awarded a penalty early in the second half Ange Postecoglou was angered by the decision not to award Celtic a penalty when a Carl Starfelt shot was blocked by Connor Goldson.

Willie Collum was on VAR duty that day, on Sunday Collum will be the Fourth Official with Nick Walsh the VAR.

Rodgers served his one match suspension at Livingston on Sunday and will be back in the dug out for Sunday’s match at Ibrox.

After last week’s appeal against a Notice of Complaint Celtic stated:

Following a hearing by the SFA disciplinary panel today (Thursday), Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has been issued with a two-match suspension. One match is immediate and will apply to this Sunday’s Premiership game against Livingston, while one match is suspended until the end of the 2023/24 season.

A Celtic Football Club statement said: “Clearly, we are disappointed with the outcome of today’s hearing, although we will accept the panel’s decision.

“The Manager appeared at the hearing today, and his defence was presented robustly and thoroughly.

“Like many other clubs, we will continue to press for the highest standards in relation to the VAR process in Scottish football.” 

CLICK HERE for confirmation of this weekend’s SPFL match officials.