Steven McLean came up with his most influential performance of the season today as Celtic drew 2-2 away to Hearts today.
It wasn’t quite up there with his Josh Meekings handball in 2015 but with experience he knows that there are many ways to make your mark on a match.
McLean’s career should have been over after that Scottish Cup semi-final. Instead his career has gone from strength to strength. A year later he was rewarded by being put in charge of the Scottish Cup Final.
Aspiring referees were given a template on what to do to climb the ladder in Scottish football. We now have a generation of match officials cloned by Willie Collum and Hugh Dallas.
THE PATTERNS AND TEMPLATES AGAINST CELTIC
Celtic fans are well used to the warped way that domestic matches are handled.
Despite generally having 65-75% possession in almost all matches Celtic almost always have more free kicks awarded against them.
Generally opponents can expect at least twice the number of free kicks as Celtic. Players and managers know this, at the slightest contact they hit the deck. Free kicks awarded on demand.
Equally they can go in heavy against Celtic players with little prospect of being punished.
In September during the 0-0 draw at home to Hibs Don Robertson took both of those trends to extremes.
Celtic had 77% possession. Robertson awarded Hibs 16 free kicks and just one against- in the 88th minute.
Steven McLean with one of the worst refereeing displays I’ve ever seen.
Can’t wait to give anything against Celtic.
— 𝐸𝓁𝐹𝑒𝓃𝒾𝒶𝓃𝑜 (@ElFeniano) January 25, 2026
The Celtic board are quite comfortable with these trends in their matches. Levelling up brings a level of competitiveness to the Scottish game.
No-one that was a Celtic director in July 2012 is ever going to take the SFA to task. The paperwork is out there, fans would be able to join the dots.
Which all takes us to Tynecastle today. Against the set-piece specialists of the SPFL.
THE MCLEAN AND BEATON TAG TEAM
McLean’s performance was exactly as most Celtic fans anticipated. It was like a You Tube show-reel of all of the worst decisions put into 90 minutes.
For back up John Beaton was multi-tasking on VAR.
Willie Collum knows exactly what McLean and Beaton are. He chose them for the Tynecastle match for a reason. They delivered.
According to BBC stats Celtic had 45.5% possession. The free kick tally was 22-13 in favour of Hearts.
As well as the red card to Auston Trusty McLean booked six Celtic players. Kasper Schmeichel seemed to get booked for putting a missile into his goal as he prepared to take a goal kick.
Celtic took the lead with a Ben Nygren free kick in the sixth minute. The midfielder was body checked by Marc Leonard. No yellow card was issued which would normally result in a more restrained performance from the on loan midfielder.
In the 88th minute Arne Engels was elbowed in the head as he was bundled over the touchline, in clear view of the referee. McLean managed to show yellow cards to Engels, Callum McGregor and Ben Nygren. There was still time to book Sebastian Tounekti and Kasper Schmeichel.
THE SILENT ACCEPTANCE AND APPROVAL OF CORPORATE CELTIC
Had Celtic put their foot down following the Meekings handball in in 2015 the landscape would be very different.
Peter Lawwell wrote to the SFA for clarification. The issue was never raised again.
McLean’s brother is a former Rangers player, falling just short of making first team appearances. He played twice for Northern Ireland at u-21 level until it was discovered that he was ineligible.
No other European league would allow such an obvious conflict of interest. No club dares to question the background of Scottish officials. The officials for the top matches are exclusively drawn from Lanarkshire and Glasgow.
Around that time Beaton and Bobby Madden were getting accelerated through the ranks. Their backgrounds were well known. Both were heavily involved in matches impacting Celtic
In January 2019 the reaction on social media forced Lawwell into a statement on John Beaton’s Ibrox masterclass. Alfredo Morelos escaped even a booking despite acts of violence against Scott Brown, Tony Ralston and Ryan Christie.
After tea and biscuits with the SFA at Hampden Lawwell dropped his demands for accountability.
Under Nicholson we have had the classic ‘penalty to Rangers’ gag at the 2023 AGM. Followed by nothing.
With a genuine challenge from Ibrox this season has an ominous look about it.
Celtic need strong leadership more than ever.
Instead they have a caretaker manager, an interim Chairman and the hologram that is Nicholson as a CEO. Brace yourselves for more of the same as today.
David Dickinson is from exactly the same mindset as Beaton and McLean.
Agreed. I thought Dane Murray was fouled
— 𝐸𝓁𝐹𝑒𝓃𝒾𝒶𝓃𝑜 (@ElFeniano) January 25, 2026
The inconsistency if Steven McLean is genuinely unbelievable. Forearm smash to the face? Not a foul.
Any hearts player falling over? Foul every time.
— ᴘʙ 🍀 (@p_bov1) January 25, 2026
Steven McLean the hearts MOTM today. Free kicks every time hearts hit the deck and letting them take throw ins wherever the fuck they wanted. Absolutely horrendous performance from start to finish. Beaton a close second for the made up red card.
— Joe (@JoeW1967) January 25, 2026
If Michael Nicholson has any baws he should have Statement released ASAP calling Steven McLean’s impartiality into question and pushing for him to be removed from Celtic games for the rest of his pathetic career.
An absolute scandalous performance
— Kerrydale Meltdown (@KerryFail) January 25, 2026
Martin O’Neill post match media conference.
2 Comments
by Dinger
It is now time for Celtic to hand in resignation papers enough is enough no other league in the world would put up wit this cheating and corruption
by Bhoy4life
Maybe just me, but when SKY showed the still of the first phase for the Hearts equaliser, I would swear it showed offside.
They never dwelt on it at all, it was never mentioned after.
Would absolutely love to see a still of it, convinced it was off.