P**s poor, inept or biased? Celtic overcome ‘blundering’ referee Ryan Lee to beat Hibs
25th October 2026; Easter Road Stadium, Edinburgh, Scotland; Scottish Premiership Football, Hibernian versus Celtic; Referee Ryan Lee
Celtic overcame a horrific performance from Ryan Lee to beat Hibs 2-1 at Easter Road.
The Musselburgh based referee interrupted and stalled the play of the visitors at every opportunity.
The Disadvantage Rule was applied to the max, only against Celtic.
Referee Ryan Lee: piss poor, inept or biased?
Might be all three frankly.
Wandering about Easter Road like a Hibs midfield enforcer, breaking up Celtic attacks, not playing advantage & booking Hogh for dissent after he’s fucked up again.
Marvellous display ?
#HIBCEL ?— Andy Borland (@AndyBorland4) October 25, 2026
Twice in the first half Celtic were breaking into promising positions only for Lee to stop play and bring the ball back for a free kick.
It seems that applying the Disadvantage Rule is essential for aspiring referees to climb that ladder.
Lee has mastered it as have Duncan Nicolson and Matthew McDermid as Willie Collum promotes a new batch of referees way beyond their ability.
I’m sure Wullie Collum will be able to explain all of the bizarre decisions in this game by @ScottishFA referee Ryan Lee. At best he applies the laws in an inconsistent manner (although always to disadvantage @CelticFC)
— John Trainer (@jct62) October 25, 2026
Ryan Lee – yet another off the conveyor belt of useless Scottish officials with no idea of how to play advantage.
— LombardiaNumeroQuattro (@Lothianno4) October 25, 2026
CELTIC OVERCOME ANOTHER COLLUM CLONE WITH A WHISTLE
None of today’s decisions were game changers but slowing the flow of the game is a regular factor from SFA officials in Celtic matches.
Another regular feature is the free kick count.
According to BBC Scotland Celtic had 61.2% possession but the free kicks were give 50-50 with 15 free kicks awarded to each side.
Hibs got off to a flier with a third minute goal from Owen Elding with the Celtic defence sleeping at a free-kick.
Fortunately the match was soon level when Jason Kerr headed into his own net from a Celtic corner.
Two minutes from half time Camilo Duran came in off the right wing to curl a 20 yard shot into the net.
One major disappointment from the match was the brief appearance of Alistair Johnston.
The Canadian came off the bench to replace Colby Donovan in the 52nd minute.
Unfortunately he was replaced by Cameron Carter-Vickers in the 73rd minute with no obvious knock
Next up for Celtic is a home match against Dundee United on Wednesday.
Today’s win restored Celtic’s four point lead at the top of the SPFL Premiership table.
If only we had a
leading sports lawyer to point out the obvious and call this mob out.
Absolutely spot on.
Lee’s performance was an illustration of dire incompetence.
Thankfully – on this occasion – Celtic won in spite of frequently being disadvantaged by this (ahem!) ‘neutral’ official.
The advantage of scoring freely like against the diets, it takes the MiB influence out of the game entirely.
It’s just about the only time we see a proper ref performance, when they realise there’s fuck all they can do to change the result so they just apply the laws of the game properly.
In level or 1 goal games, the MiB are often a bigger danger than the opposition.