An old school Year Book has been uncovered, profiling the teenage John Beaton.
The familiar chubby features are there along with one tell-tale line of about one of his big motivations in life.
It seems like the Year Book from the late nineties profiled the aspiring football referee and journalist very accurately although he would no doubt have been very distressed in 2012 when the club that he loved went into administration followed by liquidation.
The Tribute Act formed by Charles Green hasn’t got close to the achievements that Beaton enjoyed through most of the nineties under Dave Murray who now keeps a very low profile after accepting a pound coin from a former Motherwell billionaire.
“John Beaton… He loves Rangers.” https://t.co/shG5OHmkSQ pic.twitter.com/QEXbh7RAmG
— Lint (@Zeshankenzo) June 26, 2024
Beaton has climbed through the refereeing ranks thanks to his membership of the highly influential Lanarkshire Refereeing Association. Membership of that club and connections to the Dallas family almost ensure progression to Grade 1 and the FIFA list providing even more lucrative appointments complete with generous expenses.
Beaton first made his mark in March 2014 when Bilel Mohsni was allowed to push the Albion Rovers goalkeeper and the ball into the net to rescue a Scottish Cup draw for Ally McCoist’s side. The replay was a formality.
Alongside fellow fan Bobby Madden, Beaton rose through the ranks in time for the arrival of Mark Warburton’s team in the top flight in season 2016/17.
His big moment turned into something of a nightmare when he was handed his first Glasgow Derby in April 2017, appropriately enough at Ibrox.
Pedro Caixinha had taken over as manager, the team was a shambles highlighted by a back four of Tavernier, Hill, Wilson and Beerman (Google him).
Beaton took a 5-1 defeat on the chin, swallowed his pride and returned to Ibrox in December 2018 to turn in an incredible performance where Alfredo Morelos booted lumps out of Scott Brown, Tony Ralston and Ryan Christie without even seeing a yellow card.
Six days after the match Celtic were shamed into publishing their surprised and disappointed statement, after tea and biscuits with Ian Maxwell and a refresher on the events of July 2012 Peter Lawwell dropped his demand for answers and accountability.
With that issue covered Beaton shot to the top of the refereeing charts under Crawford Allan, handed the 2020 and 2023 Scottish Cup Finals.
Last season he refereed more of Celtic’s SPFL matches than any other official, taking six of the 38 matches.
As a VAR official at Tynecastle in March Brendan Rodgers described Beaton as incompetent, there was no back up statement from the Celtic board with their manager handed a one match touchline ban.
When he returned to the dug out Beaton turned in an other ‘baffling’ performance at Ibrox to produce a 3-3 draw. Despite dominating most of the match Celtic committed 25 fouls while being awarded nine, leading 2-0 at half time three Celtic players were booked.
Beaton also refereed the first post-split fixture, away to Dundee, despite his influence the hoops went on to win the SPFL title by eight points.
With another member of the Lanarkshire Refereeing Association now heading up Refereeing at the SFA Beaton can be assured of many more high profile fixtures under his good friend Willie Collum.
CLICK HERE for Beaton’s 23/24 appointments.
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