While Graham Spiers and ‘Harry Brady’ discussed John Beaton’s drinking habits Andrew Smith decided to balance up the debate by discussing Willie Collum going to to a Catholic Church!
The Scotsman reporter made it clear that this equivalence was the view of other people, not himself but Smith did decide to bring it into a conversation discussing Beaton and Steven McLean.
Since his interventions in the Hearts v Celtic match on March 3 there has been even more scrutiny on Beaton with a mountain of evidence on social media pointing towards his ‘inconsistent’ decision making when it comes to matches involving the two major clubs from Glasgow.
The Lanarkshire based official was favourite to be in charge of the April 7 Glasgow Derby at Ibrox but with Brendan Rodgers facing a Notice of Complaint 10 days before that match Beaton may have to miss out on that appointment.
After two critical and flawed interventions at Tynecastle, Rodgers claimed that the officials had decided the outcome of the match which Celtic lost 2-0. Going through the incidents the Celtic boss questioned the competency of the VAR and wondered why Don Robertson changed his mind.
Despite being issued with the Notice of Complaint and a March28 hearing Rodgers stood his ground during his Friday media duties, questioning the decision making process and introducing decisions made by Beaton in other matches including a Kung Fu style challenge by Connor Goldson that led to a goal for Fabio Silva against Livingston.
A Scottish referee practising his faith in private is apparently the equivalent to a known Rangers supporting ref rocking down to his local after a Glasgow Derby to celebrate his team winning.
Lord, give me strength. https://t.co/N0sPuAoBCt
— An Brolchánach-V🏴 (@anfiancaillte) March 11, 2024
Beaton has been watched carefully since he denied Albion Rovers a Scottish Cup win at Ibrox in 2014, allowing an outrageous attack by Bilel Mohsni on the Rovers keeper that ended with the ball being pushed into the net for an equaliser to go unpunished.
The suspicions about Beaton were borne out in December 2018 with an incredible display as the Ibrox in December 2018.
A much weakened Celtic side, without Odsonne Edouard or Leigh Griffiths were there for the taking, injuries to Mikael Lustig and Jozo Simunovic reinforced that view.
Beaton wasn’t leaving anything to chance, in the early minutes Alfredo Morelos went unpunished for taking a fresh air swipe at Scott Brown.
Realising that he had a free pass the Colombian went on to physically attack Ryan Christie and Tony Ralston without picking up even a booking. Morelos celebrated his stamp on Ralston later that night on Instagram while Beaton enjoyed the acclaim of his mates in the Crown Bar Bellshill.
After six days of social media complaints Celtic reluctantly came out with a statement that they had no intention of following up on.
Celtic Football Club is surprised that there will be no disciplinary action taken by the Scottish FA regarding the incidents during the match on December 29, which have been widely addressed in the media.
It is reported that no action was taken because the match referee saw all of the incidents in question.
Given that the referee took no action at the time, this tends to suggest that such conduct, which in one instance led to a Celtic player, Anthony Ralston, being injured, is acceptable in Scottish football. That cannot be right.
On the day, Celtic did not play well enough to win the match, something we accept. However, this issue goes beyond the result of the match.
Celtic is not the only club this season to raise concerns regarding the standard of officiating at matches in Scotland, concerns which have also been shared by many commentators on the game.
In order to fully understand what is going on, Celtic, our supporters, Scottish clubs and the general Scottish football public need transparency in these matters, and we therefore call on the Scottish FA to allow the referee, John Beaton, to explain these decisions publicly as well as any match officials involved in other similar circumstances.
In the meantime, we have requested a meeting with Scottish FA Chief Executive, Ian Maxwell, and the Association’s Head of Refereeing.
Following that match pictures appeared on social media showing Beaton celebrating with his pals in the Crown Bar in Bellshill.
After tea and biscuits with Ian Maxwell at Hampden and a refresher on the events of July 2012 Peter Lawwell dropped his campaign for transparency with Beaton taking charge of the 2020 and 2023 Scottish Cup Finals.
While Smith claimed that the Catholic Church argument was held by other people the fact that he aired it lends credibility to the madness that someone going to a church is on a par with a referee celebrating in a pub his own team’s victory in a match that he had helped to decide.
On Saturday Beaton will be on VAR duty for the match between Ross County and Hearts.
CLICK HERE for Shinnie hits out as Beaton suspends him from Scottish Cup semi-final.
CLICK HERE for the full SFA charge again Rodgers.
