‘Total cop out’ ‘give UEFA a call’ ‘Only in Scotland’ Collum under attack as he defends supporter referees

Willie Collum believes that Scottish referees are so honest that it doesn’t matter if they are put in charge of matches involving the team they support- or detest.

After Celtic played Hearts at Tynecastle in March Brendan Rodgers described VAR official John Beaton as incompetent.

In his School Year Book fellow pupils described the young Beaton as being Rangers daft, relating to the club that died in 2012.

After an incredible performance in the December 2018 Glasgow Derby at Ibrox Beaton spent his evening celebrating with fellow supporters in the Crown Bar in Bellshill.

Steven McLean’s brother Brian came through the ranks at Murray Park as an aspiring star while David Dickinson’s family comments on Facebook demonstrate are all pro-Ibrox.

Leading VAR official Andrew Dallas is the son of Hugh Dallas who was sacked by the SFA after he was caught sending out derogatory emails about the Pope at the time of the 2010 Papal visit to Scotland.

Beaton, Dallas, McLean and Dickinson were all brought up within 20 miles of Glasgow and are regularly involved in matches with the major clubs from the city.

In England referees from Manchester and Liverpool are appointed for matches in the midlands and south but in Scotland officials from Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen barely get close to matches involving the two biggest clubs in Scotland.

First of all, referees need to declare an interest. For example, we had a top assistant referee a couple of seasons ago, his son was playing for a senior club, even though it was under 19 level, he declared that as an interest.

Or if somebody works in a company who’s perhaps sponsoring a particular club, they were the things that we would expect referees to declare an interest.

In terms of the team that somebody might support, or a connection with a family member of that, where do we draw the line? We want to encourage people into refereeing and say that you can referee the top games, you can referee any match, and we would put a blocker in that. And I keep saying, where would you draw the line?

Does it mean if somebody’s third relative had some connection somewhere, would that be a problem? Did they have a season ticket? Did they support somebody?

There are many obvious conflicts of interest with match officials in Scotland, highlighted by the influence of the Lanarkshire Referee Association which promoted Collum, Beaton and Dallas who were brought up virtually on the doorstep of the two biggest clubs.

Almost every country in Europe ensures that potential conflicts are avoided but in a small and enthusiastic country like Scotland Collum believes that officials are immune from unconscious bias.

Last season a run of over 70 matches spanning three seasons and three managers came to a halt in January when an SPFL penalty was awarded against Phil Clement’s side. At a similar time thanks to his penalties James Tavernier became the second highest scoring defender in world football.

While Scottish football continues in its parochial ways UEFA overlooks SFA officials for major tournaments even when the Scotland national team are taking part.