John Beaton was called out by Brendan Rodgers for costing Celtic with his VAR performance in the 2-0 defeat away to Hearts.
Ultimately the decision were down to Don Robertson but prompted by his good friend on VAR duty the match referee delivered decisions that were in complete contradiction to the Laws of the Game.
After 17 months of VAR the system has evolved where officials can share the blame, at a future game Robertson could be on VAR duty guiding Beaton to decisions impossible to justify.
The Bellshill based official has a long back catalogue of strange decisions going against Celtic with his performance at Ibrox in December 2018 the stand out. Two months after that match Rodgers quit Celtic to take charge of Leicester City.
In that match Alfredo Morelos seemed to be immune from any disciplinary action despite multiple attacks on Scott Brown, Tony Ralston and Ryan Christie.
Such was the outcry from Celtic fans on social media that the club dusted out their ‘surprised and disappointed’ statement template seeking transparency and clarification from the SFA.
After tea and biscuits at Hampden Peter Lawwell swiftly dropped the issue following a reminder of the events of July 2012. Beaton went on to referee the 2020 and 2023 Scottish Cup Finals which is effectively the SFA’s reward for their best referee of the season.
During both spells managing Celtic Rodgers has went out of his way to avoid criticising referees despite a lengthy catalogue of honest mistakes.
In April 2017 he was highly critical of Robertson after he awarded Ross County a late penalty for a ridiculous dive by Alex Schalk to earn a penalty, the County forward was given a retrospective suspension by the SFA while Robertson’s career to the top level was accelerated.
🗣️ “That cost us today, the officiating.”
🗣️ “You will have to ask John Beaton what he’s seeing.”Brendan Rodgers gives his thoughts on Celtic’s loss to Hearts and key decisions in the game 🔽 pic.twitter.com/JcPcdONBBl
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) March 3, 2024
I never like to comment on the officials, that’s not something I do but that cost us today the officiating, from on field from John Beaton on VAR. That was really, really poor.
The first incident – if you put a still on that of course it looks dangerous but that’s not the reality of the move. There’s no force there, the ball’s popped up, okay it’s a booking. That was really disappointing to go down to ten men with that.
But to receive the penalty against us. Wow. That was even worse. If you watch the incident again, Tomo (Iwata) has jumped, he’s on his way down, he’s not looking. He’s been nudged a little bit which pushes his arm out.
If that’s a penalty then you will have penalties every single game, every single week in a match because of that. We had one last week away at Motherwell, Casey puts his arm up and it hits him.
But that there is absolutely shocking decision making. I feel really really disappointed. We’re down a man we get a poor penalty against us and all of a sudden you’re chasing the game.
You’ve got to look at the reality of the action and the move. If you freeze frame, which we see all the time, it looks dangerous.
That wasn’t the reality of the move you’ve got to see it in the whole context of everything.
I thought the officials were very very poor and like I say, it was really really disappointing.”
You probably actually have to ask John Beaton in VAR what he’s seeing.
Because if he’s seeing dangerous play, the handball, he’s probably seeing something different to everyone else.
I just think they’re seeing a different game. It’s incidents like that – that’s why referees and officials get challenged because that’s not knowing the game. That’s not seeing the game.
During February the SFA apologised to Hibs and St Mirren over mistakes by VAR officials, Michael Nicholson is believed to have put today’s mistakes down to teething problems with the implementation of VAR.
Beaton is assured of a heroes welcome and free drinks the next time he visits his favourite bar in Bellshill.
CLICK HERE for SSB caller claims Lawwell is better than Larsson.
CLICK HERE for Celtic’s January 2019 statement on Beaton’s Ibrox performance.
💬 “Penalty Rangers”
Celtic chief Michael Nicholson’s cutting reply when quizzed on referees and VAR at AGMhttps://t.co/6vJYJ8p66Ihttps://t.co/6vJYJ8p66I
— Scottish Sun Sport (@scotsunsport) November 22, 2023
