The officials picked for Celtic’s Saturday’s game are as dreadful as we’ve come to expect.

The match officials for the weekend have been announced, and once again, we’re left shaking our heads. Steve McLean will be the whistler, with Greg Aitken in the VAR room. It’s another reminder—if we needed one—that we’re not just battling our on-field opposition but also the entrenched biases of the SFA’s “deep state” and all that comes with it.

The sad truth is that there aren’t many good refereeing options in Scotland. Trust in officials is in short supply. Fairness or even-handedness? Even rarer. Over the last couple of years, I could count on one hand the number of genuinely good performances we’ve seen from officials in matches involving us.

Aitken, in particular, isn’t likely to do us any favours.

On the opening day of the season, he failed to award a penalty for a blatant McCrorie foul on Kyogo—a decision the SFA later admitted was incorrect. It’s eerily similar to the stonewall penalty we were denied at Motherwell. Everyone watching knew it was a penalty—everyone except the referee, his assistant, and the two guys on VAR.

This weekend, I fully expect controversy.

Some of the decision-making will likely border on scandalous. There’s a sense in certain quarters—both at Hampden and in the media—that we “got away with one” in the Kilmarnock game, with the review panel deeming Reo Hatate’s tackle worthy of a red card. Never mind that we barely escaped serious injuries from flying elbows in the same match—that apparently doesn’t count. The prevailing view that Reo should have been sent off means we’ll be given no quarter on Sunday. Any perceived debt will be settled.

The match against Hearts was already shaping up to be a challenging encounter, certain to generate headlines. It’s difficult to predict what this Hearts side will look like under their new manager. Steven Naismith’s teams always seemed to raise their game against us, although they rarely managed the same against the club from Ibrox, as their results have shown. With a new man in charge, there may also be a new playing style, adding to the challenge.

We do, however, know exactly what to expect from the officials. They will fail to protect our players, as usual, and will clamp down on anything they perceive as an infraction. After watching Liam Scales sent off for next to nothing while on international duty against England, it’s a timely reminder that we must be disciplined. We can’t afford to give the officials any room to punish us—because if we do, they will.

Last week, a scandal broke in England involving a referee who was recorded making derogatory comments about Liverpool and their former manager. It was a stark reminder of the kind of conversations that undoubtedly take place behind the scenes. Imagine, for a moment, the chatter involving our club. What would we hear if someone bugged John Beaton’s local?

Yet here in Scotland, we tiptoe around the issue. We continue to perpetuate the myth that our officials are the only incorruptible ones in world football—impeccable paragons of virtue about whom no one can say a negative word.

Take the fallout from the women’s derby match last week. One of our players openly criticised the referee, suggesting that the official in question has a certain reputation within the dressing room. There will almost certainly be some form of punishment for those comments, but no one at Celtic will bat an eye. When you’ve experienced it firsthand, you know. Everyone involved in these games knows exactly what to expect.

The fact that someone from our club was willing to speak so candidly is a sign of how serious the problem is. Unfortunately, it’s also a problem that no one seems willing to tackle, acknowledge, or even discuss.

So, the news of this weekend’s officiating team is far from welcome. McLean and Aitken are not the names we would have chosen. Then again, does it really matter? We could just as easily have ended up with Beaton again. It’s the same small pool of faces on a perpetual revolving door, and we’re all expected to pretend it doesn’t matter.

(Yeah I know the headline said Sunday. My bad. I’m working with a major hangover today!)