PAISLEY, SCOTLAND - FEBRUARY 03: Kris Boyd chats with Hearts Head Coach Derek McInnes during a William Hill Premiership match between St Mirren and Heart of Midlothian at the SMiSA Stadium, on February 03, 2026, in Paisley, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Williamson/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Ian Maxwell has indirectly called out the actions of Derek McInnes, Kris Boyd and Ally McCoist.
Neither of them were at the Motherwell v Celtic match on May 13. None of them support Motherwell or Hearts.
They do share a deep dislike of all things Celtic with a decade of almost constant success for the hoops leaving them almost broken.
McInnes described the penalty decision as disgusting. Boyd barely said a word about the match he had watched, Hearts beating Falkirk.
Shamefully Eilidh Barbour and Sky Sports allowed Boyd to rant and rage. The next morning McCoist was spewing out his paranoia on TalkSPORT about Scotland’s most successful club.
In the midst of all that someone was sharing personal details about John Beaton, right down to information on his car.
MCINNES CAN’T CONTAIN HIS ANGER
McInnes used the word disgusting to describe a clear handball. It seems that Andrew Dallas and John Beaton were comfortable with Auston Trusty being elbowed in the face.
The match officials also ignored the first half assault on Daizen Maeda from Calum Ward.
Firing back at McInnes, SFA CEO Maxwell told The Herald:
It was disgusting. Honestly, I was absolutely raging. It is just not right, it is fundamentally not right.
If anyone has played any sort of part…everyone has to look at every bit that makes that happen, every bit of media commentary, whether it is a statement from a club or a manager talking after a game or a player, there are a lot of bits that escalate to the point that someone says ‘I am going to stick a referee’s details online’.
How anyone thinks that is acceptable is an absolute disgrace. I know we put out a very robust statement and it is up to us as an association to stand by that, because you cannot be spending your time doing that.
Maxwell could do football a favour by insisting that referee recruitment extends beyond Lanarkshire and Glasgow.
Every informed fan knows exactly what Beaton and Dallas are. Their backgrounds. Steven McLean, Douglas Ross, David Roome, David Dickinson and Greg Aitken are from the same backgrounds.
With such a limited pool of match officials the same faces are involved too often.
Beaton refereed Celtic at Ibrox on March 1, at home to Motherwell two weeks later then the match at Fir Park.
On each occasion he missed penalty incidents that had to be corrected by VAR.
The worst decision of the season was the wishful thinking offside that Roome made for Maeda’s goal against Hearts. Without VAR that decision could have handed the the SPFL title to Hearts.
That truly was disgusting. McInnes, Boyd and McCoist have yet to comment on it.
Every thing associated with the 3 amigos is truly disgraceful , they are acting as trend setters for the bunion bears and their ilk , they are legitimising the anti Celtic narrative .
Overall what really stood out for me was the SKY woman giving carte blanche to gnashers chris boyd fondly know in some circles as ” pig’s ear ” to run his mouth off and take over the studio as she sat back and purred like a cat , the most unprofessional conduct of a sports program i have ever witnessed , he vented his spleen with his hatred of Celtic on live tv for the world to witness , a shabby shabby let down and shown up as a version of the simpsons ffs , SKY pulled the plug on gnasher for the cup game hoping we’ll all forget him for the summer and welcome him back in the new season , they can forget about that as he is damaged goods along with the presenter , maybe the bbc will reward her with a stint at the world cup too ?
The SMSM had their presser of sorts with Slapsie Maxie at Hampden yesterday . Not one deemed it appropriate to ask if there were any plans to compulsory have referees declare their team of support in time for next season just as they do in englandland ? To cut out all favourable decisions by doing so . Or nobody did not think it necessary also to point out to the big mystic ruler that John Beaton’s private address was leaked onto the internet after he awarded Celtic a last minute correct penalty against Motherwell ? And that why would any Celtic fan do such a thing after his accurate positive decision to Celtic..it doesn’t make sense ? It is obvious it was done by someone who supports the other 2 losing sides involved in the title race …a bitter , sore loser in football and in life ! Once again the lame media in this country were asking questions which fit their own agendas …totally fearful of the truth and proper progress . Giddeee up ….
Let’s all applaud that statement by Maxwell.
It needed said and he’s stepped up.
Now let’s sit back and watch the repercussions for him.
For there will be, I just hope he has the minerals to stick up for himself.
The media eco system here is all Sevco friendly, so let the narrative begin against him.
Cos that’s how fitba works here.
Better than no statement at all I suppose…
But he should still have namechecked them for sure…
He’s probably a cousin of Lucan going on them that easily…
Or actually not as he’s made a half statement at least…
Unlike Fu**in Lucan !