Sky Sports pundit calls for John Beaton to be sacked

Jay Bothroyd suddenly gained an unexpected following on the back of his appearance on Sky Sports News this morning.

Normally the Ref Watch slot on Sky Sports News is where Dermot Gallagher backs up his refereeing friends in Scotland and England regardless of how badly they have performed.

The former EPL and FIFA referee is joined by a former player to provide a contrasting view on the weekend controversies.

Scotland is always an after thought in the show. Usually given one minute to cover six fixtures where Gallagher comes up with excuses to justify the unjustifiable.

John Beaton proved to be an exception. On Sky Sports Bothroyd said exactly what Scottish football fans are thinking.

CIRCUMSTANCES

Livingston visiting Ibrox in a non live televised match should have been a straight forward appearance fee to be reinvested in the Crown Bar, Bellshill.

Over the previous three weeks almost every legacy media outlet had gone to war over an Auston Trusty booking.

It was as if nothing else had happened in the League Cup semi-final. Not a peep about the dodgy VAR lines created by Andrew Dallas and Steven McLean. It took four days for the Reo Hatate penalty to reach the legacy video.

The Michel-Ange Balikwisha penalty claim has been confined to obsessed and paranoid Celtic fans. Not paranoid enough as it turned out.

After three weeks of squealing Livingston never stood a chance at Ibrox on Saturday.

The Manny Fernandez incident needs no explanation. Every fan watching knew the decision was wrong. Every fan knows why the man from the Crown Bar made that decision.

But for Boothroyd it came as a shock. How does that happen. The one-time England striker probably hasn’t even heard of the Lanarkshire Referee Association.

On Sky Sports News Bothroyd said:

Decisions like that should cost the people in the VAR room their jobs. If a manager can get sacked because of a decision like that, if it was to happen, then it should be the opposite way around.

You can’t keep making bad decisions like that because it will cost managers their livelihood and that is not fair. ‘Sorry’ afterwards is not good enough.

Bothroyd was clearly shocked at the decision. No one in Scottish football would be surprised in any way. There is a pattern.

TRACK RECORD

In 2014 Albion Rovers were denied a Scottish Cup victory at Ibrox when Beaton allowed a ridiculous effort from Bilel Mohsni to stand. He fouled the Rovers goalkeeper and put the ball over the line using his hands.

With his membership of the Lanarkshire Referee Association Beaton was fast tracked through the ranks. Alongside Bobby Madden. Two men with no real obvious liking for football or understanding of the Laws of the Game.

WILL BEATON BE PUNISHED?

Last season Alan Muir was removed from VAR duty for disallowing a Celtic goal for an incident that didn’t happen. The ball didn’t cross the line, Muir had no evidence that it did.

Beaton did much the same. He claimed that something had happened that he had no evidence for. The ball went straight from the boot of Tete Yengi to the left arm of Fernandez. He moved his arm towards the ball to block a goal bound shot.

It is highly unlikely that Collum will take any action against his pal Beaton. On Tuesday morning the SFA publish the officials in use for two rounds of SPFL Premiership fixtures.

So far the Head of Refereeing at the SFA has kept quiet on Saturday’s controversy. He only jumps when one club reaches for their statement template.