Celtic today submitted an appeal to the Scottish FA in relation to the red card shown to Auston Trusty at Tynecastle yesterday afternoon after John Beaton got involved in re-refereeing the game by calling the match referee to the monitor to re-consider his (correct) decision to show the Celtic defender a yellow card…

Auston Trusty walks off after Referee Steven McLean shows the Celtic defender a red card after a VAR review. Hearts v Celtic, 25 January 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou.

“We can confirm that Celtic Football Club will be submitting an appeal to the SFA in relation to the red card imposed on Auston Trusty, following the intervention of VAR during Sunday’s match at Tynecastle,” the club confirmed via their social media channels.

Martin O’Neill in two interviews referred to the decision as a ‘blue card’, seemingly a reference to the team that both the match referee Steven McLean and VAR John Beaton support.  The veteran Celtic manager said:

“Yeah, I do have an argument with the red card. The referee has given a yellow card and is sent over to VAR to re-referee the game. My take on it is that, first of all, the ball is going away from the goal, so the player has to get a hold of that and control it. And secondly, and more importantly, is that we’ve got someone on the cover. So that’s what the referee saw in the first place. He was pretty close to it, and it’s not.”

Prominent former referees working in the media all disagreed with the decision to send Trusty and also for John Beaton to get involved in the first place as the DOGSO criteria was nowhere near being met.

Former referee Des Roache, speaking via Daily Record explained why John Beaton got things badly wrong at Tynecastle yesterday afternoon. “My view is it shouldn’t have been a red card, it’s a yellow card.

“When you’re looking at denial of a goalscoring opportunity, you’ve got to look at the criteria that is set. The first one is distance to goal. This was 25-30 yards out.

“Where is his general direction of play? He’s going away from goal, he’s not going towards goal.

“What is the likelihood of control? He’s played the ball 10-12 yards ahead of him.

“You also have to consider the number of defenders and the position of them.

“I think McLean called it correct at the time. I’ve just seen a comment about how it’s a last man red card – there’s no such thing. It’s about denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity.

“The bit I take my belief from is the word ‘obvious’. Is it an obvious goalscoring opportunity. It’s not obvious.

“He may have a chance, he may not. It’s not obvious. What I think is entirely wrong with it is John Beaton has decided to get involved and re-referee that situation, and overturn Steven McLean. It’s a subjective opinion. Steven’s seen it and decided it’s a yellow card, which I’m fine with, and then John Beaton’s got involved to overturn it.

“That’s not what VAR is there for. It’s there for clear and obvious errors – that isn’t obvious. It isn’t an obvious opportunity, and it isn’t an obvious error. The fact we’re still talking about it 24 hours later shows you it’s not clear. John Beaton had no reason to get involved with that decision.”

Auston Trusty walks off after being shown a red card. Martin O’Neill looks on. Hearts v Celtic, 25 January 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou.

Earlier in the day on Sky Sports’ Ref Watch feature another former referee came to pretty much the same conclusion as Roache.

“It’s really harsh to be honest,” Dermot Gallagher told Sky Sports the morning after the match. “The law says DOGSO and the ‘O’ stands for obvious. I think this is possible and the referee has got it right on the field.

“If you look, the player’s not in possession of the ball, he’s got to carry on after that ball. That’s one thing. He’s moving away from goal. He will get the ball eventually but by the time he gets the ball, the defender will come across.”

He added: “Don’t forget, there’s the other two criteria that it doesn’t fulfil; A, the player is not possession of the ball. Fact. And B, the ball is moving away from goal. Fact.”

There’s little doubt that Beaton has made a huge error here and one that Willie Collum is going to struggle to justify. Celtic should have asked for the audio to be released now rather than wait for the VAR Review show which really can’t not feature this as the most significant incident so far this season as a three-way title race gets underway as we approach the business end of the season.

It’s also going to be difficult for any defence of Beaton’s actions to be supported at any appeal. Auston Trusty certainly should not have been sent off, indeed there is an argument that the Hearts play pushed into Trusty then dived forward to force a decision.

Sky Sports reveals that the hearing for Celtic’s appeal will take place tomorrow. Should be interesting.

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