Danny Rohl has learned who the match officials will be as his Rangers side play host to Celtic at Ibrox in the Scottish Premiership.
The SFA announced that John Beaton will be the on-field referee for the Old Firm derby on 1 March.
David McGeachie and Calum Spence will be his assistants, while Steven McLean and Kevin Clancy will be the VAR and assistant VAR, respectively.
John Beaton made a howler in Rangers vs Hibernian
Rohl will surely remember Beaton’s underwhelming display down the middle during the game against Hibernian in October.
While Rangers did end up winning the game 1-0, it still wasn’t a performance worth writing home about by the referee.
In the game, Kieron Bowie fell to the ground on the stroke of half-time in an attempt to get Jayden Meghoma sent off.
Bowie clearly looked to deceive Beaton as there was no contact made by the Gers defender, and the official fell for it and gave a free kick to Hibs.
Instead, he should have booked the now Hellas Verona forward for simulation.
Celtic have benefited from Beaton at the expense of Rangers previously
Beaton was also in charge of the Scottish League Cup final last season, which was played between Rangers and Celtic.
He made another howler at the expense of Rangers, not giving them a penalty for a clear foul on Vaclav Cerny.
The Celtic player was spotted holding the winger’s shirt, and he brought him down inside the penalty area.
However, Beaton waved it off despite having the benefit of VAR, much to the annoyance of former referee Bobby Madden.
He wrote on Instagram: “This is a penalty kick. It doesn’t matter when the holding started, when it ended or what direction the players are moving. This is clear evidence of holding within the penalty area and I’m amazed this hasn’t been identified by VAR.
“Referee team had been excellent until that point. Difficult live, but that’s why VAR is there.”
Rangers fans will surely be aware of Beaton giving blatant decisions against their team and will be sceptical going into the game.
Hopefully for them, he has a good match down the middle, because a few bad decisions could quickly lead to frustration from the stands.
