At Tynecastle at the start of March John Beaton took a special interest in Yang Hyun-jun controlling the ball on the touchline.
Alex Cochrane charged at the Celtic winger with Don Robertson deciding that Yang should be yellow carded, Beaton saw things differently and suggested a VAR review.
Typical of him Robertson upgraded the punishment to a red card, Celtic faced 75 minutes playing with 10 men and lost 2-0. Just to make sure Beaton came up with an outrageous handball before half-time to give Hearts a penalty and the lead.
As the picture above shows there Dujon Sterling raised his boot dangerously high to fend off Alistair Johnston at Ibrox on Sunday.
Rather than dive in Cochrane style the Celtic defender wisely backed off, no action was taken by Beaton which was effectively his policy throughout the match when it came to the home side.
With 46% possession Celtic managed to commit more than twice the amount of fouls as their opponents, 23 against 10.
Even at that one of the Celtic fouls was given most reluctantly. Beaton was happy to allow Tom Lawrence to wipe out Tomoki Iwata but when the move ended with a ‘goal’ a VAR review was called, even Beaton couldn’t nod through the foul on Iwata.
On Saturday Steven McLean will referee the match between Celtic and St Mirren with David Dickinson on VAR. Matthew MacDermid will referee Philippe Clement’s side away to Ross County with Andrew Dallas as insurance on VAR.
? “Penalty Rangers”
Celtic chief Michael Nicholson’s cutting reply when quizzed on referees and VAR at AGMhttps://t.co/6vJYJ8p66Ihttps://t.co/6vJYJ8p66I
— Scottish Sun Sport (@scotsunsport) November 22, 2023
The Scottish referees aren’t the enemy, the Celtic board are the opposition.
Totally agree Stephen. The Board must be booted as soon as this season is over. Win or lose.