GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - APRIL 07: Referee John Beaton and Willie Collum during a cinch Premiership match between Rangers and Celtic at Ibrox Stadium, on April 07, 2024, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Williamson/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Willie Collum doesn’t think that Scottish referees are corrupt.
At the end of last season John Brown used his club’s TV channel to make that claim about a match refereed by Nick Walsh with his club fined £3,000 for the comments.
Away from refereeing Walsh is a school-teacher at Boclair Academy in Bearsden, the school partnered with Murray Park to work on the education of their starlets.
Steven McLean’s brother started his professional playing career at Rangers.
John Beaton likes to relax away from refereeing with his friends in the Crown Bar in Bellshill.
In England match officials declare the club that they supported as a kid plus any potential conflict of interest relating to a job or their current location, the FA ensures that they don’t get fixtures that could question their integrity.
In Scotland the SFA believe that their match officials are so professional that they cast aside their or their families preferences when they get appointed for matches even though David Dickinson usually has 10 family members watching him when he is on duty at Ibrox.
Corruption isn’t an issue as Collum told STV during his most recent bout of media self promotion:
What I would say is that I don’t think there is any corruption in Scottish football. I don’t think our officials are corrupt.
Absolutely not. I’m guaranteeing that. I wouldn’t be sitting here if that were the case.
Our referees are like any referees, and they will make mistakes. What I would say is that when mistakes are made we always try to improve on them. Always.
Collum added:
But there’s no corruption in Scottish refereeing. We don’t want any comments about corruption or referees. I’m focusing on the job at hand.
For me, that’s to prepare the referees and make sure they are well prepared for the new season, focused and ready. We leave these kinds of matters to be dealt with by other people.
After being called out by the Ibrox Tribute Act for not awarding a penalty from an offside position in a match against Celtic in December 2023 when Collum was on Var duty the current Head of Refereeing went more than four months without refereeing an SPFL match involving Phil Clement’s side.
If there can be corruption in South America, Italy, France, etc…why not Scotland where there are societal divisions, that are rife in the west of Scotland.
— 3rdFrame (@The3rdFrame) July 28, 2025
One thing for sure is that business/Financial interests ALWAYS trumps sporting integrity in Scottish football
Oh…and if Dickinson can’t get enough tickets for an Ipox game for his family…There’s always the Masonic Lodge for TV coverage…..Everyone…Anyone.
Alan Morrison and others like him such as the fair-minded lifelong Aberdeen supporter and radio broadcaster Richard Gordon have statistical evidence and analytical data to maybe enlighten Willie Collum about certain referees supposedly “unbiased” decisions. Perhaps the introduction of VAR has prohibited a further record number of penalty favours FOR in recent times but the anomaly of penalty favours AGAINST still certainly exists. Maybe the unconvincing refereeing decisions in friendly and dead-rubber games are intended to balance the fortunate awards in competitive games for the struggling beneficiary. It’s a sobering thought but appointing referees without allegiances, who will apply the rules properly is the first step towards stamping out the corruption.
He thinks he got this gig on merit ,the denizens of govan n their smsm lackeys seen to it he would never ref them again, Crawford Allan was the sacrifice to get collum away from the game …now he’s side shunted normal service resumed
Comments like these from Collum, simply amaze me. He grew with Gordon, Thow, Tate, the Hope Brothers, McCluskey, Sime and his rotten father, don’t get me started on Davidson, McGinley, Renton, Madden et al. Fortunately a few are shovelling coal in Hell. He is a patsy, excluded from the Thursday night apron meetings. Allan’s comment is spot on, pushed sideways to keep him from refereeing hun matches. I have seen it all in 50 years watching Celtic. Balls that have gone out of play come back in and went in the huns net, 30 yarder disallowed for offside, umpteen stone wall penalties denied. Madden at CP, Gordon and McCluskey at Ibrokes, on and on. Small victory at Love Street in 86 was seeing Waddell’s face at fulltime, priceless. BTW the referee at Dens Park, Crombie, another rat, was a Hearts fan. No corruption indeed.
When any referee is given a match to officiate at by his bosses and those bosses are fully aware that he is a ‘ supporter ‘ of one of the teams he takes charge of …then I consider that CORRUPT ? It’s a ‘ top – down ‘ corruption which then spreads like a tsunami to the bottom and everything in its way . Let me give you an example of this ! TheRangers v Celtic at Ibroxland…the referee given the match by his bosses to officiate is Mr John Beaton . Which organisation in its right mind of fair play would even remotely consider theRangers fan – Beaton – as referee for the game ? Even ‘Tim Nice But Dim ‘ ( excuse the pun ) , would see that this would be corrupt ? Only in wee Scotland ….