There is serious dysfunction at the SFA. Remember after the first year of VAR when they were boasting about having a better record than other top flight leagues which have had it for years? Nobody is doing that anymore. Instead, there is widespread grumbling. Motherwell’s manager, Stuart Kettlewell, was the latest to say he wishes we’d never implemented it.
And so the debate over VAR continues to rage, as though VAR itself, the technology, was run by AI and not by the same discredited officials who made it necessary in Scotland in the first place. People like me who supported its implementation thought it would properly hold officials to account and leave it more difficult for them to get away with their “honest mistakes.” What we’ve seen, instead, of course is a whole new method for screwing us.
The media pretends to be aghast at the number of VAR “mistakes” which have been highlighted by the “independent review panel.” For every one of them, ourselves and SPFL managers and players could probably cite a good two or three more.
Here’s something else that isn’t available to read in the cold hard figures; how many of these “mistakes” – the ones they are willing to admit to – are the responsibility of a handful of officials? And is there a pattern to be discerned from looking at the names of these people? Either on the pitch or in the VAR room? Someone is going to take a long look at that at some stage, but none of us would be surprised if the name John Beaton came up a lot.
John Beaton is biased. John Beaton is “conflicted”, to use the word that was once used to describe Campbell Ogilvie when he was head of the SFA and pretending he had been oblivious to the EBT scheme which he himself had initiated whilst at Rangers. But let’s not beat about the bush; these are only a handful of the things that are wrong with John Beaton.
John Beaton just stinks as an official. The VAR report says that neither of the penalties given in the Hearts game was a spot-kick, and yet he over-ruled the referee on both of them.
Look at just one of the key decisions from the game at Ibrox recently; he allowed play to continue after an obvious foul on Iwata, which resulted in the home team having the goal chopped off.
That’s another example, in addition to the Tynecastle errors, of a decision which he got flatly, blatantly, wrong and which everyone accepts he made a mess of.
Right there is the proof that whether you think he’s match fixing or not that he’s having a negative impact on games anyway, and because the SFA is not a meritocracy he continues to get important ones.
The evidence continues to mount up that even if Beaton is not outright corrupt that he is outright incompetent, and Brendan Rodgers only sin after the Hearts match was to say out loud what every single one of us knows to be true, but which the SFA’s lack of accountability means that we’re not supposed to say out loud. But it needed saying.
What function does John Beaton serve now, except as a weapon for the SFA to wield against Celtic?
Why does an official at the centre of so many crucial mistakes continue to get handed massive games where the consequences of those mistakes could be dramatic?
Celtic will almost certainly have warned them about the impact if one of those “errors” costs us the title … still, the governing body rolls the dice, although the entire season have been characterised by more reports and articles about the collapse in officiating standards than we’ve ever seen.
And this doesn’t just affect Celtic, the whole of Scottish football is dragged into the muck as a result of these jokers running the show in this manner and nor are the complaints about it and the negativity coming from the bloggers or the fan forums; the Euros are happening this summer and not one Scottish official has been selected to take part in them. Nobody at UEFA, with their much higher benchmark, thinks they are remotely good enough to be handling games in a flagship finals competition, and what an indictment that is.
It’s an indictment of them all, of course, not just John Beaton … but Beaton is the poster boy for this shower, and they’ve made him by handing him numerous big matches involving the biggest club in the country. And don’t rule out – because it’s certain – that we will see him again before this campaign ends. If this is their best, no wonder UEFA wants nothing to do with them.
That doesn’t cover the dodgy penalties that he gives his favourite club, and it doesn’t cover the the penalties that he never gives against his favourite club.
Dirty Stinking Cheat.
And still the biggest danger to the end of this campaign.
Because he Loves to Help Rangers??
Cheatin Beaton , and Celtic as a club do the square root of F***A** about it.
I’m not renewing my Season Ticket until the Celtic Board start to Challenge these Creatures.
Not sure if that’s a rhetorical question, James, but either way the answer is simple – he’s a weapon – in both senses of the word.
“Why does an official at the centre of centre of so many crucial mistakes continue to get handed games where the consequences of those mistakes could be dramatic” ?
Because this is NOT so very Bonnie Scotland especially when it comes to the footy and The Cheats with Whistles, Flags and Moniters…
And Celtic are hated by more than a few of them and most of their bosses –
And Sevco are loved by more than a few of them and most of their bosses –
They Absolutely WILL try to cause carnage towards Celtic in these final few games…
Whether it costs us this most lucrative of titles remains to be seen…
But they will have a bloody good try for sure !
To answer the question in the headline, it’s quite simple : his “errors” may not always favour one particular club, but there’s one particular club they rarely if ever favour – which would be why he’s one of Scotland’s “top whistlers”……
Not even serial cheat high dallas sacked for religious biased now top table of eufa can’t get a scottish officail on eufa list nick riss is suffering cause of corrupt refs not poor just biased
It’s been happening for decades but “cheating Beaton really is a disgrace. The Celtic board need to grow a pair and get something done before they actually cheat us out of the league this Season
C’mon James be fair, John Beaton will get free drinks at the Crown Bar in Bellshill for the rest of his life and the adoration of the local hun community to boot, is that not a price worth paying for his glaring bias, he certainly thinks so?
The fact no Scottish officials have been asked to work at the Euros should lead the Scottish authorities to ask themselves “why not?” But they won’t, they’ll continue to kid on they’re doing a good job and laughably highlight when they think rangers have been hard done by.
The reason VAR, ( Video Assist Rainjurs ) was hurriedly and cheaply inserted mid Season into the Scottish Game was a direct consequence of EUFA telling the SFA that no high level Club Finals or National Tournaments would be allocated to Scotland in the absence of a Creditable VAR system at grounds that the SFA nominate to host these games.
It had nothing to do with modernising our game or bettering Refereeing standards it was because the ‘ Blazers n’ Brown Brogues and the Refereeing Fraternity had been told they were being denied their European jollies, flights, accommodation Match Fees for the Officials and rubbing shooders wae the High Heid Yins for the Brass at Hampdump unless they instituted VAR.
The fact that it could be ‘weaponised ‘ against Celtic and provide ‘ assisted progression’ for their pet Klub over at the DebtDome was an added bonus. An opportunity that they were not going to spurn especially with the riches on offer for the title at the end of this Season. Last year was just a trial run to gauge what they could get away with.
If you have shares in Celtic sign up to this resolution for AGM to improve referee standards.
https://sentinelcelts.com/2024/03/22/resolution-on-refereeing-standards/
Keep up the Great Work “Auldhead ” …..
Introduce performance related pay, poor decisions =wage deductions, it works in top companies who are indefinately successful because you need to do your job propetly to get paid