GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - DECEMBER 15: Referee Don Robertson interacts with Jack Butland of Rangers during the Premier League match between Rangers and Hibernian at Ibrox Stadium on December 15, 2025 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
Willie Collum has gone into hiding as his elite match officials again demonstrate why UEFA and FIFA steer well clear of SFA officials.
Entering his third season as Head of Refereeing Collum is steering standards downhill fast.
Collum’s stamp is now all over Scottish refereeing.
He keeps most of his old colleagues in the loop while pushing through a generation cloned on their new leader.
Matthew MacDermid, Duncan Nicolson and Ryan Lee are all being pushed through the ranks despite having virtually no ability and no feel for the game.
Like Collum their goal is fame. To be the star of the show, to be discussed more than the players that take part in the match.
Last night in Paisley Lee was put in charge, partnered up with Don Robertson on VAR.
Celtic fans knew exactly what to expect.
Robertson exceeded expectations.
Not since Alan Muir at Easter Road in February 2024 has a spiteful VAR official carried such influence.
Against Hibs Muir had no evidence that Alistair Johnston had crossed from behind the goal-line for Daizen Maeda to net. Muir just wanted it to be the case.
Without evidence he instructed Steven McLean that the ball had been out of play. The ‘goal’ was disallowed.
Quietly, behind the scenes Muir was removed from VAR duties. He retains a training role with the SFA.
Last night in Paisley Robertson had no evidence to disallow what would have been a debut goal for Shim Mheuka. He just didn’t want the goal to stand.
So he instructed match referee Lee to look at a still image pitch-side and disallow the goal. Lee was happy to oblige, he knows the pathway to the top in Scottish refereeing.
SCOTTISH REFEREEING HAS THE STAMP OF COLLUM ALL OVER
During the first half in Paisley the Robertson-Lee combo denied Celtic a clear penalty.
Just last week at Pittodrie we were handed the perfect example.
Kevin Nesbit used two hands to nudge Dujon Sterling forward, the Aberdeen captain eventually put the ball in the net.
Andrew Dallas on VAR was having none of it. Play was halted, the ‘goal’ was disallowed.
Lee and Ryan were presented with a very similar situation last night. They came up with a very different conclusion.
Scales directly under the ball and making contact without the push. pic.twitter.com/IxgqeK3bwQ
— Lint (@Zeshankenzo) September 6, 2026
Match referee Lee had a clear view of two hands going into Liam Scales back as he looked to connect with a corner.
Callum McGregor’s shot was cleared for a corner.
On Sky Sports it seemed that play was halted for a few seconds. One of those phantom VAR checks where the outcome is known in advance.
Celtic were denied a penalty. The chance to equalise.
As it turned out there were bigger controversies to come later in the match.
THREE DECISIONS GO AGAINST CELTIC
To the surprise of no-one they also went against Celtic.
A hazy still image was manually selected by Robertson to deny Camilo Duran an equaliser. The St Mirren defender and goalkeeper were ahead of Duran when Yang Hyun-jun took his shot. The VAR lines weren’t calibrated, drawn manually. open to interpretation.
In stoppage time Robertson didn’t even bother to provide evidence to deny Mheuka his first Celtic goal.
Twenty-four hours on and Collum hasn’t briefed any of his messengers to excuse the decisions.
Over the next fortnight the Head of Refereeing will be selecting his favourites to handle two Glasgow Derbies.
Celtic have been equally silent on the issues last night in Paisley.
They know exactly what to expect over the next two Sunday’s.
My main question from last night… what is ‘enough of a push’ now?
Scales is going to head this ball, there is no reason for him not to. The defender has both hands on his back, pushing him enough so he can’t get his head on the ball.
Nisbet penalised for the same thing, no? pic.twitter.com/fa02NoXHkG
— ? Gastro Celtic ? (@Gastro_Celtic) September 6, 2026
Lol,another wee game of etch-a-sketch to decide an offside decision.
As I posted at the end of last season,with all the bitching of us getting the penalty at Motherwell that they will come back this season with a VENGEANCE,and here it is.
This is only the start of it,you ain’t seen nothing yet,this is 5 games in, think what damage they will inflict by 20 or 30.
Imagine the meltdown if even one of those decisions had gone against St Mirren. Instead the pantomime horse (guess which end) that is Steven Thompson was laughing and joking and brushing past them quickly on BBC Gerscene.
Those of youse that have paid for match tickets are gonna suffer plenty, plenty, plenty of this..
Me as well at home sadly…
And of course Lucan will say as per always the square root of f*ck all !
This lee guy looks to be a right cnut , he incensed nygren with a foul he gave against him and could have easily have sent him off , we need to nip this cnut in the bud MON needs to do a BRs with his take on beaton , still and all if we can put a decent midfielder in place no one will stop us even with the help of the bent in black