The last thing that Willie Collum wanted over the weekend was another VAR scandal, especially one with Celtic again on the receiving end.
Thankfully for the Head of Refereeing at the SFA Kasper Schmeichel saved him from another scandal, this time involving the judgement of Nick Walsh.
On Friday the SFA finally released the evidence that Alan Muir overstepped the mark to wrongly disallow a ‘goal’ from Daizen Maeda away to Hibs. It wasn’t a factual overturn, it was the wish of the VAR official to deny Celtic a goal.
The long held suspicions of the Celtic support were confirmed, Muir has been left out of the last three rounds of fixtures.
During the four minutes of coverage on the VAR Review no explanation was offered for Muir’s behaviour, no consequences were discussed with nine rounds of SPFL Premiership fixtures to be covered with Muir one of three full-time officials on the SFA pay-roll.
This weekend Collum had four Scottish Cup ties over four days to monitor, all of the matches are going out live on television with Nick Walsh trusted with the top tie, Celtic v Hibs on Premier Sports on Sunday afternoon.
Last season the Bearsden based school-teacher was regarded as Scotland’s top referee, taking charge of two of the five Glasgow Derbies including the Scottish Cup Final.
Eighteen minutes into yesterday’s match Walsh was almost facing his Alan Muir moment.
There seemed to be nothing brewing when Cameron Carter-Vickers cleared the ball out of play towards the Celtic dug-out. What happened next caught Walsh sleeping, he switched off, almost causing a goal that would have dominated the headlines.
Josh Campbell continued his run, saw a pitchside ball and quickly threw it into play more than 15 yards away from where the ball went out.
As the still image below shows Walsh had a perfect view of what was going on, allowed play to continue with Kieron Bowie racing in to fire a shot on goal that Schmeichel blocked at the expense of a corner.
The Celtic keeper let the referee know his feelings, the fans shouted their concern while Walsh breathed a sigh of relief.
Would VAR have intervened to chalk this off if Schmeichel hadn’t saved this? Nick Walsh the supposed Celtic fan… pic.twitter.com/TEVPwSch9V
— Timothy Fellowes (@FellowsT1888) March 9, 2025
There is no mechanism through VAR to intervene if Bowie’s shot had gone into the net, a throw-in isn’t for VAR officials to judge on with the decision of the on-field official to stand.
By switching off for a few seconds Walsh was very nearly compromised, if Schmeichel hadn’t saved there would have been over 50,000 angry fans on the referees case just days after Muir’s actions had been exposed.
In a nightmare scenario for Collum the incident could have been next Sunday with Cyriel Dessers running through on goal to put the visitors 1-0 up. Perhaps that is going too far.
Walsh, John Beaton, Don Robertson and Steve McLean are the only current referees that have taken charge of the Glasgow Derby, McLean’s two appointments coming seven years apart.
On Tuesday morning the SFA will announce the officials for next Sunday’s Derby clash, with the destination of the title virtually decided Collum would like to add a new name to the rota available for that match.
Matthew MacDermid was probably being earmarked for the match but was highlighted on the latest VAR Review show as having made two on pitch mistakes.
That leaves the way clear for David Dickinson to referee the match, on Facebook it is quite clear that his family all support that Ibrox Tribute Act.
Collum has a multitude of issues to deal with due to the shallow pool of talent available to him, on Sunday Schmeichel saved him from one more headache, bailing out the incompetence of Walsh.
I think you’re technically right & the goal would have stood, but can you imagine the furore that would have caused…
— Timothy Fellowes (@FellowsT1888) March 9, 2025
VAR couldn’t intervene. Walsh allowed Hibs to take throws from anywhere bar the place the ball went out. @ScottishFA referees fail to follow the law on throw ins
— John Trainer (@jct62) March 9, 2025
After that Kasper shouted at the ref it was taken from the wrong place and he nodded to say I know 😂😂
— Stephen Higgins (@higgy1987) March 9, 2025
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