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Boozers, Celtic on the wrong end of Refereeing Controversies and the SFA

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The Brilliant Celtic writer Matt Corr added another fine article to his Celtic Star catalogue this morning. If you haven’t read it yet you can delve in here.

It won’t be long now until Matt’s first Celtic book ‘Invincible’ hits the shelves. These brilliant articles will give you an insight as to what to expect. You won’t be disappointed.

Today’s article was the second instalment in his three part search through the history of the club, seeking out the stories behind a riddle set by Matt’s pal Paddy. Paddy wanted to show Matt a couple of photographs, containing two mysterious pages of Celtic autographs from the past, which had been in his possession for years.

Alongside the photographs came Paddy’s challenge: “I inherited these. Don’t know much about them. Any ideas?”

Matt sets about his task like a cold case detective and the results have been a brilliant journey through a magical mystery tour of the ghosts of Celtic past.

The first part of that journey was published last week. I’d thoroughly recommend you take the time out to visit both. And the third instalment will be published on The Celtic Star either later this evening or tomorrow morning.

One particular story within the second part of Matt’s painstaking investigation may seem a little more topical today than its 1946 timeline would otherwise suggest.

The news yesterday that this weekend’s Glasgow Derby is to be officiated by John Beaton was a bit of a surprise but sadly not a shock.

The appointment had all Celtic fans looking to the soothing words of Big Jock. ‘If you’re good enough the Referee doesn’t matter’. It might just have to be that Mr Stein is proved right, as it seems all possible advantage is being manoeuvred into position by the powers that be.

History shows with John Beaton that an equitable refereeing performance is nothing more than an alien concept when he officiates a match involving the club he supports.

Beaton’s last Glasgow Derby, also at Ibrox, as Celtic fell to a 1-0 reverse, beggared belief. Yet he outdid himself post-match. In December 2018 Beaton was involved in a series of controversies on the park, and an even bigger one off it. So much so Celtic took their concerns about Beaton’s performance to the Scottish FA.

The issues on the field of play centred on Alfredo Morelos. When do they not?

Morelos clearly kicked at Scott Brown, stamped on the spine of Anthony Ralston with his studs and seemed to grab at Ryan Christie’s meat and two veg in the usual production of Morelos savagery. Somehow the referee missed the incidents. Or did he?

No fear though, the retrospective punishment would kick in, you know like Ryan Christie after the last Glasgow derby?

Alfredo Morelos was cited by the SFA for those three incidents in the Ibrox match. However because referee Beaton confirmed he did see all three incidents, no retrospective action could take place. Turned out he wasn’t unsighted. In fact he turned a blind eye. Before getting blind drunk.

Just as you thought the story couldn’t get any worse, John Beaton decided to go on the drink and with it very much take the piss, all in one ill-advised visit to a Bellshill watering house straight after the game. A well-known, if not a rather infamous ‘Rangers’ pub. The Crown Bar. It wasn’t long until his grinning face was posted in photographs all over the internet posing alongside the staunch regulars.

And so back to Matt’s story within a story and why it resonates with Mr Beaton’s performance at Ibrox. I’ll let Matt explain this part:

Celts faced Rangers in the replayed semi-final of that competition at Hampden, on Wednesday, 5 June 1946.

Referee, Matthew Dale, would be the central figure as two Celtic careers were adversely impacted. The official had given Rangers the benefit of a series of controversial calls before, at one point, falling over. When Celtic wing-half, George Paterson, helped him to his feet, he caught a whiff of alcohol on Dale’s breath, immediately enquiring as to his wellbeing, for which he was rewarded with a caution.

At half-time, Celtic director Bob Kelly, made the club’s concerns known to the SFA chairman, George Graham, another man who was no friend of Celtic, as would later be witnessed by the ‘Irish Flag crisis’ of 1952. In any case, the awful Dale was again in place for the second half, both Jackie Gallacher and future Notts County supremo, Jimmy Sirrell, left lame by Ibrox challenges which had gone unpunished.

The nine-man Celts were then further outraged when Dale awarded Rangers a ridiculous penalty-kick, an incensed Paterson refusing to hand over the ball to the referee, an action which saw him dismissed. Whilst they had been in confrontation, Celtic left-back, Jimmy Mallan had removed the penalty spot with his boot, before kicking the ball away. He too saw red, leaving Celtic to finish the game with seven players on the field.

The SFA, in their wisdom, decided to punish the Parkhead club, both Paterson and Mallan receiving three-month bans, a decision branded by Kelly as ‘the most unfair punishment ever meted out’. A man of honour and integrity, having played in the top-flight for eleven seasons without as much as a booking, George Paterson took the outcome very badly, falling into a deep depression. He would never play for the club again, transferred to Brentford upon the expiry of his suspension.

That was from Matt’s earlier article on The Celtic Star this morning.

Back to December 2018 and Celtic themselves felt the need to question the whole sorry mess and released an official statement on the matter:

“It is reported that no action was taken because the match referee saw all of the incidents in question.

“Given that the referee took no action at the time, this tends to suggest that such conduct, which in one instance led to a Celtic player, Anthony Ralston, being injured, is acceptable in Scottish football. That cannot be right.

“On the day, Celtic did not play well enough to win the match, something we accept. However, this issue goes beyond the result of the match.”

Now no-one is suggesting John Beaton was under the influence in December 2018, at least not during the match. There are many other reasons for your peripheral vision being so obviously impaired after all. It’s not even so much that John Beaton had a drink after his shift. A hard week’s work often calls for a few pints to be sunk.

But where Beaton’s judgement becomes questionable and as such his impartiality, is where he drinks, who he drinks with and whether choosing to frequent the Crown Bar and their loyal patrons is just as questionable as the performance, under the influence, of Mr Matthew Dale in 1946.

One thing is certain the judgement of the SFA is under as much scrutiny as John Beaton and his assistants- including the almost as infamous ‘Red card, Red card’ Douglas Ross- this Sunday.

But I guess when you’re in a desperate position it call for desperate measures. Let’s hope Jock Stein’s words are proved correct and it takes more than the appointment of a ‘Rangers’ supporting referee to influence the outcome of the game.

Win or lose they’ll be on the booze at The Crown Bar. I wonder if Mr Beaton will be just as welcome to drown his sorrows as we was to toast his success last time out.

Now go read Matt’s article, it’s sensationally good Celtic writing, but not one for the fans of click-bait!

Niall J

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About Author

As a Bellshill Bhoy I was taken to my first Celtic game in the summer of 1987. It was Billy McNeill’s return to Celtic Park as manager and Celtic lost 5-1 to Arsenal . I thought I was a jinx, I think my Grandfather might have thought the same. It was the finest gift anyone ever gave me when he walked me through Parkhead's gates.

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