John Beaton will be the referee for Saturday’s crunch Old Firm match at Ibrox.
The Scottish referee will take the reigns in what promises to be a feisty affair. It will also be the second time John Beaton has been in charge of the fixture. The last time is best forgotten about. Celtic dismantled us 5-1.
But it is very unlikely to be the same story this weekend. Rangers are stronger, Celtic are weaker, and the league title race is wide open.
Douglas Ross and Bobby Madden will be his assistants. Ross will be the linesman and Madden will be the fourth official.
Rangers fans will breathe a sigh of relief that it isn’t Craig Thomson or Willie Collum. Thomson hesitated and made some very poor decisions against Hibs last week.
Rangers complained about Willie Collum after he sent off Daniel Candeias for “blowing kisses” in the win at St. Mirren in November.
The row raged on for several weeks after the incident. The club made a formal complaint about the situation and were eventually charged by the SFA. They were recently fined £6k by Scotland’s governing body, but the club intimated their desire to force a rule change.
Let’s hope that John Beaton and his team have a good game and we’re not speaking about their decisions, or lack of, come full time.
Beaton has refereed 26 games across seven competitions this season, dishing out 84 yellow cards and six red cards.