‘Probably welcome down his pub tonight, again’ – it was such an innocent throwaway comment from Tom Boyd, who could have guessed that Statement FC would be fuming about it almost six years later?
Who other than paranoid maniacs could take offence at that comment let alone set off their loyal messengers to use it against the SFA to back up John Brown’s claims about corruption.
Commentator Tom Miller realised the seriousness of Brown’s comment, he gave him the opportunity to withdraw, instead Bomber followed through with his trailing boot to underline his true feelings.
Boyd was hinting, repeat hinting at something very similar. Every Celtic fan knows about Beaton, his background, the clubs he has supported and the one club that he detests, those feelings are evident in decisions made down the years.
Of the five Glasgow Derbies played during 2024 the SFA appointed their man from The Crown Bar in Bellshill to referee three of them, he was on VAR duty at the Scottish Cup Final in which two clear first half Celtic penalty claims were ignored.
In no other European country would a clearly conflicted official be put in charge of fixtures involving his favourite club and their dominant rivals.
Boyd was subtle, almost everyone knew what he was nodding towards. The entire Scottish media pack knew what he was implying but none of them would dare to draw the line between Beaton and the Crown Bar, the evidence has been there with Beaton’s School Year Book underlining the issues.
Did they look into the ref last season when he went back to rangers pub and fans thanking him trying to stop celtic at the game NAH didn’t think so… anyone would say what Tom said FACT.!! Beaton is awful end of he’s such a big big rangers fan that ref trust me 💯💯💯
— Kelly (@kellybaby3) August 19, 2019
Brown isn’t smart enough to get his message over without crossing a line. He put himself right in line for SFA action then doubled down in case there was anyone that missed him first time around.
Of course for £3,000 it has been a job well done.
Three statements have been released by Statement FC, each one dripping with a paranoia, bursting with whataboutery with most messengers making reference to Tom Boyd, some mentioning Beaton but none of them prepared to repeat what Boyd actually said.
Even the messengers know that they’d be laughed at and ridiculed if they published Boyd’s comments, it would only highlight how smart and streetwise the Celtic ambassador is compared to the guy at Ibrox that spent the summer of 2012 rabble rousing behind the slogan ‘Where’z the deedz’.
Back in August 2019 Video Celts published the full transcript of Boyd ‘controversial’ comments:
Gerry McDade, Celtic TV: That looks like handball
Tom Boyd: Ah referee, he’s got to give it, it’s a penalty
GM: Is he giving it?
TB: No he’s not, he’s bottled out of it
GM: A strong challenge coming in, Scully on Jullien, it looked like handball, we’ll need to get a look at that one again Tom. Let’s have a look at it again, Christie swings it across, challenge comes in, a clash between the two players
TB: That’s a penalty, it’s a penalty kick. His arms are up, in an unnatural position, it’s a stonewall penalty and once again Celtic denied by a decision by the referee, the referee has bottled that.
GM: That is the best save of the afternoon, I say that with all due respect to Ryan Scully who has been in excellent form for Dunfermline this afternoon, that should have been a penalty to Celtic 12 minutes into extra-time
TB: That is an absolutely scandalous decision by John Beaton, we’ve seen that before on many occasions
GM: Coley coming in, unquestionably a handball
TB: It’s unquestionably a penalty as well, a handball, that was a stonewall penalty kick as clear a penalty kick. In the light of day he is putting his hand towards the ball, heading towards goal. What does John Beaton not know about the new rules. If he doesn’t know that that should be a penalty he should not be in the middle of the park refereeing a football game.
CTV: You heard it from Tom Boyd, telling it as it is
TB: Probably welcome down his pub tonight, again
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