Whoever was appointed as the officials for the blockbuster Old Firm derby this weekend was always going to be under pressure, but few will be under scrutiny more than John Beaton.
It seems like he has been in charge for more games, however, since 2017, Beaton has only been the man in the middle on four occasions.
This Old Firm is as big as they come and recent history suggests that John Beaton could, maybe, be a lucky omen.
Rangers Old Firm record with John Beaton as referee
In the four games refereed by Beaton, Rangers have won twice, drawn once and lost once.
His most recent game was in 2023 when Rangers should have been out of sight only for Michael Beale to change shape and allow Celtic to score with a late equaliser.
With that, the slim hopes of a title challenge were all but over.
Rangers 1 v 5 Celtic 29 April 2017
There were no complaints about Beaton’s display in this Old Firm as Rangers found themselves 2-0 down after just 18 minutes in a shocker at Ibrox.
A midfield of Josh Windass, Jason Holt and Emerson Hyndman tells its own story about the state of the squad though.
Rangers 1 v 0 Celtic 29 December 2018
The game that saw John Beaton receive death threats afterwards and have to call the police.
Rangers dominated and should have been more comfortable, they didn’t take well to losing their first Old Firm in 13 games even if Brendan Rodgers, for once, was magnanimous in defeat.
Celtic 0 v 2 Rangers 17 October 2020
Remember when the totally random fixture generating computer delayed the first Old Firm game of the season in case fans were allowed inside?
They weren’t and Rangers ran out comfortable winners with a Connor Goldson double, the vice-captain is due a goal and there would be no better time than this weekend to score one.
Rangers 2 v 2 Celtic 2 January 2023
As already mentioned, Rangers really should have won this one and it looked as though Michael Beale had Ange Postecoglu’s number.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t as brave in subsequent derbies, overthought things, and only won once when the league was all but done.
Beaton earns plaudits for Old Firm display
Former top flight whistler, Steve Conroy, was full of praise for Beaton’s display in the New Year meeting between the two sides last year:
“John had an excellent game today. I’m not normally a fan of how he referees games but he had an excellent game.
“I’ll say that I think the Goldson incident wasn’t John’s fault, that should’ve been passed back to him to review it.
“It’s fantastic that he got through the Old Firm while only showing two cautions, I thought he was on top of the game all the way through – he was fantastic.”
Four games and only one of them seemed to ire those of a green and white persuasion, why?
Because they got beat.
There never seems to be any complaints about the referees when they are winning or when they are top of the league and coasting.
From 2012 to 2018, can anyone remember any issues with Scottish referees?
No? Me neither.
As with every Old Firm – unlike the last one – all we want as Rangers fans is for the officials not to influence the outcome, I’m sure that John Beaton will be feeling the same way.
